DU this, please, to help a strong progressive Democrat win!

http://www.dfalink.com/campaign.php?id=2565

Sign up as a grassroots supporter to help Democrat Vickie Butcher get a national DFA endorsement - so she can take back Duncan Hunter's seat in Congress! I'm Vickie's campaign manager. Check out this amazing woman's story at the link above, and find out more at her website (www.votevickiebutcher.com). If you want to help, please kick and recommend this thread. Thanks!

Here's what the DFA link has to say:

Background: Some people say than an African-Amerian woman with Native American blood can’t win in the 52nd Congressional District. For the first time in 25 years, I am offering voters a true choice. I’m a fighter and I WILL win. I’ve spent my life fighting to win and protect hard-won civil rights. I grew up in a time when Martin Luther King fought and died for these freedoms. I knew the Little Rock Nine, who were attacked with dogs and fire hoses just to attend public school. And if you don’t think I’m tough, I graduated law school after my fifth child was born! Now I am running for Congress to restore the American dream of peace, prosperity, and opportunity for all.

I have international, national, state and local leadership experience in government, business and nonprofit organizations to guide me in representing you in Congress.

I taught at the California School for the Deaf as well as Grossmont College and area high schools before deciding to obtain my juris doctorate degree. I graduated from Thomas Jefferson School of Law right after my 5th child was born.

My husband, Dr. Richard Butcher, and I have lived in this district for 28 years, raised our family here, and spent most of our lives serving our community. I've chaired our local planning board and served on many government bodies, including the California Water Quality Control Board and San Diego Human Relations Council. I was president of the National Medical Association Auxiliary when my husband was NMA president. Together, we helped bring healthcare to underserved communities. I also served on several FDA panels and won an FDA award for consumer service.

As executive director of Water for Children Africa, a nonprofit, I led efforts to bring safe water and medical supplies to people in 15 nations. I received the 2007 NAACP Humanitarian Award and the March of Dimes Mother of the Year Award. I also received the Medaille d' Excellence for my service on a United Nations peacemaking roundtable in Geneva.

I organized 11 international business and trade conferences, and have owned small businesses. I understand needs of business, but also remember my working class roots in a grocer's famly and strongly support rights of working people.

I have endorsements from many leaders in healthcare reform, education, labor, business, and government--including Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, chair of the House committee on ethics. She was the first in Congress to challenge the Ohio electors in the 2004 presidential election.

I am a strong supporter of voting rights and election integrity--and I will fight to make sure that every vote cast is counted!

Goals: I am running to restore the American dream of peace, prosperity, and opportunities for all.

My grandfather was lynched by a mob in Mississippi. My father was sent away to live with relatives after threats were made to murder every African-American child in the town. I am fortunate to have triumphed over this turbulent past and become a leader in government, business, and humanitarian fields.

Today, I am deeply concerned about the rise in hate crimes and the loss of opportunities for so many people. Middle class families are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of everything goes up, while the poor are struggling to survive.

The Iraq War is costing $11 billion a week, crippling our military and a generation of young men and women. Launching preemptive war on Iraq was wrong, and even our top generals now say it\'s time to bring our troops home.
We must end this war to revitalize our economy and restore opportunities for all Americans who are willing to work hard to succeed and have a better future for our children.

We need to join all other industrialized nations in the world and provide universal healthcare for every man, woman and child in America.
We must strengthen our safety nets and put the "secure" back in Social Security.

I also support training in clean, green renewable energy jobs to revitalize our economy and reduce global warming. As a delegate to a national conference on sustainable development, I know the importance of addressing climate change.

Drought and global warming have contributed to three of the worst wildfires in California history, which all started in my district. In October 2007, half a milliion people here had to evacuate and 1,700 families lost their homes. Leadership at the federal level to prevent these devastating fires has been sadly lacking. I am convening a brain trust of fire experts to craft legislation that will provide real fire protection for our region.

We also need to provide better care for our military members and veterans, who are suffering high rates of homelessness, brain injuries, and other traumas. We must also stop outsourcing our military jobs to private contractors like Blackwater, which has not been held accountable for killing innocent civilians in Iraq or other inappripriate activities.

Issues: It's time to end the Iraq War and bring our troops home. This ill-conceived war based on falsified intelligence is wrong. This administration has run up the highest national debt in history - $30,000 for every person in America. This is fiscally irresponsible. By halting expenditures on war, we can reduce our national debt and invest a portion of the savings in programs to help people here at home.

Healthcare reform is a top priority of mine, as former head of national, state and local medical organizations. In my own district, 40% of working people have no health insurance and many more are underinsured. We must join other industrialized nations and approve universal healthcare to assure affordable access to every man, woman and child in America.

I am also committed to providing federal leadership to protect my community from wildfires. In 2003 and 2007, the worst wildfires in California history all started in my district. Half a million people were evacuated recently, 1,700 homes burned, and lives were lost. We must have federal firefighting planes stationed here during fire season with appropriate manpower. We need brush-cutting programs year-round, and we need federal incentives to encourage the city and county to upgrade its firefighting resources to meet and surpass minimum federal requirements for fire safety certification. I will convene a brain trust of fire officials and craft legislation to provide long-overdue fire protection for the people in my district.

Grassroots Support: Grassroots organizing will play a huge role in my campaign. I welcome both boots-on-the ground campaigning and online activists. We are setting up tools for Internet organizing, including youtube, myspace, videos, and much more.

DFA Values: I support the Democratic Party platform and believe in opportunities for all Americans. I support universal healthcare and believe college education must be affordable and accessible to all deserving students. I support the rights of working people and believe that government should not intrude into our private lives.
I believe our civil liberties and constitutional rights must be restored.

I also believe we must return to fiscally responsible policies and work to reduce the worst national debt in our nation\'s history. We must elect Democrats who will stand up for what is right and stop funding this fiscally irresponsible war. This will enable us to save lives, reduce the deficit, and invest in critical programs to help people here at home, starting with universal healthcare.

Good luck; miracles can happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_52nd_congressional_district

1. Hunter is retiring, so it's an open seat for the first time in 25 years.

2. It's now 35% GOP, 25% Dem, 20% decline to state registration, but the decline-to-states are trending Democratic. New voter registrations here are running TEN TO ONE Democratic over Republican--and we haven't even started a Hispanic registration drive yet.

3. Demographics have changed dramatically. From 1999 to 2000, the Latino population in the 52nd rose 49%! By 2006, according to a brand new study, it got even better. El Cajon, the biggest city in the district, is now 27% Latino and 5% African American. The once lily-white back country (unincorporated areas of the county) is now 36% non-white. There are also 23 Native American tribes here -- and Vickie is part Blackfoot Indian.

4. The 2 worst wildfires in CA history both started in this district, and people are burned up. This issue unites people across party lines. So does keeping Blackwater out of our back country. Last week, the Republican town of Potrero (which voted for Bush overwhelmingly in 2004) voted by a 2 to 1 margin to recall its planning board members who voted for Blackwater, with a 59% voter turnout.

5. Even most Republicans here say they are fed up with corruption in their party, they want the war to end, and they want real healthcare reform. We just had a party of Republican women for Vickie, and there was no disagreement on these 3 issues. Even our local conservative newspaper editor now favors universal healthcare and ending the Iraq War.

6. Grassroots organizing is happening for the first time in decades out here. In 2004 there were ZERO Democratic precinct captains in this district. Now there are 100 or more, and our campaign is doing its own organizing to get precinct captains and walkers.

7. Hunter never had a serious opponent with national support and solid credentials on domestic issues. His lightweight son (who has absolutely no qualifications for dogcatcher, let alone Congress) would be a far less formidable opponent than Hunter ever was.

8. Guess what? We have a poll done by the same outfit Barack Obama used. It shows Vickie can win both the primary and general election. It also found that military experience is the very last thing voters want to see in a candidate for Congress (only 6% thought military experience is important). The number one criteria is honesty and integrity - and Vickie's been endorsed by the House ethics committee chair. Number 2 is helping the middle class. No Republican will do that, and Hunter Lite has no experience on domestic matters. Vickie by contrast has expertise in education, healthcare, and many more things that real people actually care about.

9. She is a dynamic speaker with a heart of gold, a charming personality, amazing expertise, a large network of supporters, the tenacity of a pit bull and a strong will to win.