While most people were fixated on the “Donkey Kong” mention in last night’s speech by Chris Daly, what about the actual content of the speech? Immediately before Donkey Kong, Daly made his promise to Board President David Chiu:  “I will haunt you. I will politically haunt you for the biggest fumble in history.”

As Daly is termed out this week, can he make good on this promise? The answer is a yes, and big time. For three key reasons.

Chris Daly’s Relationships: If you only read CW Nevius, you might be misinformed enough to come to the conclusion that Daly is a pariah in San Francisco. But in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Chris Daly is the most accomplished legislator on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors because he knows so many people so well that he can put together big deals, often with strange bedfellows. Tonight is the “roast” of Chris Daly, which will have as many downtown suits as SOMA hipsters. Daly can scroll through his cell phone and identify dozens of people he knows on each side of every issue. On every single issue, Daly can make Chiu’s life miserable, but Daly also has the political instincts to identify the most critical pressure points.

Social Networking: Chris Daly’s Facebook is an active community with 2,562 people that he has repeatedly used to create news that is picked up by the traditional press. Daly’s twitter is only followed by 621 people right now, but that’s mostly because Daly prefers Facebook. While those numbers may not sound huge, scroll through the names and you’ll see a who’s who of influence makers in San Francisco. Daly can change the framing and dynamics of issues before the Board, especially with early messaging. If he bought an ipad, he could easily post from behind the bar. That is some serious haunting potential.

Buck’s Tavern: David Chiu should be haunted by the mere thought of Daly now having a watering hole so close to City Hall. No matter what issue, operatives on the other side of Chiu can stop by and drop info to Daly. The nature of San Francisco’s political fissures means that in any given year, almost everyone in town will have an issue where they disagree with Chiu and agree with Daly. Plus, Daly opened the bar with Ted Strawser, who is a triple-threat with political game, online game, and event organizing mastery. Already, people are gravitating to Bucks as it fills the long vacant role of a City Hall bar. Drinking Liberally has already moved to Bucks — it is rapidly turning into the place to go for politics in San Francisco. Plus, look at the geography. Two short blocks from Van Ness & Market. In District 6, but District 5 begins across the street and District 8 is two blocks away. District 9 starts less than a dozen blocks away and Chiu’s District 3 is three stops away on the Muni underground or a dozen blocks up the hill on Van Ness. Location, location, location. There’s a reason Willie Brown ’99 and Matt Gonzalez ’03 both ran their campaigns out of a building two blocks away.

Those are the three major givens and three huge reasons why Daly can haunt David Chiu. But he could also easily go further. I’d be surprised if Daly didn’t consolidate his new watchdog role into an actual organization. He can raise far more money at the bar then it would cost for him to start a PAC, set up a website, and start building out his list.

Chris Daly can easily haunt David Chiu. And from what I’ve heard, it’s On Like Donkey Kong!

Much has been written about how Jane Kim beat San Francisco’s “progressive machine” last week to win the District 6 Supervisor race.  But a precinct analysis of the election results tells a far bigger story, and explains how she pulled it off.  Just like Howard Dean’s Fifty State Strategy helped Democrats win nationwide, Jane Kim was everywhere – and conceded no part of District 6.  Debra Walker carried the North Mission and a few progressive pockets, but racking up margins in some core precincts is not enough when your opponent actively contests every neighborhood.  Kim beat Walker in the Tenderloin (where she had a better operation), and easily won the Chinese precincts – but also carried places like Treasure Island and the Western Addition.  And as Jane’s field coordinator for condos in Eastern SOMA, I’m very proud she won those precincts by a landslide – as we were the only campaign to show up.  These were the Rob Black voters of 2006, but Kim proved that even a progressive can win those neighborhoods – if you bother to talk to them.

The changing demographics of District 6 has been talked about for years.  Chris Daly first won the seat with 81% of the vote, but that was before places like Rincon Hill and Mission Bay got thousands of new condos.  By 2006, Daly was in trouble.  Progressives suddenly had to turn out Tenderloin SRO residents in droves, just to save his re-election.  

I was part of that effort four years ago, and it was both physically and emotionally exhausting.  We managed to get SRO turnout to match the citywide average in that election (which is incredible), and Daly won.  But the map could not have been more polarizing – with Rob Black sweeping the newer SOMA precincts, and Daly winning progressive strongholds.

Back then, a lot of us knew that 2006 was the “final hurrah” for the Chris Daly coalition.  If progressives were serious about keeping District 6, they must learn how to round up “more than the usual suspects” – regardless of who the candidate would be.  Winning in progressive places like the Tenderloin and North Mission would no longer be enough.

One of the keys to Jane Kim’s success was that the campaign never conceded a single neighborhood — forming a Fifty-Nine Precinct Strategy that met voters in every corner of District 6.  Arguably, because she lacked the big progressive institutional endorsements, it was the only way she could win to outmaneuver Debra Walker.

Like Chris Daly, Jane Kim won the Tenderloin – because she had a base of SRO tenants and immigrant families.  It takes months of campaigning for a candidate to build trust in that neighborhood, and Kim’s relationship with local community organizers made that possible.  Walker campaigned in the Tenderloin, but Kim beat her there by 140 votes.

Of course, Kim’s campaign had a formidable “Chinese team” – whose outreach to the District’s Chinese voters allowed her to rack up huge margins in two SOMA precincts, as well as pad her Tenderloin numbers.  But she also had a Pilipino team that organized that community in SOMA, and Russian phone-bankers reached out to its senior population.

As the favorite of progressive institutions like the Bay Guardian, the Labor Council and the SF Democratic Party, Debra Walker had a huge advantage in the North Mission and Western SOMA – where many voters follow the slate-cards.  But Kim had a strong field presence there, which kept her losses under control.  She won two Mission precincts and tied in a third, while holding Walker’s lead in four Western SOMA precincts down to six votes.

District 6 has the Tenderloin, SOMA and North Mission – but some voters live in pockets that don’t fall into those neighborhoods.  Kim campaigned in those areas, such as the Freedom West Homes in the Western Addition.  Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, whose District 5 borders the housing project, took Jane canvassing there one day – and we learned many voters in that precinct mistakenly thought Mirkarimi was their Supervisor.  Kim won that precinct, as well as hard-to-reach parts of District 6 like Treasure Island – and house-boats in Mission Bay.

When I agreed to lead the Jane Kim campaign’s volunteer “condo team” for SOMA, I assumed it was to make sure we did not get slaughtered there.  After all, these were the Rob Black voters who almost threw out Chris Daly four years ago.  With Theresa Sparks getting Downtown money and the Mayor’s endorsement, they would be her natural supporters.

That turned out not to be the case.  On the one hand, we were lucky that Sparks did not campaign much.  But frankly, Debra Walker’s campaign was invisible in South Beach.  And as we knocked on doors in high-rises near the Ballpark and Cal-Train station, we found a surprising level of support.  On Election Day, voters at 4th & King told us we were the only campaign they knew about.

Granted, we did get the occasional condo voter who asked questions like “where does Jane stand on sit/lie?” or “how is she going to pay for this?” – and I have no idea if those people ended up voting for her.  If asked, we did not pander – we told them the truth, even if it lost us some votes.  But we focused on pitching her biography as a Stanford and Berkeley graduate, who is a civil rights attorney.  And Jane Kim was the kind of young professional these voters could relate to.

The election results were staggering.  In the thirteen precincts that make up South Beach, Mission Bay & Eastern SOMA, Kim won handily with 1,113 votes – followed by 823 votes for Sparks, and 564 for Walker.  In the Ranked Choice Voting tabulation, Sparks supporters preferred Kim – and Kim even beat Sparks among the Matt Drake voters.

An important lesson for progressives is not to fear those District 6 condo voters – but to instead set aside your pre-conceived notions, and come to their neighborhood.  A lot of them voted for Jane Kim, even if they knew she’s a progressive – because she was there.

Yesterday, the blog Live-SoMa – which covers local neighborhood and political issues – offered its analysis:  “While [Jane’s] opposition thinks she won because she’s young, pretty, articulate, and so on (all great qualities to have as a politician), I still think it had more to do with her overall presence throughout the Community.  It’s as if she made it her personal mission to hang a flier on every door in District 6, and she certainly tried to shake every hand – moreso than any other Candidate.  I even saw her walking down the hall in my building one Sunday Afternoon, and we’re all renters … renters don’t vote!”

On Friday night, after the Ranked Choice Voting tabulation confirmed her the winner, Jane Kim had a party for her supporters – which I attended.  “Anyone could have done what we did,” she said, “but it takes a lot of work.”

Campaigning in all 59 precincts is a lot of work.  Executing a Fifty-Nine Precinct Strategy is a lot of work.  Conceding no neighborhood is a lot of work.  But anyone can do it …

Paul Hogarth is the Managing Editor of Beyond Chron, where this piece was first published.  He lives and works in San Francisco’s District 6, and considered running himself for the seat this year – before backing out and supporting Jane Kim.

From today’s Beyond Chron.

San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly has filed to run for Regional Director of the California Democratic Party – challenging long-time incumbent August Longo.  In an e-mail sent to State Party delegates (who will pick the Regional Director on April 25th at the annual Convention in Sacramento), Daly stressed his credentials as a “community organizer,” and the need to build on the grass-roots success of Barack Obama.  But Daly’s decision to run also comes after Longo cast the lone dissenting vote (albeit through a proxy) at a S.F. Democratic Central Committee meeting against an immigrant rights resolution.  Following that vote at the DCCC meeting, Daly objected to a motion endorsing Longo for re-election – but at the time, his colleagues overruled him 15-4.  Longo now claims he would have voted differently on the resolution if present, but Daly says he’s not running against Longo’s record.  The job of Regional Director, said Daly, can be transformed to engage the grassroots and push for progressive change within the Party.  Delegates from San Francisco and San Mateo Counties will get to vote at the Convention, and the outcome is very much in doubt.

What is a Regional Director?

The California Democratic Party has 21 Regional Directors – elected every two years by delegates from their respective regions.  According to the party by-laws, Regional Directors shall “assist the statewide officers [i.e., Party Chair, Vice-Chair, etc.] in the maintenance and development of the Party organization within their respective regions. They are responsible for developing, assisting, and coordinating the County Central Committees, Clubs & other Democratic organizations within their region.”  In practice, the Regional Director serves as a liaison between local Democrats and the State Party.

“I stand by my record,” said August Longo – who has served as Regional Director for San Francisco and San Mateo Counties for the past eight years.  “I work very closely with delegates, while Chris [Daly] hasn’t been a part of the State Party.  I welcome his participation, but I think I’ve done a really good job.”  A few veteran delegates are backing him up. “I support August Longo because he’s been very efficient about holding meetings,” said Jane Morrison.  “When I was Chair of the San Francisco DCCC,” added Scott Wiener, “there were a lot of ‘nuts and bolts’ issues with the State Party where August was very helpful.”

But Daly says a Regional Director could do a lot more.  “August is doing the minimum of what the job requires,” he said.  “I had a good conversation with John Burton [who is likely to become the next Chair] about what regional directors can do, and it’s really what you make of it. We have to figure out how to better engage the State Party.  Every Democrat is talking about change, but who in the State Party is engaging the netroots, who is engaging issue-based activists, service providers and folks organizing around liberation struggles to make the Democratic Party more relevant?  Regional Director is not a high profile position, but we can create models of organizing that work and replicate.”

It’s a message that resonates with progressive San Francisco delegates. “I support Chris Daly because he’s an organizer, and could really bring a whole new dimension to the job,” said Robert Haaland.  “It would make me more excited to be involved with the California Democratic Party.”  DCCC Chair Aaron Peskin added that in the aftermath of the Obama victory, and with a new generation of Democratic activists coming of age, “it’s time to change a lot of old blood in the State Party structure.  I’m with Chris Daly.”

But not every San Franciscan of Daly’s ideological bent is on board.  John Burton told me he respects Daly’s decision to run, but committed his support to Longo “a long time ago.”  When Burton was in the State Senate, August Longo was his proxy on the DCCC.  “I love Chris Daly,” said DCCC member Hene Kelly, “but I just don’t think this is a job he would want to do … if he understood what it is.  It’s a lot of organizing, it’s a lot of getting people to work together, and it’s a lot of getting information out to the region.  Regional Director is really a ‘nuts and bolts’ job, and that’s what August has done.  We need Chris in a different position to influence policy in the state Party.  I want Chris Daly on the Resolutions Committee.”

Concerns About Longo’s Voting Record

As Regional Director of the State Party, August Longo has a seat on the San Francisco DCCC.  This by-law change was added in July 2005 to allow him to serve on the DCCC, and some progressives have argued it was pushed by moderates to manipulate endorsement votes in local elections.  But the roll call vote proves it was a move supported by most DCCC members (including many progressives), and it is quite customary for most county Central Committees to give their state Regional Directors a seat.

Nevertheless, it’s also true that Longo’s voting record on the DCCC has been very moderate – which will give some progressives ample reasons to support Daly.  In February 2007, Longo was the only member (along with the proxies for Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi) not to support a Resolution asking Congress to de-fund the Iraq War.  In the very high-stakes July 2008 race for Chair, Longo voted for Scott Wiener over Aaron Peskin – and there were allegations of Mayor Gavin Newsom influencing his vote. On the endorsement votes for candidates and propositions, Longo did not side with progressives.

At the March 25th DCCC meeting, Longo was in the hospital – but had instructed his proxy to vote “no” on a Resolution demanding that Mayor Gavin Newsom “redirect law enforcement efforts away from criminalizing the immigrant community.”  Public comment on the issue was very emotional, and Longo ended up being the only “no” vote.  This prompted Chris Daly to oppose a motion later on in the meeting that the DCCC endorse Longo for re-election as Regional Director.  Some members felt it unfair to presume Longo would still have voted that way if present, but four colleagues voted to publicly oppose the motion endorsing Longo – and another four members abstained.  Daly has since filed to run against Longo.

“I had to make a decision about the Immigration Resolution before the meeting,” said Longo, “and it’s hard to send your vote in.  I am the son of immigrants, and I understand immigration issues.  For Chris to attack me on this is unfair.”  When asked if he would have voted differently on the Resolution if he had been there to hear the public testimony, Longo said “yes.”

Some DCCC members, however, expressed concern that it took so long – almost three weeks – for Longo to repudiate his proxy vote.  They compare it with what happened at the DCCC’s February meeting, when Scott Wiener was out of town – and his proxy cast what turned out to be a controversial vote.  Within less than 24 hours, Wiener sent out an e-mail apologizing for the mistake – and said it did not reflect his personal position.

Playing Well With Others

Despite concerns that progressives may have with Longo’s voting record on endorsements, his supporters argue that he takes his job as Regional Director seriously – and follows the Party line once a decision has been made.  “August is a Party worker,” said Hene Kelly.  “After we endorse progressive candidates or ballot measures, he has worked to help us win.”

This may end up presenting quite a contrast with Chris Daly – who in June 2008 printed a highly deceptive campaign door-hanger that suggested a Bay Guardian endorsement of Carole Migden (whille the paper had endorsed Mark Leno.)  The Guardian editors were unhappy, and felt that their good name was being used.  Will delegates be willing to elect a Regional Director with such a track record, given that a big part of the job involves disseminating the State Party’s position at the local level?

Hogging the Spotlight?

Another criticism of Daly running for Regional Director is a familiar one we’ve heard before: he’s already on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the Democratic County Central Committee, and was an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.  “I don’t understand why he would want to do this,” said Scott Wiener.  “Why does he need to have yet another elected position?  I read his e-mail about wanting to do more grassroots organizing in the State Party, and he can already do that work with his position on the DCCC.”

Daly doesn’t buy that critique.  “I’ll be termed out of the Board of Supervisors next year,” he said, “and I’m interested in building progressive politics for the long term.”  He ran for Obama delegate, because at the time there was legitimate concern that there would be a floor fight in Denver.  He ran for the DCCC, because “we had a job we had to do” to get progressives elected locally – which was very successful.  “I’m using my political capital to build progressive politics in the Democratic Party,” said Daly.  “If the main criticism is that I’m hogging seats, I must be doing a good job.”

If Daly gets elected Regional Director, he has promised to resign from the DCCC.  Under that scenario, DCCC Chair Aaron Peskin would appoint a replacement –  which would hopefully be a young activist who is trying to get more involved.

Who Gets to Vote for Regional Director?

If just the San Francisco DCCC got to pick the Regional Director, Daly would probably win – based on the political bent of that body.  But other people who will have a vote in this election include (a) the 36 State Party delegates from the 12th, 13th and 19th Assembly Districts who were elected in January at caucus meetings, (b) other delegates from those districts appointed by various officeholders, (c) state and federal elected officials who represent the Region, and (d) members of the San Mateo DCCC who live in the 19th Assembly District.

Longo says his “proudest accomplishment” as Regional Director over the past eight years was helping the San Mateo County Committee become financially self-sufficient – which implies that he has strong ties there.  Daly admitted that he only just started reaching out to the San Mateo delegates, with not much time before the Convention. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano wasn’t even aware that Daly had filed to run when I called him, and proxies for State Senators Leland Yee and Mark Leno voted to endorse Longo when the issue came up at the San Francisco DCCC.  At this point, it appears to be an uphill fight for Daly – although it’s certainly winnable.

The state Democratic Convention will be in Sacramento April 24-26.  According to the agenda, Regional Directors will be chosen on Saturday afternoon.  It’s safe to say that the Region 4 meeting will be by far the most interesting.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Paul Hogarth was appointed by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano to be a State Party delegate for the 13th A.D., which means he will have a vote in this race.

Or, more accurately, he’d be completely comfortable in it. After all, he understood how to make Chicago politics work for him, so I’m sure he’d be able to fight in the trenches in San Francisco. But as Obama tries to push our national body politic out of the gutter, some in San Francisco are working their darndest to make sure our local politics stays there.  All this is a bit ironic because many of these same people were vocal and outspoken supporters of Obama. Unfortunately, getting Democrats to work collaboratively, as opposed to combatively, even in a one-party town, can be like herding cats. But that need not lead to the abandonment of a sense of civility.

San Francisco politics, like the politics of many big cities across the country, is something of a bloodsport. Fine, but civility needn’t be tossed out as well.

During the campaign for the June 3 election, we saw some nasty stuff. We had Chris Daly putting Carole Migden on the deceptive faux-“Guardian” Slate. We had some nasty campaigning in pretty much every race, come to think of it. And, in the end, much of what defines San Francisco has been boiled down to one, or two depending on how you look at it, personalities.

But the personalities of Gavin Newsom (and Chris Daly) should not get in the way of a simple fact: Scott Wiener has done a tremendous job as DCCC chair in building the party infrastructure. He may not be the very most progressive, the furthest to the left. In fact, I don’t go out on much of a limb when I say that I am to his left on a few issues here and there.  But when the rubber hits the road, Scott Wiener has worked for progressive causes in the city and state. And he has been incredibly competent at the job for which he is seeking re-election.

Follow me over the flip…

In this city, it frequently seems that you are either pro-Newsom or you are against him. It’s not really a healthy environment. And, to be honest, both Newsom and Supervisor Chris Daly are partially to blame for the venomous atmosphere. But every step of the way, Daly has played an instrumental role in provoking the mayor and polarizing this city, so much so that Sup. Peskin had to step in as budget chair for Daly.

Supervisor Daly was an early and vocal supporter of Senator Obama (while Newsom was the same for Clinton). During the run up to Feb 5, you would frequently find him hanging outside the Obama SF office, typically trying to gather signatures for POWER’s housing initiative that became the ill-fated Prop F on the June 3 ballot. However, the difference between the rhetoric of Obama’s message of unity and hope could not be any more different from the rhetoric of Chris Daly. I won’t go into much depth on Daly’s antics, but suffice it to say that he could be far more effective without being so confrontational and brutish. If you want more information, just do some google searching, you’ll find it.

Which brings me to the hope that the message that Sen. Obama brings.  Chris Daly is a tremendous progressive, but he is a top-down progressive. While Obama can occasionaly be less than optimal (see FISA), he has built a very strong people-powered campaign.  With Daly it’s either his way, or, well, “he’ll take you out”.

Here I am referring back to the SF DCCC Chair race. Chris Daly wants to control the Chair, and the DCCC generally to elect progressives. Great, but we don’t need to destroy the party to do that. I’ll let Steve Jones detail what happens when it’s not his way:

But Daly drew the line and issued an ultimatum: “Every one of you who votes for Scott Wiener, I’m going to try to take you out. I’m going to make it my business.”

***

Finally, Daly started to berate Peskin, telling him, “Get your shit together for six months.”

Now that’s the hope Sen. Obama speaks of, huh? I am reminded of something former Democratic Congresswoman and current Green Party presidential Candidate said at a Green Party Candidate forum here in San Francisco: “I have never seen anything like I have seen in the Green Party! I have to ask my constituents, people who support me, to come and join this? I want to be proud of what I’ve asked them to join, so please, come together.”

I’m going to now say something that I never thought I would ever say: Can we just take the advice on organization and cooperation from Cynthia McKinney? Let’s get our shit together. I can’t think of a better way to do that here in SF than re-electing Scott Wiener as Chair of the DCCC. He has done a tremendous job of bringing on a full-time organizer, registering voters, and getting voters actively involved. Those are the goals of the DCCC, and those are the metrics we should be looking at. By those metrics, Scott deserves re-election.

It’s now time to re-coronate the Gav. With Chris Daly  out and Matt Gonzalez not so much interested, and well, the entire laundry list of other serious contenders out of the mix, meet your new Mayor. The filing deadline of 5PM this afternoon seems to have gone by without a peep.

Ladies and Gentlemen of San Francisco…Gavin Newsom.  Oh well, at least we have three more years of Daly v. Newsom fights.

Today’s Blog Roundup is on the flip. Let me know what I missed.

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Budgets are Moral
Documents

• Working Californians: Messaging the Environment: Budget
  Edition
  http://workingcalifornians.com/blog/julia_rosen/2007/08/09/messaging_the_environment_budget_edition
• California Progress Report: Impact of California State
  Budget Delay on the Disabled and Seniors
  http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/08/impact_of_calif.html
• California Progress Report: 14 White Men Hold California
  Budget Hostage
  http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/08/14_white_men_ho.html
• California Progress Report: Maldonado is No Moderate and
  His
  District Deserves Better: The Budget as an Example of Why We Should
  Fight for a Real Democratic Majority in California
  http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/08/maldonado_is_no.html
• California Progress Report: Representing His District: Abel
  Maldonado—The Only Republican Senator So Far to Vote for the
  California
  State Budget
  http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/08/representing_hi.html
• California Progress Report: DO
  ‘COMPETITIVE’ LEGISLATIVE
  DISTRICTS PRODUCE MODERATE AND REASONABLE LAWMAKERS? SENATOR DENHAM
  PROVES THE OPPOSITE!
  http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/08/do_competitive.html

Not Enough of Anything
Else for Separate Categories

• DownWithTyranny!: AT&T CENSORS PEARL JAM’S
  LOLLAPALOOZA SET BECAUSE A SONG MENTIONED BUSH
  http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/08/at-censors-pearl-jams-lollapalooza-set.html
• GregDewar.com: Why Chris Daly Should Run and How We Got
  Here – Campaign Analysis By Savannah Blackwell
  http://www.gregdewar.com/2007/08/post.html
• Educational Justice: Supreme Court Limits School
  District’s Ability to Desegregate: It’s Up to
  Teachers and Communities to Ensure Educational Equity
  http://edjustice.blogspot.com/2007/08/supreme-court-limits-school-districts.html
• . . . Surf Putah: A New California Dream
  http://surfputah.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-california-dream.html
• California Progress Report: AIDS/HIV, a Key California
  Issue in Today’s Democratic Presidential
  Candidates’ Debate in Los Angeles
  http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/08/aidshiv_a_key_c.html
• The California Majority Report // Today’s Fresh Meat
  http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&ptid=9&aid=2158
• The BRAD BLOG : CA’s E-Voting Earthquake: Kentucky AG Takes
  On Hart Intercivic and Diebold After California’s Demand for Corrective
  Action from Voting Machine Companies
  http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4933
• The California Majority Report // Senator George Runner:
  Hypocrite
  http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&ptid=9&aid=2160
• Dump Doolittle: August expected to yield Congressional
  retirements
  http://solongjohn.blogspot.com/2007/08/august-expected-to-yield-congressional.html
• California Policy Inbox » California Is Expensive
  — Especially When You Add on Health Care Costs
  http://inbox.berkeley.edu/?p=369
• The Ojai Post: MY PARENTS WERE ALIENS
  http://www.ojaipost.com/2007/08/my_parents_were_aliens.shtml
• SoHum Parlance: Check out the colors at Humboldt Homestead!
  http://redwoodreality.blogspot.com/2007/08/check-out-colors-at-humboldt-homestead.html
• Pam’s House Blend:: Hate Crimes on Wikipedia: “Obeying
  God’s Law”
  http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2572

• Daly v Newsom everywhere. If you ask me, Daly crossed the line with his low blow.
• Elizabeth Edwards at Pride really is a big deal — props!
• New google-maps solar potential mashup site.
• This totally rocks, I love reading Juls' Uncle Jay Rosen and Zack and Amanda are great hires.
• DON'T FORGET, next Wednesday: SF and LA. If you know of somebody thinking of running, invite them. Help make these events successful, send some emails invites today!
• Added by Brian: DFA is doing a conference call with Calitics-fav Charlie Brown (CA-11) on Monday. RSVP here