BE for CHANGE

Don't buy this book! Instead...

......come to a party we're co-hosting (with the Santa Barbara Democratic Party and Vote Blue) honoring Willie Brown on Wednesday afternoon, May 14. You'll receive a copy of the book with the price of your ticket, and Speaker Brown will be happy to sign it for you.

Please e-mail Barbie for all the details.

(Proceeds of the event will go to supporting Democratic Party grassroots efforts in Santa Barbara County.)

I have a favor to ask...

I've posed a question on my blog, The Broad View. Please take a look and if you have the first-hand experience of attending a rally, or can ask someone who has, leave an answer in the comments.

(And hey, while you're there, you might want to read my screed and that of my chief correspondent, Chiaroscuro. Now that the J-J Dinner is over, I'm gearing up to go back to blogging in a far more active way than I have for many months.)

Thanks!

—Ellen

Glenn Smith explains Texas

Glenn has been writing at MyDD to explicate, among other issues, the Texas process — its combo of primary and caucus. Here he is on the latest flap: the "lawsuit."

J-J Dinner photos...

...are here, thanks to Marian Shapiro, her sharp eye and quick finger on the camera button.

You can download the pictures you like to your computer, but if you use them elsewhere, please be sure to credit Marian as the photographer.

And if you took any pictures you'd like us to post, just e-mail them to Ellen.

IndictMINTS, etc.

If you liked the IndictMINTS and ImpeachMINTS and the other Bush-bashing favors and auction items at the J-J Dinner, they are available from buzzflash.com's web store.

Sad news

It is with sadness and regret that I tell you this: Glenn Smith will not be speaking at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner tonight. His older brother, Mack, died in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, and the funeral is today. Glenn, always the most generous of men, wrote me a touching e-mail -- in the midst of his terrible grief -- expressing his dismay at disrupting our plans.

I hastened to reassure him, and to offer him the condolences of all of us.

Glenn had written the most extraordinary speech to deliver tonight. I asked for a copy to post here, and I encourage everyone to read it -- to study it, in fact. It is rich in information, in humanity, in profound political and personal observation.

The title of his speech is "Do Americans Believe in the Wisdom of the Public? The Promise of Popular Democracy." After reading it you will be eager to meet Glenn, to bask in his warmth and to explore with him the propositions he puts forward -- the products of a huge intellect and a huge heart. You will surely want to incorporate those propositions into your own thinking, and take action on them now.

I have promised Glenn, and I promise you: we will make sure to give us all, later in the year, that opportunity.

Our prayers are with Glenn and his family.

The speech

Online resources for our J-J Dinner participants

— this list is a work in progress at February 23 — please come back

Debra Bowen
California Secretary of State

John Dean
at FindLaw.com's The Writ
buy John's books

Glenn Smith
at the Rockridge Institute
at MyDD (includes a clear explication of the tortuous Texas primary/caucus arrangements)
buy Glenn's books

Henry Vandermeir
California Democratic Council

Red-to-Blue Coalition
Vote Blue -- the website seems to be down
Take Back Red California
CDP Rural Caucus
Speak Out California!

The J-J Dinner is SOLD OUT!!!

Last time we kept reservations open through the event date, and ultimately 470 people crowded into Warren Hall. The turnout was deeply gratifying, but there was just too much of a crush. So this year we decided to hold the number to 400, and as of today, we are SOLD OUT!

This is really remarkable, and we thank with all our hearts the great Santa Barbara Democratic community for showing such tremendous support for our grassroots activists.

We have also received an unprecedented amount of underwriting money, which means, of course, that more dollars than ever before can be distributed not only to the Democratic Service Club but to our partners in the Red-to-Blue Coalition, who are working so hard to register more and more Democrats and to get more and more Democrats elected to office in this historic election cycle.

We are excited, energized, mobilized -- and what a treat it will be to come together on February 23rd and share the vibe!

Love,

Barbie and Ellen
BE for Change

P.S. If you want to be wait-listed, in case a couple of slots open up, please send an e-mail to Barbie.

Debra Bowen on board for the J-J Dinner

More great news: Secretary of State Debra Bowen will join John Dean, Glenn Smith and Henry Vandermeir as honored guests and speakers at the February 23rd Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. Ms. Bowen is a zealous protector of individual liberties, and hers is a cherished voice in the progressive community.

Be sure to reserve your tickets now. The price goes up (from $55 to $75) on January 26, and they're going fast!

Reserve for the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner online

It's the moment you've been waiting for: we're now accepting reservations online for the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner!

Please click here!

Glenn Smith, Henry Vandermeir join John Dean as speakers at J-J Dinner

Glenn W. Smith, Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute and Henry Vandermeir, president of the California Democratic Council, will join John Dean on the podium at the February 23rd Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

We're sending out an e-mail update today, with (among other pieces of important information) links to biographical information about our stellar speakers. If you don't get an e-mail, please click on the "JJ Dinner Update" button in the right sidebar and we'll make sure to send it along.

Red Alert: Dirty, really DIRTY TRICKS, in our own backyard

Please stay vigilant!!!
And report any suspicious activity like this to the CDP Fraud Busters.

Hat tip to fellow blogger and The Broad View broad Jillian Johnson for this one:

---

Stealth signature gatherers gull students-in-a-hurry at UC Santa Barbara -- I've alerted the California Democratic Party "Fraud Busters" -- but surely there is more we can do to keep the Republicans (and Giuliani) from their nefarious rounds.

Read all about it in the UCSB Daily Nexus.

JOHN DEAN will keynote next Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, February 23, 2008

From the e-mail we sent today...

We are so pleased and excited! Yes, it's still several months away, but we wanted to tell you, the minute he'd confirmed it, that John Dean will join us in Santa Barbara on Saturday, February 23, 2008 to keynote the next Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

We wanted so much for John to do this that we postponed the dinner (twice) until we could find a date that worked for him.

Please put February 23, 2008 on your calendar now and plan to be with us at the Earl Warren Showgrounds for what promises to be the best J-J Dinner yet -- with a wonderful mix of A-list speakers, fabulous food, smart conversation and, of course, rousing Democratic solidarity.

As always, we have a few more tricks up our sleeve, but you'll just have to wait for our next e-mail to know what they are...

In the meanwhile, mark your calendar, buy John's new book, and be prepared to mobilize!

Sincerely,

-- Ellen & Barbie --

Red Alert: New post on The Broad View

You can read the full series of my posts on this subject at The Broad View. And you can click on the Red Alert! box in the right sidebar and follow the trail of this year's deplorable GOP election-stealing effort through press reports, blog posts, and ACTION ITEMS!

Red Alert!!

If you read Hendrik Hertzberg in the August 6 New Yorker, or Jonathan Alter in the August 13 Newsweek, or Hannah-Beth Jackson at her Speak Out California website, then you'll know that we California Democrats may be facing a daunting challenge in June 2008.

Note the way the three publications have slugged their pieces: Hertzberg calls his "Votescam." Hannah-Beth tells us that the Republicans are "Trying to steal the Presidency — again!" Alter goes with a three-fer: "Is California GOP Trying to Steal the 2008 Election?" "A Red play for the Golden State" "There's some malicious mischief at play in efforts to reform our electoral system." Bam! Bam! Bam!

This is serious stuff, and will require us to be on our activist mettle at the very moment we'd most like to take a breather. Dammit, we have another election — in June 2008. It's only the presidential primary that's been unbundled from our usual June ballot. The primaries are held then for all the other offices up for a vote in November. It's the perfect opportunity to put stealth initiatives on a ballot that too many people will regard as ho-hum.

The Repubs will be angling to get us to vote for something they've named with perfect Rovian pitch. Here's how Alter describes its intended effect:

The Presidential Election Reform Act would award the state's electoral votes based on who wins each congressional district. Had this idea been in effect in 2004, Bush would have won 22 electoral votes from California, about the same number awarded the winners of states like Illinois or Pennsylvania. In practical terms, adopting the initiative would mean that the Democratic candidate would likely have to win both Ohio and Florida in 2008 (instead of one or the other) to be elected.

[Alter tells us that Democrats are hoping to do a similar deal in North Carolina, where far fewer votes are at stake. In all fairness, we should stand in opposition to that ploy as well.]

The California effort may, in fact, not be legal. Will it pass a court test? We don't know that yet. But this is a development that bears close watching, and major action when and if the initiative is cleared for the ballot. You can be sure our Red-Blue Coalition (see left sidebar) will be all over it.

Meanwhile, please read the linked articles, know the stealth terminology, and stay wary.

Barbie reports on California's Red-to-Blue Coalition

The 2004 presidential election brought many new people into the world of politics! We also saw many activists from the 60's come out of "retirement" and get involved with grassroots candidates as Howard Dean, Wes Clark and John Edwards. People who had never been involved or had been on the sidelines came forth to work to change our country!

While our candidates did not win in the primary, nor did our nominee win in the general election, the energy that drove these folks did not go away. Out of this energy grew many grassroots organizations such as BE for Change, SoCal Grassroots, Take Back Red California, and Vote Blue. The leaders of these groups met together in December at a meeting of the CA Democratic Party Executive Board meeting and joined together, along with the CDP Rural Coaltion and the Red-to-Blue Coalition was formed.

Our first activity was the Red-to-Blue Dinner held in conjunction with the State Party Convention in April, 2007. Keynote speaker was Jim Dean, Democracy for America Executive Director and he was joined by Charlie Brown and Will Durston, two candidates for Congress who came mighty close to defeating the long-entrenched Republican Congressmen. We even had Governor Bill Richardson drop by to say hello!

The focus of the coalition is, as the name implies, is to turn "red" California districts "blue," at all levels - national, statewide and local. We are committed to working with grass roots folks in the "red" areas to elect more Democrats! Everyone seems to think that California is a "safe Blue state." We all know that this is not true. The largest growth in population is in the "red" areas of our state; while Republican registration is actually declining, we are not seeing growth in Democratic registrants. Most of the Republicans are re-registering as "decline to state," and while they are not happy with the Republican party, we don’t know that they will vote Democratic in 2008.

In Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties there is an open seat in the 19th State Senate District and we will be working hard to bring about a Democratic victory. Likewise, we will be electing a supervisor in the 3rd supervisorial district in Santa Barbara County and we’d very much like to change the majority on the Board. WE are planning on success in both of these races because the political climate in California is vastly different from what it was four years ago.

Working together, our organizations are aiming to make a difference throughout California. With your help, we can change a district’s elected officials, even if it is one district at a time!

---- Barbie Deutsch ----

35th Assembly District Results

Barbie and Ellen were re-elected yesterday as delegates to the California Democratic Party. Joining us are Emily Allen, Marty Blum (Santa Barbara mayor), Helen Conly (Ventura, VoteBlue), Angie Swanson, Tim Allison (e-Board rep), Michael Cheng, Mike Getto, David Landecker, Shawn Tallant and Jon Williams.

Emily, Angie and Shawn represent young blood in our ranks, and as progressive Democrats we are grateful to have them in our cohort.

Many thanks to all of you (a record number) who turned out to vote yesterday. We are grateful for your support.

Wes Clark's Santa Barbara speech . . .

. . . is here.

Wes Clark receives huge welcome

[Please see the Notes and links at the bottom of the post, after the jump.]

If Wes Clark was tired he sure didn't let it show. He'd been on the hustings for months, stumping for Democratic candidates the length and breadth of the country. Two days before, he'd been in Milano. Yet here he was, sizzling — full of energy, full of warmth and good humor, ready for the eager handshake and face-to-face encounter with members of the record-setting crowd who'd come to hear him deliver the keynote speech at the Santa Barbara Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

For many of the nearly 500 people at the dinner, the Wes Clark they heard and saw was a revelation. Some knew him only from the so-called "debates" of the 2004 presidential primary season, whose very format gave him scant latitude in which to express his knowledge and passion. (As for his regular appearances on Fox News, well, I doubt that among Democratic partisans anyone but Clark's devoted cadre of volunteers and active supporters would know to tune in.) But I had experienced the "Wes effect"; I had been privileged to hear him in person before — at DePauw University in 2003, in Keene, N.H. at a townhall meeting in 2004, and at various informal Los Angeles gatherings since — so I knew he would charm the pants off the audience and deliver a speech that would rouse us to a standing ovation.

Which, of course, is exactly what he did.

Mr. President?

Anyone who knows me knows that Wes Clark has been one of my heroes since his nightly sit-downs at Aaron Brown's CNN anchor desk during the early stages of the Iraq war. Friends who watched with me (we called it our "sacred hour," reassuring moments of sanity in a world gone mad) thought that we'd invented the idea that this man should be president. When Wes intimated that he was giving it some thought — it was on Meet the Press, mid-June 2003 — I discovered the Draft Clark movement and leapt onto the bandwagon. I've been riding it ever since.

There is active speculation that Wes will run again in 2008. He gracefully deflects the question whenever he's asked by saying "I haven't said I won't." I asked him how Gert (his splendid wife, whose flight from Little Rock was delayed, and who was therefore unable to come — to my keen disappointment) felt about his re-entering the fray. "She hates it," he said simply. "Why wouldn't she?" I replied, thinking how political campaigns take a terrible toll on spouses. Wes is deeply devoted to Gert. One can imagine that her feelings in the matter will be a major factor in his decision.

However, there is something in his intensity when he talks about high office that says he believes he is the right man for the job at this moment in our history. The belief doesn't seem to emanate from an excess of ego, but rather from a clear-headed assessment of what the country needs and what he brings to the table. He is a strategic thinker, a cerebral pragmatist. He is deeply schooled in history and economics, seasoned in diplomacy, equally at home in matters of foreign and domestic policy. Dedication and brilliance bore him from first in his class at West Point to a Rhodes Scholarship to the pinnacle of active command in the United States Army. He is the intellectual as man of action. He is, in a word, a leader. Which is why, if I read him correctly, he is primed for the top job only.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

He is also a charmer who engages easily with people and gives the person he's talking to his full attention. (I did catch him multi-tasking a couple of times with his Blackberry, but he was waiting for word of Gert's safe arrival in Los Angeles, and once he got it he was all ours.) He "worked the room" to great effect, both at the dinner itself and at a reception beforehand for our major donors and other honored guests. He bantered, got serious, listened intently, focused on what was said to him and on what he said in return. He seems to take genuine pleasure in the give-and-take. There is nothing intimidating in his manner — perhaps surprising to newcomers to the "Wes effect," given what we assume about a general, all that gold on his cap, the panoply of ribbons on his chest. But we also don't expect generals, even retired generals, to have "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "Blowin' in the Wind" on their iPods.

But Wes does! And he wants RJ Eskow on it too, along with Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan. RJ writes anti-war songs and sang several for us; Wes followed the lyrics closely while RJ was singing "I Wish More Christians Loved Jesus" and "Gunplay," and several times murmured "This is fantastic!" Later he requested that RJ make him a recording. "I want that man working for me," he said.

" . . . there were people with tears in their eyes"

For me the most touching moment of the evening came when Frank Kelly, once a mainstay of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions and before that, among other things, a speechwriter for Harry Truman, presented to Wes a signed copy of his Truman memoir. Frank is one of Santa Barbara's treasures, and there was the symmetry of greatness in the exchange. (That's me, Zelig-like, looking on.)

There was someone I most particularly wanted to hear Wes and to speak with Wes personally. He's chair of the California Democratic Party Veterans' Caucus, and he had not been a Clark supporter the last time around. Unfortunately, he was recovering from an operation and unable to attend; but his family was there. The other day he e-mailed me to say how truly sorry he was to have missed it; his wife and daughters told him that at the end of Wes' speech, "there were people with tears in their eyes."

Continue reading "Wes Clark receives huge welcome"

JJ Dinner: revised attendance tally

Apologies to the folks who didn't have the best sight-lines or who were quite far from the stage. We finally had to open up more space in Warren Hall to accommodate the rush of people who wanted to come — and who persisted even after we'd said the event was sold out.

We ended up, finally, with 470 attendees at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner! Thank you, Santa Barbara Democrats!!!