by David Reiter [courtesy of Blog for America]

It is still possible for either Obama or Clinton to win the Democratic Primary. Here is what needs to happen for one or the other to win. The race is not over, and all voters need to make sure they continue the pattern of record turnouts and vote for their candidate.

First, the math:

Number of Delegates to win the nomination: 2,024 Remaining Delegates: 914

Current Delegates

Obama: 1,629; Needed to win: 395; % of remaing delegates needed to win: 43.2%

Clinton: 1,486; Needed to win: 538; % of remaining delegates needed to win: 58.8%

(Click Read More for the rest of this post) 

by George Gibson [courtesy of Blog for America]

Below are eleven questions for candidates running in the Democratic primary for Buncombe County Commission. If you're a candidate who's interested in our endorsement, please e-mail Doug Gibson immediately so we know to expect a filled-out questionnaire from you. (If it's more convenient, you can also download the questionnaire as a Word document, or we can send you a copy via e-mail.)

Completed questionnaires are due by midnight Sunday, March 2. (For a full outline of our endorsement process, go here.)

DFA-Asheville members: feel free to post comments with other questions you'd like candidates to answer!

by George Gibson [courtesy of Blog for America]

Starting today, Asheville Democracy for America invites candidates running in the Democratic primary for the Buncombe County Commission to apply for our endorsement. Our endorsement process will follow these steps:

1. DFA Asheville will not formally invite anyone to apply for an endorsement. Instead, candidates must seek our endorsement, though individual members may encourage their preferred candidates to apply. Candidates seeking our endorsement should contact Doug Gibson as soon as possible.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres issued this statement today on the "bubble" votes that appear to be going uncounted in LA County:

"The California Democratic Party is committed to ensuring that all voters who voted in the Democratic presidential primary have their votes counted. The CDP proactively requested that the Secretary of State allow decline-to-state voters to participate in the Democratic primary. We were hopeful Los Angeles County could find a way to count those votes and still hope they will. The notion that every vote counts, and that every vote should be counted, goes to the very core of our democracy. We strongly urge L.A. County to remedy this problem before the June primary election."

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Senator Art Torres (Ret.), Chairman of the California Democratic Party, today issued the following statement regarding the ballot procedures for Independents to vote in the Democratic primary in Los Angeles County:

“The California Democratic Party is allowing Independents to vote in its presidential primary.
 
However, Los Angeles County ballot equipment requires Independents to fill in the bubble to the right of the word 'Democratic.' Below that, you fill in the bubble for any of our eight presidential candidates.
 
Filling in the bubble for Democratic is an extra step required by LA County. So instead of one bubble, it’s two bubbles, and with that it means your vote in the Democratic presidential primary will be counted."

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

This is disconcerting. Apparently the Los Angeles Decline to State ballot for those choosing to vote in the Democratic primary requires that one fill in a bubble that says "Democratic" in addition to the bubble for the voters' choice for president. The last thing anybody wants is an election outcome tarred by disenfranchisement and technicalities. The Courage Campaign is convinced that this policy is a violation of state election law and has been in contact with the LA registrar's office about the issue. Here's Calitics' David Dayen with more:

"Turns out that in Los Angeles County, if a DTS voter requests their Democratic ballot and casts their vote, but does NOT mark "Democratic" in the appropriate space, the vote will indeed not be counted. The ballot will go through the scan-tron machine, not register as a counted vote, AND will not spit back out for the voter to fix.  In LA County, they feed the ballot through the tabulator right in front of the voter, presumably to prevent errors just like this.  But this one doesn't get caught in all the tests.

read more »

by Daniel I. Medress [courtesy of Blog for America]

This weekend, Jim Dean and I were out in Chicago for an event with Mark Pera and the folks from Northside DFA, Loop DFA, and Oak Park DFA. Mark Pera is running in the February 5 Democratic primary against Bush-Democrat Rep. Dan Lipinski in the Illinois 3rd Congressional District. Mark is a great candidate and the rally was a lot of fun. After the rally, we all went out to knock on doors and talk to voters in the district. Tough races like this one are won when neighbors speak to neighbors.

Here is a link to video of the rally: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4255774340222631745

and

Here is a link to an interview with Jim Dean: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=809077465944854355&hl=en

Daniel I. Medress, Communications Director

Democracy for America