by Bill Hedrick for Congress CA 44 [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

When I began my campaign last year to represent California's 44th Congressional District, I was motivated by the many policy failures of the Bush Administration embraced by the incumbent congressman. These included the President's failure to provide a universal health care proposal, an education program designed to undermine our public schools, and trade agreements that have killed good jobs for working families. But personally, for me and my family, the most egregious disappointment has been this Administration's failed policy in Iraq.

Edit by Brian: See the flip.

Like hundreds of thousands of other families with loved ones in the military, we have been keenly interested in this President's course of action. Today my son is serving a second deployment with the Army's 3rd ID east of Baghdad. Another son and daughter-in-law have served in Iraq as well. As a military family, we support our troops 100%; however it is past time to bring all of our sons and daughters home. This mission must be brought to a close.

Our fighting men and women have performed admirably in a tremendously challenging

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sara S. Nichols

People need to start recognizing that Obama is the best nominee, not just because he is more likely to beat McCain in November, but because he is more likely to beat him big, bring new voters into the process, thereby positively affecting the downticket races.

Donna Edwards is the first exciting case in point. Yesterday, Democrat Donna Edwards (who happens to be a former Congress Watch colleague of mine) pulled off a stunning upset against 6 term incumbent congressman Al Wynn (D-Maryland) in Maryland's fourth congressional district (a hybrid of Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties in suburban DC).

The margin of victory? 20%! Completely unheard of for a primary challenge against an incumbent not currently under indictment. Hmmm...Who else won his Maryland Democratic primary by 20% on Tuesday?

Three guesses and the first two wear bold colored pantsuits.

This is no joke. Maryland's appear to be the first congressional primaries of the year (February is very early). Donna is part of a slate of Democratic challengers across the country running against Democrats who supported the war and continued military buildup. And she won, not a little bit, but huge, with the exact same margin of victory as Obama.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Former State Senator Jackie Speier is Exhibit A for why California's term limits law needs to be reformed.

The popular Bay Area legislator was one of the most effective in the California legislature, writing laws to protect privacy, advance women's rights, and help consumers. Yet just as she was in her prime, she was forced out of office by term limits.

In 2006, she finished a strong second in a three-way battle for LG behind the eventual winner, John Garamendi. Impressive as she was on the stump, Speier came up short in both name ID and money against Garamendi. Her campaign hasn't ended: Speier wrote a book and has been active in Democratic politics, particularly in building a network of strong women supporters.

Now it appears that Speier will take a shot at long-time incumbent Congressman Tom Lantos and face the same obstacles as she did in the LG primary.

For starters, Lantos is extremely tight with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker doesn't take kindly to primary challenges to incumbent Democrats. They drain campaign cash that would otherwise be used against Republicans. On top of that, Lantos is a key Pelosi ally, and is a powerful voice in the Democratic majority's foreign policy strategy and a recognized Bush critic.

There's more...