[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Edward Espinoza
Member, Democratic National Committee

Now that the marathon Democratic nominating process has concluded, there are varying opinions on whether or not this prolonged calendar was good for the Party.

Some say the protracted struggle between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been hurtful, other say that the longer calendar has taken attention away from the Democrats and helped place Republican presumptive nominee John McCain in a favorable light.

Though one could also claim that longer calendar has made presumptive nominee Barack Obama stronger for the fall campaign, or that the extended elections have given Democrats more attention.

Going back to the first nominating contests when candidates such as former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson still graced the stage, the process has generated more than 20 issue forums and debates, has helped make Barack Obama battle-tested for the fall and ultimately brought the Democratic message to voters all over America.

Ultimately, the 50-state primary has been one of the best things to happen in presidential nominating politics in a generation.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

In case you haven’t heard, former presidential candidate and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has endorsed Barack Obama,reports the LA Times. According to Joe Trippi, John Edward’s formeradvisor, the endorsement “gives a lot of other superdelegates cover tomove behind Obama. It gives him a big shot in the arm."

Congress is debating whether to take action to bail out homeowners facing foreclosures, reports the LA Times. The Fed, which extended a $30 billion lifelineto investment bank Bear Stearns earlier this week, has limitedauthority to help out individual homeowners or affect the repaymentterms of borrowers. That leaves Congress the trick task of  sorting outwho deserves to be bailed out and who doesn’t.

Photo courtesy of the Associated Press. 

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Today, Governor Bill Richardson endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President. Richardson -- Governor of New Mexico, former Energy Department Secretary under President Bill Clinton, and the only Hispanic governor in the country -- became the second 2008 Democratic primary challenger to back Obama. The Washington Post's Dan Balz on "The Trail" blog offers five reasons this endorsement actually matters:

"Endorsements rarely determine the outcome of presidential races, but the decision by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to announce his support for Barack Obama today is nonetheless an important boost for Obama in his nomination battle with Hillary Clinton.

The endorsement is valuable for at least five reasons. The first is timing. ...

Second, Richardson sends a signal to superdelegates that they too should back Obama. ...

There's more...

Image courtesy AP/MSNBC.

by DFA Staff [courtesy of Blog for America]

The New York Times reports today on the efforts of Senators Clinton and Obama to gain the endorsement of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson:

Barack Obama calls every three days or so. He called on Friday of last week, but Mr. Richardson was tied up with the Legislature, so he tried again on Monday and left a message on voice mail (“following up from Friday”) before finally connecting with his defeated presidential rival late Tuesday, and then again two days later.

Mr. Richardson took a half-hour call from Bill Clinton on Tuesday and received about 10 others — a typical day — from people calling “on behalf of Hillary”: former cabinet secretaries, mutual friends, elected officials. “Heavyweight types,” Mr. Richardson calls them.

Gov. Richardson speak candidly in the article about the calls from the candidates and surrogates and it makes for an interesting read.

Danny

Communications Director

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's apparent decision to drop out of the Democratic Presidential race is good news for Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign in California.
 
Though he had little top-tier support (Assemblymember Joe Coto of the Latino Caucus was his most prominent Golden State backer), Richardson was only polling three percent in the latest PPIC poll. But his backers come from two quarters: voters who were impressed by his resume and Latinos.
 
Both of those groups fall squarely into Clinton's camp. Here in California, Clinton held a 41.6-21.8 edge over Obama among Latinos, with Richardson at 4.6 percent in the latest Field Poll. Clinton also has the backing of the state's leading Latino politicos, from Speaker Fabian Nunez to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the bulk of leading members of the Latino Caucus.
 
Richardson also has been Clinton's most effective foil in debates, including last Saturday's in New Hampshire, where he turned the tables on Edwards and Obama's ridiculing of experience vs. change. That's no more obvious than in foreign affairs Obama has zero foreign policy experience (as does Edwards). If Clinton continues to hammer Obama and Edwards on their inexperience, Richardson (President Bill Clinton's former Secretary of Energy) may also be there to swing more votes in Hillary's favor.

Photo courtesy The Washington Note.

by Paul Eisenman [courtesy of Blog for America]

Bergen Grassroots elected the members of its 2008 Steering Committee at our meeting yesterday evening (Weds, Jan. 2) in the Ethical Culture Society auditorium.

With six candidates filing for six vacancies, there was no need for formal balloting. The 2008 team will comprise four members of the ’07 committee: Joey Dobbs, who volunteered to become the alternate member; Paul Eisenman, Bob Gulack and Beatrice Robbio, who switched places with Joey Dobbs to become the full member. The newcomers are David Dubin of Haworth and Allen Sklar of Paramus, both relative newcomers to Bergen Grassroots as well. Allen Sklar has an impressive record of public service in his resume: three terms as a member of the Paramus Council and one term as a Bergen County Freeholder.

* * * * * *

At the meeting, the results of the Bergen Grassroots 2008 Presidential Endorsement Poll were announced. Former Senator and 2004 vice-presidential candidate John Edwards was the clear winner, leading throughout the five elimination rounds.