House Dems could pick up 20 or more seats this year, building on remarkable successes winning three special elections this year in long-held Repub districts:  Mississippi Travis Childers (54%) beat Greg Davis (46%) in a district Bush carried with 63% in 2004; Louisiana Donald J. Cazayoux Jr. (49%) beat Woody Jenkins (46%) in a 2004 59% Bush district; Illinois Bill Foster (52%) beat Jim Oberweis (48%) in a 2004 55% Bush district held by former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert for 21 years.

The San Francisco Bay Area’s nearest competitive Congressional races include Congressman Jerry McNerney (CA-11), a top target of the Repubs, and Dem challengers Charlie Brown (CA-4), Bill Durston (CA-3) and Jill Derby (NV-2). You can meet and support them all at a Sunday June 1 Champagne Brunch Reception, details at http://www.democracyaction.org…

• Congressman Jerry McNerney knocked off Environmental Enemy #1 Richard Pombo in 2006, brings renewable energy expertise to the House and constituent services to his district, and now faces former State Assemblyman, former State Board of Equalization conservative Dean Andal.

• Lt. Colonel Charlie Brown (USAF-retired), a decorated Vietnam veteran with a son serving multiple tours of duty in Iraq, and a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Red to Blue Candidate, nearly beat (2006 49%-46%)and subsequently drove out corrupt incumbent John Doolittle (R), and now likely faces opportunistic ultra-conservative Tom McClintock, a Southern California carpetbagger.

• Dr. Bill Durston, former Vietnam Marine platoon leader and now emergency room physician, has been endorsed by Progressive Democrats of America and faces Dan Lungren, a Bush lock-step voter, in a district that now has the smallest Republican advantage of any GOP-held California Congressional District.

• Jill Derby, born on the Flying Flapjack Ranch and running to bring Nevada values to Congress – independence and straight talk – has a rematch (2006 50%-45%) with first-termer Dean Heller after her year as Nevada Democratic Party Chair registering 30,000 new Dems in this critical Swing State – her voters will be Presidential voters in this critical election year.

Overall, Dems have 33 House seats in potential jeopardy (6 toss-ups), and the Repubs 43 (13 toss-ups), per the Cook Political Report http://www.cookpolitical.com/r… The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza also ranked House races at http://blog.washingtonpost.com…

(Thanks for the info! If anybody else has similar information for other areas, please post it. And hey, don’t forget about Jerry McNerney’s virtual phone banking. You can do it from home, and Skype provides free long distance calling. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Take Back Red California Volunteer Bulletin

SPECIAL 11/3 UPDATE

GOTV Special Bulletin

TIME TO GET OUT THE VOTE!

NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE BACK CONGRESS!

Four days til the election, folks–and it’s all coming down to turnout, getting voters to the polls.

The Republicans have a well-funded, well-oiled machine to Get Out The Vote. The Democrats have
YOU . . . the grassroots volunteers…You’re the key!

Every single voter contact is critical right now–every knock on a door, every phone call.

Four days are key for GOTV:

Saturday, November 4
Sunday, November 5
Monday, November 6
and Election Day, November 7

It’s crunch time. Pick a day, pick a campaign, and let us know how you can help. Here are some of the jobs that might be part of GOTV:

        Canvassing, knocking on doors
        Literature drops
        Distributing door hangers
        Phoning voters, either from campaign headquarters or closer to home
        Poll checking on Election Day (visiting the polls to see who has voted)
        Getting voters to the polls, by knocking on doors, calling, driving
        Visibility activities–signs, waving, showing support

The first order of business? Go to the candidate’s web site and sign up as a volunteer, so you’ll get all the news of activities, needs, and updates by email, directly from the campaign. Second, talk to one of the TBRC or Project BlueBridge coordinators listed below–we will do our best to organize carpools when possible, so people can travel in groups. (If you are traveling on your own, call the campaign directly to let them know you’re coming and to see what they need that day.)

Jerry McNerney for Congress

Latest polling gives Jerry a 2-point lead, but countering the Republican GOTV machine will be tough. Jerry needs you! It’s going to take 5700 hours of volunteer help over the next four or five days to win this race–but we can do it!

Sign up to volunteer at http://www.jerrymcnerney.org, for whatever you can do–4 hours all day, all weekend. On the web site, see the TeamMcNerneyActionCenter, and click on Get Out the Vote. You can sign up for specific times and locations.

TBRC is focusing our GOTV activities on Brentwood, for purposes of carpooling. Other campaign priorities are Stockton, Tracy and Manteca. Drivers are needed!

McNerney headquarters is in Dublin; 925-833-0643.

The organizer for Brentwood activities is Oscar Gonzales, 323-388-6383, [email protected].

For carpool arrangements to Brentwood from Marin/SF, contact TBRC volunteer coordinator Bill Sims, [email protected], 415-331-3899., for details and carpool arrangements.

Other carpooling contacts, from Project BlueBridge:

To Stockton:
     from Oakland: Raphael at [email protected], 408-203-0934
     from San Leandro: Leah at [email protected], 510-636-1756

To Brentwood from the East Bay:
     Kari at kariham@earthlink, 510-207-7257 or
     Heather at [email protected], 510-531-6075

To Tracy: Laura at [email protected], 510-525-5355

Saturday, Nov. 4, and Sunday, Nov. 5
Canvassing in Brentwood, Tracy, Stockton.

Monday, Nov. 6
For canvassing and literature drops in Brentwood, call Oscar Gonzales, 323-388-6383, for times and details.

Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7
Need poll checkers, phoners, drivers, and other helpers
Call Oscar Gonzales, 323-388-6383, for times and details for Brentwood.

Or sign up for another location on the web site.

Phone Banking
Thanks to a new predictive dialing system, you can now make calls for the McNerney campaign from the comfort of your own home or in the company of neighbors or friends without paying long distance charges or burning inordinate amounts of fossil fuels. Visit http://www.jerrymcnerney.org/…  to get started.

Phone Banking in Oakland – EastBay for McNerney
Nov. 4-7: expanded hours–all day, every day**
SEIU Local 535
447 29th St. (between Broadway and Telegraph)
You need to RSVP, to help the organizers plan.
To RSVP, please send an email to
[email protected] and type OAKLAND PHONE BANK in the subject line or call Eden at 510-499-4862

Phone Banking in San Francisco, Nov. 5
Sunday evening, 5:00-9:00 p.m.
Come anytime, stay as long as you can.
Bring your cell phones, campaign is providing computer-assisted dialing and call scripts.
You must RSVP to Alec Bash, [email protected], 415-999-6273

Charlie Brown for Congress

Another close race that’s really heating up. MajorityWatch’s latest poll shows Charlie surging, to within the margin of error–a statistical dead heat! Boots on the ground can send Charlie Brown to Congress! Sign up to volunteer at http://www.charliebrownforcongress.org.

TBRC is focusing our activity on Roseville, for purposes of carpooling, but there are also GOTV activities in Auburn, South Lake Tahoe, and other parts of the district. The Roseville office is at 342 Lincoln; call 916-78-BROWN.

To contact the campaign directly, call Nick Shepard, field director, in Roseville: 916-782-7696, or email [email protected].

Contact TBRC volunteer coordinator David Hyams, [email protected], 415-924-8828, for directions to the Roseville office or carpool arrangements.

There will also be joint GOTV activities with Rob Haswell’s campaign for California Assembly.

Saturday, Nov. 4, Sunday, Nov. 5, and Monday, Nov. 6
Canvassing and literature drops in Roseville
Three shifts: 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m.
Phone banking 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7
Need poll checkers, phoners, drivers, and other helpers
10 a.m. to 2 p.m., or 3:30 to 8 p.m.–or all day!
Call Nick Shepard, 916-782-7696, to see how you can help.

Sunday, Nov. 5
Weekly phone bank for Charlie Brown every Sunday
10:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m. in San Francisco
Contact [email protected] or 415-921-0743 for directions and details

Sunday, Nov. 5
Phone bank in San Rafael
3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
You’ll need to bring your cell phone and charger, with free minutes; we will provide lists and scripts.
For address and directions, RSVP to Tamra Peters and Bill Carney, 415-457-7656, [email protected].

Bill Durston for Congress

Hundreds of volunteers are working all around the district, and Bill is steadily gaining ground. Contributions hit a record last week, and TV ads are on the way. The excitement is palpable. But nothing can replace those volunteers! Sign up to volunteer at http://www.durstonforcongress.org, and get those voters to the polls!

TBRC is focusing on GOTV activities in Fair Oaks and Elk Grove. On election day, there are also activities in Rancho Cordova.

To volunteer for canvassing or phoning, contact TBRC volunteer coordinator Stephanie Friedman, [email protected], 510-841-3861, for details about these and other events and for carpool arrangements.

To contact the campaign directly, call campaign manager Cathlyn Daly, 916-479-5961, [email protected]. To reach the Elk Grove office, call 916-421-0202. To reach the Fair Oaks office, call 916-961-2866.

Saturday, Nov. 4, and Sunday, Nov. 5
Canvassing and phone banking in both Fair Oaks and Elk Grove
Noon to dusk; you can pick a time

Visibility Events, Sunday, Nov. 5, Monday, Nov. 6, Tuesday, Nov. 7
Join the crowd with Durston signs during commute and heavy traffic hours in various locations
Call the campaign office for times and locations

Monday, Nov. 6
Phone banking from the Elk Grove office
and from other locations
Call 916-421-0202, for details.

Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7
Need poll checkers, phoners, drivers, and other helpers
Call Cathlyn Daly, 916-479-5961, for times and details.

Massive GOTV efforts from several locations on Election Day! Visibility and phoning from several locations–phone Stephanie, 510-841-3861 for details.

Phone banking in Marin, Sunday, Nov. 5
Phone bank in San Rafael
3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
You’ll need to bring your cell phone and charger, with free minutes; we will provide lists and scripts.
For address and directions, RSVP to Tamra Peters and Bill Carney, 457-7656, [email protected].

the above is reprinted with permission from the Founder of TBRC

Occasionally, in the process of blogging and writing about local politics, something arrives in your email inbox that just hits you over the head and spanks your ass.

I’d like to use this essay to share just that kind of experience with you. I hope you’ll find it powerful. If you’re anything like me, it will give you a real kick in the pants. By way of providing background for this email, I’d first like to address the political situation here, on the ground, in my home state of California…

Let’s face it, the races in California are tough this year. There’s no getting around that fact. Even my own personal top three are tough:

Democrat Debra Bowen is locked in a tight race with GOP incumbent Bruce McPherson for Secretary of State.

Phil Angelides is taking it to a resurgent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

and Democrat and environmentalist Jerry McNerney is trying to topple, against all odds, entrenched GOP incumbent Richard Pombo in CA-11.

These are difficult, difficult races. But all three of them have deep political meaning and will impact the lives of every citizen of California for years to come.  In way of background, allow me five seconds to share my thoughts with you:

Debra Bowen stands for election reform. She gets it. Further, Debra Bowen centers her campaigning squarely on that cause.  As countless activists have emphasized here in the netroots: there is nothing more sacred in American politics than one’s vote.  California deserves no less in a Secretary of State than Debra Bowen, and every Californian who cares about elections, should start caring about this race.

Phil Angelides is a veteran California Democrat with a progressive core.  As California State Treasurer, Angelides initiated two programs that have impacted California families across the state. First, Angelides launched Scholar Share, a savings program that has seen 40,000 California families sock away $170 million for their children’s education taxed at the rate of the beneficiary, not the parent. Second, Angelides spearheaded the Extra Credit Teacher Home Purchase Program whereby over 1000 California teachers have purchased their first homes and put down roots in communites that might otherwise seen a revolving door of teachers move in and out. Home ownership, education, innovative programs run with sound fiscal oversight…programs that lend a helping hand to Californians willing to help themselves: these are the mark of Phil Angelides leadership and exactly the focus that California’s citizens can expect from Phil as governor.

Finally, Jerry McNerney is in the race for Congress in CA-11 for two reasons.  First, as Jerry has proven, time and again, he’s in it to win. And second, the Democrats in California’s 11th district have kept this ardent environmentalist and engineer in the race. Jerry won the June 2006 Democratic primary over the DCCC-favored candidate with 53% of the vote. That story means something: California 11’s voters want Jerry McNerney and when the going gets rough, Jerry doesn’t quit. Two years ago the Cook report and Larry Sabato wrote off Jerry in CA-11: not this time. In 2006, with strong grassroots support and, critically, the active support of labor and groups like the Defenders of Wildlife Fund, Jerry is taking the battle to Richard Pombo in CA-11 down to the wire.  This election will come down to turn-out and grassroots energy in the precincts. It’s critical that the citizens and activists in CA-11 know that they have, in Jerry McNerney, a candidate who will never quit…not this fall, and not when he arrives in Washington in 2007 to provide real leadership for CA-11.

::

Now, that’s the background for an email exchange and discussion I had with my friend, Matt Lockshin, of SayNotoPombo, expressing some of my thoughts and fears about all three of these races. When I wrote Matt I was brainstorming…I was trying to come up with a blogging strategy and rhetoric that would help all three of these candidates overcome a persistent problem I have with the California Democratic Party: timidity in going after the GOP and a failure to generate a powerful and optimistic message of hope that we can use to energize the grassroots.

Matt wrote back, like all good friends do, and what he wrote in his email put me in my place. In fact, it was so powerful I asked him if I could share it with you:

Paul,

The obvious conclusion stemming from the Lamont victory is that the people in DC don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. Their “expert” pronouncements about the futility of fighting demoralizes a lot of the Democratic base. We need to convince people that every time they knock on a door or make a phone call for a candidate or issue, a little Democratic angel gets its wings.  

You see, the point about the Democratic Party is that it cannot continue to be a party of people running for office. It must be our party. We need to see Jerry McNerney and Phil Angelides as our vehicles, not us as theirs. If we’re unhappy with the campaigns they’re running, then it’s our own fault. You think the Democrats in CA don’t have the power to go and rattle political cages and make our leaders address our issues in the way we need them to address them? It’s not about making them ideologues. It’s about ensuring that whatever latitude they have to stray from the Party line is latitude that we give them.  

Of course, this isn’t how things are now. But that’s what will happen when people get invested in the Democratic Party instead of allowing themselves the luxury of simply being alienated from it all.   We can’t win by not trying.  But if everyone tries, there’s nothing that can stop us.

-Matt

That’s the kind of hopeful and fighting attitude that will help us win all three of these tough races. That’s the kind of attitude we Californians can take to every district in the State: whether it’s Charlie Brown’s battle against John Doolittle in CA-04 or Francine Busby’s effort to unseat Brian Bilbray in CA-50, or David Roth’s uphill insurgent struggle against Mary Bono in CA-45.  Hell, it’s the kind of thinking that should light a torch under every Democratic ass this fall.

As Matt says, these are our races, these races are about us. And every phone call we make, every dollar we give, every door we knock, every block we walk is one more step in reclaiming this party for our children, our parents and ourselves.

Matt’s vision of a little Democratic Angel getting its wings is funny and spot on.  I couldn’t not share it with you.  I hope it brought a smile to your face.

I’m still frustrated and angry that with GOP opponents like Richard Pombo, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce McPherson that we California Democrats are so lackluster at this point in generating public energy for our cause. But there’s one thing I’m sure of: if we do win in November, it will be because of the persistent and determined work of people like Matt Lockshin and thousands of grassroots angels across these United States.