by Dan Groberg [courtesy of Blog for America]

Regardless of which candidate you may support for the Democratic Presidential nomination, a number of positive signs that point toward a strong future for the Democratic Party have emerged over the past several weeks.

by Holly J [courtesy of Blog for America]

It is a pain that the early primaries are pushing up politics into the holidays.  We are having an important RPM meeting on Dec. 12th with a candidate forum.  Please, please come to meet the candidates who are giving us their time during this busy month. See below for details

The Green Communities Coalition is moving forward with working with the city. Their next meeting is the end of Dec. http://www.GreenCommunitiesCoalition.org/

Rockford Peace and Justice is having a special speaker on Mon. Dec 3rd and their annual peace program on Fri. Dec.7th Details below.

Also some of us are going to Dubuque IL on 12/8 to work for Obama.  There are opportunities to help even if you can’t do door-to-door. Contact me if you are interested. Hillary has a local campaign coordinator in our area if you want to help her out.  He is Victory Bell and can be reached at 815-963-1075.  Please let me know if you have contacts for other presidential candidates campaigns in our area.

If you are interested in participating in Robert Abboud’s campaign for 16th District US Rep, he is having an special campaign meeting in Rockford Sun. Dec. 16th.  Again, see below.

by Jenifer Fernandez Ancona [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Michael Kuykendall [courtesy of Blog for America]

A report from an undercover liberal/progressive at a Kansas City area Ron Paul campaign event.

by babaloo [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Cross posted at The Progressive Connection

Hank Shaw has just put up a post on his blog saying that his sources have John Doolittle resigning:

I am hearing from my Sacramento Valley friends that John Doolittle is about to step down and will ultimately endorse Rico Oller, who apparently owns lots of property in Doolittle's 4th District. Oller would still have to get past Assemblyman Ted Gaines of Roseville and Eric Egland of Rocklin. Rico is definitely conservative, and if he has the blessing of the NorCal GOP machine that Doolittle has created, he should immediately become the favorite in that primary.

Hardly unexpected but also not good news for Charlie Brown...

[UPDATE]:  Hank has just put up a clarification. His sources have Doolittle withdrawing from the 2008 race, not resigning. Still not good news for Democrats.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Randy Shaw

“Gavin Newsom is the most progressive mayor in San Francisco history.”
----Newsom Campaign Chief Eric Jaye, Sept. 2007

by Ilya Sheyman [courtesy of Blog for America]

I was surfing the net and Atrios pointed me to DFA-List Candidate Mark Pera's first TV ad. Remember Mark Pera?

Mark Pera is the progressive in the primary. Congressman Dan Lipinski is out of touch with his district. He can't stop himself from voting with the Bush party line to prevent life-saving stem cell research or give oil companies even higher profits. He's even voted five times to keep funding Bush's war and supports keeping troops in Iraq beyond 2010.

Here's the first ad:

Keep your eyes on this race - because if we're interested in ending the war, primaries matter!