by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I do some work for Mark Leno

In just a couple of hours, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be officially endorsing Assemblyman Mark Leno. At 9:30, Pelosi will be appearing at the Leno campaign office at 2344 Market St. Of course, GOTV efforts will commence immediately afterwards.

In other news from SD-03, check out the SF Bay Guardian blog post about a deceptive "Guardian" slate featuring Carole Migden. The Bay Guardian endorsed Leno, and their real slate is here.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Chad Jones
President
Valley Grassroots for Democracy

Linda Sutton wrote an article 'Tis the Season of Membership-Stacking-for-Endorsements in California: What Does it Mean to Get the “Democratic Party Endorsement”? about the recent stacking of Democratic club memberships in order to affect endorsements in the current race for the 40th Assembly District. I would like to correct some inaccuracies in Linda's post regarding how it was handled in the club where I'm the president, Valley Grassroots for Democracy. I spoke to Linda yesterday and she said she got her information from "reliable sources" yet she didn't ask the most reliable source--the president (i.e., me)--who was actually dealing with it first hand. I agree that this race has shown us that stacking is a problem and I would like to give the perspective from behind the scenes of a club: how stacking was attempted in our club, what we did about it, and how we plan to go forward.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Disclosure: I do some work for the Mark Leno Campaign.

I'll admit that I'm always a bit reluctant about getting up early to do precinct walking, or well, to do precinct walking at all. Mostly it's the hills in my neighborhood. That makes for some exhausting work with a big ol' sack of lit on your back. I mean, I do it, but I kinda prefer phonebanking and that kind of thing. I hope I don't get my grassroots card torn away. ;)

So, the lure of a donut helps to motivate me. And having a great candidate like Mark Leno. And balloons! Last Saturday, the Leno campaign held a little party for the opening of the second campaign office in SF's Castro District.  There was a great attendance from community members and local leaders.  SF Assessor-Recorder (and possible mayoral candidate in 2011) Phil Ting made an appearance, as did SF Democratic Party chair Scott Wiener. Scott and SF Young Dems President Luke Klipp, who was also there, are both running for election to the San Francisco DCCC. And both are endorsed by me!

The conversation was good, and the donuts tasty. Check the flip (or my Flickr set) for a photo slideshow from the event.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The front page of today’s San Francisco Chronicle features one of the strangest political stories I’ve seen in some time. "The state chairman of the 'Californians for Obama' campaign has raised thousands of dollars in donations through promotions ranging from celebrity-studded Mexican cruises to CD sales to campaign office 'grand openings' in support of the popular Illinois Democratic senator and presidential candidate. But the official presidential campaign of Barack Obama said Tuesday it was unaware of the activities of the entirely unauthorized Los Angeles-based fundraising efforts of Emmett Cash III..."
 
Critics say Cash’s "his independent efforts to parlay Obama's presidential drive into a fundraising bonanza illustrates an increasingly disturbing trend in political campaigns of the Internet age -- the proliferation of entrepreneurs who use technology to scoop up voter donations without official campaign sanction… while Cash has raised nearly $10,000 this year, not one dollar has gone to the Obama campaign -- or any other political candidate."