I have come full circle, I said to the reporter sitting next to me, as we awaited Sen. Clinton’s arrival at a press conference following her convention floor speech. I was once a scrappy reporter who would have killed to have the status and stature to be covering a Presidential campaign. Who would have thought that my entry into that room would be as a blogger and political activist! This is why I love new media. Well, one of the reasons!

I took notes during the press conference, which was amazing — to be sitting 10 feet from Hillary as she fielded questions from reporters and bloggers alike. I’ve got to go back down to the floor to help move people for Pelosi’s speech (her office asked us as good San Franciscans to volunteer), so I don’t have time to write them up, but join me on the flip for my bullet-pointed notes:

– Fabian Nunez introduces Clinton, announces new long list of California Assembly and Senate endorsements (the ones I caught: Sally Lieber, Fiona Ma)

– Says she was “not a ribbon-cutting First Lady.”

– She has been an advocate for the environment and working people.  As a Senator, she knows not just to say the right things, but to do the right things necessary to get things done.

– Her experience is second to none, of all the candidates.

– We know shes going to get the country back on track, improving education, expand universal coverage to all Americans, fight to protect the environment, and restore America’s place in the world.

– As a kid who grew up 15 blocks from here, in a poor neighborhood, who would have thought I would be here, introducing the next President of the United States. That is the hope of this country.

Clinton:
– Delighted and honored to have speakers’ endorsement and members of assembly. We’re putting together a very strong group of leaders in California.
– CA offers leadership on energy independence. Reassure people you can do this because CA has done it, to know CA will lay a critical role in nominating the next President of the US.

Question:
For every dollar we pay in California taxes, we get 78 cents back in services.

Clinton:
We have the same problem in New York; The real goal I have is to create opportunity for all Americans, wages go back up. Get a handle on this health care issue. Deal with preschool, No Child Left Behind.

Question:
Can you comment on the money grab? in the race for President?

Clinton:
I am in favor of public financing, when I’m President, will try to get around the legal concerns. Might have to look at a Constitutional amendment. Too much emphasis put on the money you have to raise. It is a burden, and it’s a burden for how you spend your time on the campaign trail.

Question:
Can you dissuade us of the notion that you are the candidate of the Dem Party establishment, Obama is the candidate of the insurgent?

Clinton:
We have great candidates running. I am thrilled and honored to be running with this team. Each voter makes his or her own decision. I have a clear-eyed view of what it’s going to take to turn this country around. Begin to persuade the country, to give Dems a chance to go back to the White House.

Question:
What about immigration and trade agreements?

Clinton:
Trade agreements have to have labor and environmental standards.

Question (Carla Marinucci of the Chronicle):
Everyone talks about the Golden Years of the Clinton Presidency. Would the Presidency be a Two for One if you were elected?

This was one of the funniest moments. Nunez said,”Yeah, but with a woman in the driver’s seat.” And Clinton cracked, “and who would ask for directions.”

Clinton:
I know that the buck stops with the President. Ultimately the decision will stop with me. We’ve got to send a message to the rest of the world, that the aberration is over with regard to foreign policy. Bipartisan consensus is back. There isn’t a better messenger than Bill. There is a traditional role he will fill well. There is an advisory role, as with every first family, but there is the additional benefit that he has popularity in the world.

Question:
Would you support a ballot measure being considered in CA to get the U.S. out of Iraq?

Clinton:
We’re trying to get the US out of Iraq. Passed it in the Senate. Also included a provision I authored that said you cannot send anyone unless they are properly equipped.

This legislation is a road map out of Iraq. We hope he will not veto it, if he does, he will have to be held accountable. The people have spoken and he needs to listen.

Question:
What is the effect of the early California primary?

Clinton:
CA has been added to the mix in an extraordinary way. We’ve never had this before, and we’re all trying to figure it out . I’m excited CA is moving up. Way more than half of the population will have voted by Feb. 5. Enormous burden on me and my campaign.

But it will mean we are well-positioned to get into the General, because the Republicans’ time has passed; They have tried to govern on the basis of fear-mongering, and people have learned what the differences are.

(more Hillary speech coverage. – promoted by juls)

I hate to say this, but seeing Hillary up on the big screen at the CDP convention is totally giving me flashbacks to the now infamous 1984 parody ad.

I say this not to be mean, but just to marvel at the impact of this new media environment. I saw that ad probably a dozen times, between getting it passed around by friends and the media coverage it received. I realize that most people who see Hillary will speak will see her on that big screen, and it will evoke the negative imagery of “Vote Different,” which just says how brilliant that particular hit piece was.

So far I am not wowed by Hillary’s speech, and I would say the reaction of the crowd is tepid at best. The highlight: she talked about immigration reform and wanting to “bring people from the shadows.” The lowlight: The whole “you are invisible” refrain is really not working for me.

About to go to a press conference with her now, which should be really interesting!

(Dovetails nicely with my incomptency post. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s spinmeisters were working overtime yesterday in a desperate attempt to distract from their inability to stage-manage their boss’ racism and sexism.

After the Governor embarrassed himself into apologizing for derrogatory comments made about a Latina legislator and other Republican lawmakers, his taxpayer-funded staff has successfully steered the mainstream media into making this an insider story about how the tapes were obtained by the Times.

It is clear to anyone who has ever done Internet research that Schwarzenegger’s staff did not properly protect those audio files, and that the Angelides campaign took advantage of that incompetence by digging around on the public website and finding them. Whether the campaign gave the tape file to the Times is irrelevant — people leak public documents to the press all the time in politics. It’s neither interesting nor a crime or wrongdoing of any kind.

Again, it is merely a distraction from the real issue — Schwarzenegger behaving in a way that is unbecoming of a top elected leader in the largest state in the country — and another chance for right-wing Republicans to attack the L.A. Times for being the only paper willing to engage in real investigative journalism when it comes to Schwarzenegger.

The tape story and Schwarzenegger’s sexist comments reminded people that Schwarzenegger is a sexist pig, in part from the Times’ coverage before the 2003 recall of dozens of women who said they were groped by him. That isn’t so happy-making for his team and the Republicans, so they are relying on other, completely unfair, means to dig themselves out.

It is not unlike Joe Lieberman’s claims on the verge of his Connecticut Senate Primary loss that his opponent Ned Lamont hacked his website.

In both cases it comes down to two things: desperation and incompetence.

(See, Governor, the problem is that you’re caught in what some might call a pander bear trap on immigration. You could do the right thing by Latinos, or you can pander to your nativist base. Looks like you’ve picked the pander. – promoted by jsw)

Cross-posted on PowerPAC.org

As Gov. Schwarzenegger runs for re-election and attempts to court the Latino vote, there are several things that we on the opposition want to remind these critical swing voters, lest they be confused by the facade of the “really new and improved” Schwarzenegger (it’s hard to keep track, with all his self-reinventions).

Luckily, Schwarzenegger has started to do that for us! This week, the Governor reaffirmed his famous and controversial support of the Minutemen border patrol. When he praised the group last year, after many leaders — including even George W. Bush — labeled them as “vigilantes,” he drew criticism from a deeply offended Latino community.

Apparently he was trying to undercut some of that criticism and lack of support by holding a PR event called “Hispanic Families for Arnold,” where he…repeated the gaffe.

Immigration politics also surfaced in California’s gubernatorial race Tuesday, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger renewing his support for the civilian Minuteman border patrols at a campaign stop to showcase his Latino supporters in a Mexican restaurant in Lynwood.

“I support any time that a civilian wants to go and do the job that law enforcement cannot do,” Schwarzenegger said in response to a question.

My guess is that Schwarzenegger wasn’t trying to offend Latinos, though he must know that comparing the border patrol clan to him hiring security guards to protect his Santa Monica mansion wouldn’t get very far with anyone. A safer bet is that he could count on the mainstream media to either ignore the comment or downplay it. Indeed, the ironic blunder was only mentioned deep in an L.A. Times story about Rove’s visit to the National Council of La Raza (speaking of awkward audience-speaker dynamics), and the Mercury-News story about the PR event doesn’t mention it at all.

An interesting sidenote is how Sen. Abel Maldonado quickly jumped on the Minutemen comment as an opportunity to blast Schwarzenegger after the Governor left him in the lurch during the Republican Primary for Controller. Maldonado took heat from conservatives for carrying a minimum-wage increase bill that Schwarzenegger asked him to take on, but when Maldonado wanted Schwarzenegger’s endorsement, he stayed silent.

But the funniest is the response to Maldonado’s comments from the Schwarzenegger campaign:

Arnoldo Torres, a senior Schwarzenegger campaign advisor, called Maldonado’s remarks “unfortunate.” He said the governor had shown a “very, very clear commitment” to matters of concern to Latinos, including education, public safety and healthcare.

Hahahahaha. If by “very clear committment” you mean “has done absolutely nothing,” then yes, you’re right, Arnoldo.

(The media is chasing Arnold’s Ball. Cross-posted on PowerPAC.org – promoted by SFBrianCL)

So the big news today is Gov. Schwarzenegger predictably declaring he won’t raise taxes if elected for a second term this November. This is the problem (well, one of them) with the mainstream media. Why, I wonder, isn’t the headline “Governor promises not to balance the budget”? That is what is at the heart of this debate, and the relentless hammering on “not raising taxes” is only a convenient and politically expedient distraction.

As the story in the Bee says, Angelides has talked about a plan to make corporations and California’s extremely wealthy pay their fair share in order to balance the state budget while providing for the needs of the state’s 37 million residents.

But the mainstream media is playing right into Schwarzenegger’s strategy to make this election all about taxes. Give me a break! There are 7 million people in California who don’t have health insurance. The cost of living is skyrocketing for families, putting the typical California middle-class dream out of reach for millions of people year after year, and further squeezing those lucky enough to be living a middle-class life now. Meanwhile, wages remain stagnant for those at the bottom of the economic scale, under a Governor who has twice vetoed a minimum wage increase.

These are the issues that matter to most Californians, and these are the issues that the media and the public must hold Gov. Schwarzenegger and Phil Angelides accountable to. Schwarzenegger can and will keep delivering his well-rehearsed lines about taxes in order to try to trick people into voting for him, but those of us who know the truth have to fight back.