Once upon a time, you looked out across the Coachella Valley and all that you saw was sand, desert, windmills, golf courses, persons of a certain age, and lots and lots of Repugnants.  But, as you should know by now, the times, they are achangin’!  Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Indio, and Coachella each gave a majority of their votes to the Kerry/Edwards ticket in 2004.  In the CA 80th Assembly District, the Democratic voter registration outnumbers that of the Repugnants by about 13,000!!!  The city council of Palm Springs has a majority Democrats including the outgoing mayor, Ron Oden, and City Councilpersons Ginny Foat and Steve Pougnet.  The Cathedral City City Council enjoys the benefit of having two Democratic members including Greg Pettis and Paul Marchand.  The City Councils of Palm Springs and of Cathedral City each has three openly-gay council members (if in Cat City, you count the member who is only openly gay in the predominantly gay Cove district and is a member of the Log Cabin Repugnants but is closeted in the hetero parts of Cat City).

To celebrate the Bluing of the Coachella Valley, the Desert Stonewall Democrats threw a Get-Out-The-Vote fundraising party in order to support its slate of candidates in the upcoming November 2007 local elecctions!  Steve Pougnet, Candidate for Mayor of Palm Springs, John Williams, Candidate for Palm Springs City Council, Rick Hutcheson, Candidate for Palm Springs City Council, Craig Ewing, Candidate for the Water Board, Jono Hildner from NO ON C, Adam Sanchez Candidate for Mayor of Desert Hot Springs, Karl Baker, Candidate for Desert Hot Springs City Council, Ginny ‘Ma’ Foat, Palm Springs City Council, Greg Pettis, Cathedral City Mayor Pro-Tem and Candidate for the CA 80th AD, Paul Marchand, Cathedral City City Council, and George Zander, President of the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club, amongst others, hosted the soire.

More details and names are named below the flip…

Steve Pougnet, Candidate for Mayor of Palm Springs, was quite knowledgeable about the electorate and is a Gary Bosworth-in-waiting.  Meaning, he has quite the grasp of the Palm Springs voter stats.  Pougnet clued this writer into the 13,000 registration advantage that the Democrats have over the Repugnants in the CA 80th AD.  Also, he reported that he has quite the ad campaign hitting the stands in the upcoming ‘Bottom Line’ and elsewhere.  Check it out for some great pics of the Candidate for Mayor and his amazing family.

John Williams, Candidate for Palm Springs City Council, was quite the socializer.  He attended the Desert Women for Equality Board Meeting prior to also attending the Desert Business Association Mixer, and then the DSD fundraiser.  Rick Hutcheson also ran the Monday night gauntlet, attending both the DSD fundraiser and the DBA meeting.  Craig Ewing was quite knowledgeable re the water needs of the District and will give waterboarding a good name (pun intended…please cite me as a reference in the retelling).

George Zander, President of DSD, and Bob Silverman, Treasurer of DSD mingled and schmoozed with the revellers.  Tracy Turner, of Vets for Peace had a great anti-war sticker that he promised to get me.  Jono Hildner of No on C circluated easily and was quite well received.  Mike Balassa and Carol Balassa, leaders of PFLAG-Coachella Valley, regaled me with stories of the Equality California Fundraiser.  Apparently, Carol was quite the socialite and Mike the bon vivante!

The event took place on Monday, October 22, 2007 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the Look Restaurant in Downtown Palm Springs.

If you were unable to attend and still wish to send money, Zander says to send it to:

Desert Stonewall Democrats
31855 Date Palm DR #3 PMB #275
Cathedral City CA  92234

October 18, 2007 – Palm Springs Village Fest Voter Registration and Candidate Information Tabling at Palm Canyon & Arenas, Palm Springs, CA, Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. (Adult beverages enjoyed thereafter at the local pubs).

Cool desert nights and progressive Democrats.  What more could a boy (or for that matter, a girl) want as a prelude to a fifteenth anniversary weekend in Pasadena for Heritage Weekend (actually, a non-anniversary weekend as, thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, we cannot have a legal anniversary.)?  Large crowds of locals and visitors and voters surrounded the tables.  One highlight was the posse of Marines from 29 Palms who came by, especially the one who wanted one of my John Edwards’ bumper stickers that read “Support the Troops/End the War.”  (Is it wrong to flirt with War Heroes?  Isn’t that part of supporting the troops?).

The Democratic clubs were well represented as usual with Desert Stonewall Democrats staffing one table thanks to George Z, President, Randy, Jim R, and Jim’s partner.  The Democrats of the Desert and the Palm Springs Democrats staffed another table as well.

Steve Pougnet, Candidate for Mayor of Palm Springs, spent two fun hours at the Democratic Club tables in order to raise awareness about his plans regarding revitalization of the Palm Springs Downtown corridor, crime and safety, energy conservation, and community involvement.  His visit came close on the heels of the vote by Palm Springs City Council to endorse the Wessman development projects (Pougnet and Ginny Foat were in the minority in opposing this Chino Cone/hillside development).  Pougnet has been endorsed for Mayor of Palm Springs by both the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club and the Palm Springs Demoratic Club, the only local Democratic Clubs to make an endorsement for mayor, as well as The Desert Sun.  Pougnet has been active as City Councilman since 2003 and currently serves as Mayor Pro-Tem.  He is also serves on numerous boads and committees, including President of the Mizell Senior Center, chairman of the Coachella Valley Association of Government’s Energy Conservation subcommittee, board member of the Valley Action Group, and a member of the Palm Springs Unified School District Advisory Committee.  He was also co-chair of the Citizens Task Force for Mountain and Foothill Preservation and Planning.

Hopefully, we will see more visits from Pougnet, Greg Pettis, Candidate for CA 80th Assembly District, John Williams, Candidate for City Council of Palm Springs, Rick Hutcheson, Candidate for City Council of Palm Springs, and Bob Mahlowitz, Candidate for City Council of Palm Springs.

More exciting details below the flip…

We had representation at the tables from the Sen. John Edwards campaign, i.e., yours truly, captain of the Palm Springs for Edwards One Corps Chapter and Tiffany from the Coachella Valley John Edwards for President One Corps Chapter.  Tiffani and I distributed position papers from the John Edwards for President campaign, provided campaign buttons and bumper stickers, and solicited voters to register to vote.  In just the past week alone, John Edwards received endorsements from dozens of local, state, and federal elected officials in Oklahoma, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Maine.  Senator Edwards has also recently been endorsed by more than 3 million union members from all across the country including more than 1 million SEIU members from the following 11 SEIU State Councils: Iowa, California, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Oregon, and Massachusetts. 

John Edwards also earned the endorsement last month of the Transport Workers Union of America (200,000 active and retired members), the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (520,000 active members), the United Steelworkers (1.2 million active members and retirees), and the United Mine Workers of America (105,000 active members and retirees).  The Iowa Postal Workers Union also endorsed Senator Edwards this past week as well.

John Edwards’ pollster, Harrison Hickman, has prepared a new polling memo which proves, once again, that John Edwards is the strongest and most electable candidate. You can view this memo by clicking here: http://johnedwards.c….

Back to Village Fest.  Wayne and the boys from the fab Sen. Hillary Clinton campaign had twinking lights and gave away free Hillary balloons to the young and to the young at heart.

Ed spearheaded the Sen. Barack Obama table with Richard and Kurt’s assistance.  The Obama people were active in collecting information from potential volunteers.  Bob M. of the Draft Al Gore campaign circulated petitions to get Nobel Prize Winner Gore on the 2008 California Democratic Primary ballot.

We also registered 16 voters last night, including two at the Unofficial Drinking Liberally (UODL) after-party at Bongo Johnny’s!  Keep turning the Coachella Valley blue!

I had the opportunity to begin the UODL a tad early as I had to leave Village Fest to begin my un-anniversary celebration (remember, Gov. Schwarzenegger will not allow Marriage Equality in CA or as a result, anniversaries either).  Anyway, I hopped over to Hunter’s Video Bar, and who did I see?  None other than Udo Kier, former Andy Warhol star and actor in such movies as ‘Blade,’ ‘Halloween,’ and Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Grindhouse.’  Yes, after an internal debate and a call to my un-husband, I decided to be the typical stareffer and bought Udo a bottle of water and schmoozed.

You never know what will happen when you are active in your community and working to Take Back California and America.  See you next Thursday night?!?!?!

October 5, 2007 – Palm Springs Village Fest Voter Registration and Candidate Information Tabling.  The air was crisp and those scandalous Repugnant women from last week were noticably absent from Palm Canyon last night.  The mood was much more festive and jovial.  We are the Democratic Party spelled PARTY on Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. to whenever!

The Democratic clubs were well represented with Desert Stonewall Democrats staffing one table thanks to George Zander, DSD President, and Bob.  The Democrats of the Desert staffed another thanks to Eleanor who was as usual radiant and focused.   In addition, representatives of the Palm Springs Democrats held strong.  We even had a visit from Chuck McDaniel, co-chair of the new Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club, member of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee, and activist with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.  Does Mr. IBEW have any spare time?

Richard Oberhaus, Campaign Manager for the Right Honorable Greg Pettis, Candidate for the 80th Assembly District, reigned over the festivities as he is wont to do.  Hopefully, we will see visits from Greg, Steve Pougnet, Rick Hutcheson, John Williams, and Bob Mahlowitz again shortly.

More below the flip…

Besides McDaniel from the IBEW, we had the pleasure of talking to unionist from the Sheetmetal Workers Union and others as well.  McDaniel and Tracy Turner, Vets for Peace activist, reported that they were there for the Moveon.org demonstration up the street from our esteemed location in front of Kopy Cats. at Arenas and Palm Canyon Drive.

We also had representation at the tables from the Sen. John Edwards campaign, the consensus leader in most Iowa polls (represented by yours truly), the boys from the fab Sen. Hillary Clinton campaign, the amazing Ed Jones and Charlotte Murphy, M.D., representing the also fab Sen. Barack Obama campaign, and Bob from Re-elect Al Gore people (petitions to circulate shortly for inclusion of Al Gore on the 2008 California Democratic Primary ballot).  I had several opportunities to recruit interested parties to table for the Dennis Kucinich campaign, and we will see if these supporters will pick up the gauntlet.

We observed lots of interest in the various campaigns’ buttons, fliers and bumper stickers!  The Hillary Clinton advocates were active in handing out Hillary balloons to the rug rats and street urchins!  We registered 8 voters, including two who just had to switch parties from the Dark Side.

We had our weekly unofficial Drinking Liberally party (UODL)at Bongo Johnny’s (thanks to the generous two-for-one drink tickets from the equally generous Chris and Marco).  Kudos to bartender Douglas for the wondrous libations!  Joining yours truly were Z and Bob S. from the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club and from the Democrats of the Desert amongst other memberships, Tracy from the Vets for Peace, etc., Bob from Re-Elect Al Gore, Richard from the Greg Pettis for 80th Assembly District Campaign, Charlotte from the Obama Campaign and her friend, Pablo, and myself, we hardly had enough two-for-one adult beverage drink tickets to see us through the evening at the now-open-until 2:00 a.m. BJ’s.

The UODLers then staggered over to Hunter’s Video Bar to entertain and to be entertained by registered voters from all corners of the planet.