California Democratic Convention: Who Wants to Be the Next Governor of California?

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Glennia Campbell

On the first full day of the California Democratic Convention, I made my way into the big hall, bright green "INTERNET MEDIA" press pass dangling from my neck, wondering who was going to stop me and tell me that it was off-limits. I thought as lowlife bloggers, we'd be shuttled into a windowless, cinderblock sideroom where we would watch the action from a portable Zenith black & white television set with rabbit ears. Instead, I was told to go sit on a platform at the back of the room, with a great view of the stage, above he heads of the delegates in the crowd, right beside the TV news crews from CBS, CNN, and other major networks. I found a seat in the back row of the blogger ghetto (shown at right), and opened up my laptop.

As I was sitting there, about a half dozen or more people representing various causes and candidates came by to hand me literature, asking if I would write about their causes. A guy with a firm handshake with the made-for-politics name of Joe Nation, candidate for State Senate, came by to talk to the bloggers. He said that he bought carbon off-sets to neutralize the entire Bay Area delegation's carbon footprint for the convention. He seemed like a very nice guy, but one of the bloggers kicked him off the blogger platform and said that the area was for press only.

The speeches started before there were very many people sitting in the seats. First up was Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, who gave a fairly lengthy welcome and then introduced each speaker, making a mini-speech between each speaker. Art is a very engaging speaker, but took it upon himself to shush the crowd several times during each round.

The first speaker of note was Jack O'Connell, Superintendant of Public Instruction. He opposed Governor Schwarzenegger's 10% cuts across the boards for all state institutions, and especially the impact on the public schools. I expected him to talk about the $4.8 billion cuts to public education proposed by the Governator, but he went a little broader than just that. It's rumored that O'Connell is considering a bid for the Governator's job, so maybe that's why he seized the moment to talk about Iraq, healthcare, and global warming. About the November election, he said, "We need a President who cares. We need a President with a vision. We need a President with a pulse."

He finally got around to talking about public schools, and said, "Was it our students, our children, who got us into this financial mess?" That drew a large "NOOOOO" from the crowd, many of whom were teachers and parents. He noted that the Governor likes to tell people that California has a spending problem, but he thinks it's a problem with our priorities and values. Children, he noted, should be our #1 priority. That will win the MOMocrat vote every time. Sing it, Jack, sing it.