[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Steve Chessin
Member
California Democratic Party Executive Board

Bill Cavala is very selective in the Democrats he names as supporters of the Common Cause/League of Women Voters/AARP-backed redistricting initiative. He neglects to mention that both former Controller Steve Westly and former Governor Gray Davis support it, and neither of them has ever been on the losing end of a redistricting fight. Also, the California Democratic Council, "the conscience of the Democratic Party", supports the initiative (although certain California Democratic Party insiders are trying to get that undone before the November election).

The real issue is one of control. While it is egregious for elected officials to pick their voters before the voters get to choose their elected officials, most of those elected officials don't want to give up the control that being able to draw their own districts gives them.
(In fact, some years ago, in a slightly different context, I asked one of the Party insiders if he believed in democracy or if he believed in control. He was honest enough to tell me that he'd have to get back to me on that.)

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Plans to take back Presidency and parts of red California

By Sharon Kyle and Dick Price
Publishers
LA Progressive

The 150 Democratic Party activists who gathered for the 56th Annual California Democratic Council convention this past weekend in Fresno certainly had sky-high hopes about their party’s chances in the November elections—but they had their fingers crossed behind their backs, as well.

The woeful George W. Bush Administration—certainly the worst in living memory with its foolhardy and unjust Iraq War, its increasingly obvious willingness to bail out the rich at the expense of the working poor, its legacy of disdain for individual rights—had convention-goers salivating about the chance to advance a truly progressive agenda this fall. Talk in the convention’s workshops centered on how to capture parts of California and the nation—those infamous Red Counties and Red States—that haven’t landed in the Democratic column in decades, if ever.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Garry Shay, Chair of the California Democratic Party Rules Committee and a member of the Democratic National Committee Rules Committee, talking with fellow Superdelegate and DNC Member who also sits on the DNC Rules Committee, Alice Huffman, at California Democratic Council Dinner Before remarks

By Frank D. Russo

Yesterday evening, I moderated an after dinner panel discussion amongst eight California Superdelegates, including two who are uncommitted, at the annual California Democratic Council Convention in Fresno. Despite being in session for a dozen or so hours before the dinner event kicked off, the room was packed with CDC delegates who did not tire and stayed for an hour and a half to ask questions and hear from those on the dais. I’ll have a fuller report later on the many interesting comments of these grassroots Democrats, all of whom were elected to their positions, and are not going to the Denver Convention because of appointment or their position.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

New Life and Meaning for an Organization Founded in 1952

By Sharon Kyle and Dick Price
Publishers
LA Progressive

If its planners are right, this weekend’s California Democratic Council convention in Fresno will put that venerable progressive organization back on the map as a major player in California Democratic Party activities.

Founded in 1952 to develop a network of Democratic clubs and win back political control of the state for Democrats, the CDC was once a driving force behind California’s development as a Democratic stronghold from the 1950s through the 1970s. At its height, the CDC coordinated hundreds of Democratic clubs in every corner of the state, with more than 70,000 members.

In fact, for many years, some felt the CDC played a greater role in the success of the Democratic Party in California than the party itself. Key to the CDC’s success was its role as the Party’s endorsing arm, as the California Democratic Party’s rules prevented it from backing individual Democrats in primary races.

by Susan Rowe [courtesy of Blog for America]

California Democratic Council

and the

Los Angeles County Democratic Party

Democratic Leadership Training

Saturday, March 8, 2008, 8:00am-6:00pm

Covina Public Library, 234 N. Second Ave., Covina, CA 91723

Workshops for activists who want to take leadership roles in the Democratic Party or are just getting started!

(Click Read More for the rest of this post)

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Chris Stampolis
Democratic National Committee Member
Super Delegate to Democratic National Convention