What I learned in Salinas- Dedication to the Party

asdjrocky

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Mon Dec-10-07 11:33 PM
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What I learned in Salinas- Dedication to the Party

Edited on Mon Dec-10-07 11:48 PM by asdjrocky

The first thing I learned, as I checked Mapquest and 6:30 in the freaking morning, was the trip was to take about 3 hours. While I’ve lived in Northern, or Central California most of my life, I still manage to forget, how big this state tends to get when you have to drive somewhere. The time flew by with Nancy, one of our SacramentoforEdwards group, at the wheel of her Honda Hybrid and me riding shotgun. We shared great conversation about politics, journalism, and RFK.

Sherwood Hall was buzzing when we arrived, everyone was working, and they were all working together. I met Thom Diggings the President of the Democratic Club of the Monterey Peninsula first, then he introduced me to Shawn K. Bagley, the Regional Director of, the California Democratic Party. Thom is also the organizer of the Monterey Edwards Group, and Shawn is a big Hillary supporter, and the two of them worked with a lot of other Democratic groups to put the event together.

"This is the first and last time for this kind of event. I
just don't see us ever haveing this many great candidates again."
-Thom Diggins

There were tables for all the candidates, except for Dodd and Gravel. Tom introduced us to Melanie Billing, Edwards organizer from Carmel, and President of the Carmel Area Democratic Women’s Luncheon Club, and of course, she put us right to work, hanging banners and signs. I found myself at one point, gaffing cables to the floor for the A/V equipment, what can I say, it’s in my blood.

Biden table

Obama table.

Across the big hall I saw a woman in an Edwards t-shit, talking and laughing with a man holding a big purple Obama placard. I saw a Hillary supporter give some tape to one of the people putting up signs for Edwards. There were Kucenich supporters, and Biden and Richardson supporters there, all of them working together to put on this great event, not for one single candidate, but for the whole of the Democratic Party. For the ideals, we all of share. And as amazing as it may sound to everyone here at DU, not a bit of bickering among the lot of us. Although, about an hour before the doors opened, some of the supporters of one candidate, objected to the table placement of another candidate, and that table was moved closer to the other tables, and replaced by a wonderful burrito stand. (I had two.) Do I know who complained? No. Do I know who had to move? Yes, it was Hillary.

I met a terrific guy named Bill Bate, who’s written for the Carmel Pine Press since 1972, and he’s been a political cartoonist for the Monterey Herald for only a year. He started his second career as a cartoonist one day when he had had enough of Bush-co. He’s got a book of his cartoons coming out this Friday, Bates on Bush, including all of the cartoons from the Herald, plus the ones they refused to publish. I’d encourage you all to take a look at this book. He’s got a great story to tell, and the cartoons are wonderfully drawn and some are terrifically funny.

Bill Bates

One of my favorites.
The books is 13.47 including tax and delivery, he also signs the book for you.
Snail mail only, a lot of them take things at a different pace in Carmel-
Bill Bates – PO Box 4227 – Carmel, Ca – 93821

I also met and spoke briefly with Christine Pelosi, she was autographing copies of her book, Campaign Boot Camp, published by, PoliPointPress, and I plan to use it as my manual for taking over the world one day. When I asked about her mom putting impeachment on the table, she kind of put the question off and made a brief comment on the new story in the WaPo, and how they were trying to rail road the Democrat’s. I bought the book, she was lovely.

Christine Pelosi

I came down stairs and was informed by Nancy, in a quiet and excited tone, that we were allowed to vote. I was under the assumption that we would not be voting because we were not from the sponsoring counties, but I had assumed wrong. It cost ten bucks or two cans of food to vote, and since I was fresh out of canned peas, I ponyed up. I was just thrilled to get a chance to cast my opinion.

I grabbed a program and took a quick look at what I was in for. There was to be an introduction at 1:00 by Shawn Bagley, and Vinz Koller, Monterey County Democratic Central Committee. The Mayor of Salinas, Dennis Donahue would speak then Sam Farr, US Congressman, 17th District, Ca.

Casting my vote

Each candidate would have one or two speakers and 17 minutes to rally for their candidates. Dodd had a video presentation. I was looking forward to all the speeches, and was thrilled when I had the chance to meet Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of United Farm Workers, she was one of the people on the stage with RFK, that fateful night in Los Angeles. She was there in support of Hillary Clinton.

Betty Yee, Chairperson, California Board of Equalization, would speak for John Edwards, and she was nice enough to speak to me before her speech. I asked her why she was behind John Edwards, her response: “A Democrat will take the white house in the 08, and we need someone with courage. Someone who hasn’t forgotten the roll of government.” She was also a delegate in 04 for Kerry/Edwards.

Vinz Koller stated, “I’m just happy we have so many great candidates. It’s really important to bring this to Central Califorina.”

Dolores Huerta & Vinz Koller

The speeches were great. Of all the candidate surrogates I enjoyed Lynne Mosier, Mike Gravels daughter the most. She was a great speaker, and I hope someday she runs for state office in California. After her speech, with a lot of applause and laughter, by the way, she spoke to me for a few minutes. She told me she used to work in banking and now she’s raising a 6 and an 8 year old in Half Moon Bay. Here’s my favorite part of the conversation:

Q: Were you around during the Pentagon Papers madness, if so, did you know what was going on?

Lynne: I was about 10, so I kind of knew something was going on. There was a lot of tension at the dinner table for a couple of days, lot’s of different people coming in and out of the house. I remember one time my mom saying she wanted the house checked for bugs, and I told my mom I hadn’t seen any bugs. The next day, there were men there sweeping the house for bugs, but I was sure they weren’t doing it right, because they didn’t look like any exterminators I’d ever seen.

This story alone, is worth the trip to me. She asked me to make this statement to you on behalf of her father, Candidate Mike Gravel, and I agreed.

“Congress does not represent “We the People”. If they did, Bush would be impeached, we’d be out of Iraq and we’d have Universal Health Care. Congress represents Corporations and Big Money. Do you want to change that? Check out the National Initiative for Democracy
www.ni4d.us
Empower Yourself with the right to vote on the issues, not just the politicians.”

While she didn’t convince me to support Gravel, I did get her on the record saying she liked Edwards.

Lynne Mosier Gravel

Obama and Hillary, both had a great organization there and a lot, I mean a lot of people. And all of them were terrific. The Kucinich group was some really friendly people, they even gave me a button. I spent a little time speaking to the Biden supporters and found them all to be unbelievably nice, and well versed on policy. I spent a great deal of time with a firefighter there that was volunteering for Bill Richardson.

David Buchanan, the California Political Coordinator for the Richardson Campaign, told me after his speech, “The Iraq war is the most important issue, and Bill Richardson is the person to handle the Iraq war.”

When I ask if he’d consider Sec. Of State, or VP, David added, “Bill Richardson is running for President.”

The Straw Vote ran from 1:00 to 4:00, and the results were announced at 4:30. I give a big thumbs up to Peter B. from Dance to the Music, for a great production that include gobo lighting, multiple wireless microphones, and a great deal of video gear that needed to be wired into the sound system. I believe Peter is just a great Dem, volunteering his time to do this, and being in the business, I respect that a great deal. And the music for each candidate, and the overall event was perfect. Digital Cinema was there for the video production, and yes, I hope to soon have a video link soon.

Kucinch Table

Biden Table

Richardson Table

The results of the 300 votes:
1st - Obama - 33%
2nd - Clinton - 23%
3rd - Edwards - 17.5%
4th - Kucinich - 14%
The Remaining 12.5 %:
5th - Richardson
6th - Biden
7th - Gravel
8th – Dodd

Let's give the Dems who came to vote a hand!

Signing up a volenteer at the Edwards table

And once the numbers were announced I saw an amazing sight, everyone shaking hands, hugging, saying congratulations to winners and heart felt condolences to the also rans. Even though I am a diehard Edwards supporter, I was really happy for the Obama and Hillary supporters, thrilled at their victory. As the Obama supporters were dancing to Kool and the Gang on the big Sherwood Hall stage, I danced with all of them in spirit.

By the end we were all celebrating together, all of us hard working Dems, all, in this fight together. That’s what I learned, were all one big family. I went there to work for Edwards, and came away, working for our Democratic Party.

I can’t hate any of you here, or any of your candidates. We are all Dems here.

We are fearless, we are dreamers and doers, we are Democrats.

And we got 10 times the heart, of any of those republican boot lickers.

I walked away knowing I’d support, whole-heartedly, and proudly whoever gets the nomination.

That’s what I learned in Salinas.

Peace

Edwards 08!

Hillary 08!

Obama 08!

Note: I tried to give equal time to all candidates. I have some other pics that I'll post down the line. I have more informantion on the day, but I thought I carred on long enugh here.