The Committee just voted to do the same with Michigan as with Florida: seat the entire delegation with 1/2 vote each. The audience seemed pretty satisfied with the Florida decision but was considerably less happy with the Michigan outcome. Also, a representative from the Clinton campaign said that they reserved the right to take the decision about the Michigan delegation to the Credentials Committee in Denver.

The committee has now adjourned their meeting.

Fun fact: I sent a text message to someone I know on the committee during the hearings and saw him look at the phone and text me back a moment later.  Not something you get to do every day!

UPDATE: From MSNBC.com

The committee agreed on a compromise offered by the Michigan Democratic Party that would split the difference, allowing Clinton to take 69 delegates and Obama 59. Each delegate would get half a vote at the convention in Denver this summer, according to the deal.

They also agreed to seat the Florida delegation based on the outcome of the January primary, with 105 pledged delegates for Clinton and 67 for Obama, but with each delegate getting half a vote as a penalty.

The resolution increased the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to 2,118, leaving Obama 66 delegates short but still within striking distance after the three final primaries are held in the next three days.

Obama picked up a total of 32 delegates in Michigan, including superdelegates who have already committed, and 36 in Florida. Clinton picked up 38 in Michigan, including superdelegates, and 56.5 in Florida.

Obama’s total increased to 2,052, and Clinton had 1,877.5, according to The Associated Press calculations.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 33 Comments »

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee just voted to seat the entire Florida delegation and to give each delegate 1/2 vote.

Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Irvine Tattler, a pro-Shea/Choi website that doesn’t allow readers to comment directly to correct obvious mistakes or disagree with a story, ran a private email from local lawyer Todd Gallinger, the treasurer for the “Yes on Measure H” organization in Irvine.  Gallinger wrote to Tattler editor Stephen Smith in a attempt to correct the record in weak attempts by Smith to smear Islamic organizations Gallinger has represented in legal matters and try to fan the flame of Islamofacism in Irvine in a further attempt to divide the community along racial lines. 

Simply put, Smith seeks to link Beth Krom, Larry Agran and Suhkee Kang to Islamic groups simply because Krom and Gallinger use the same printer. 

Since the Tattler won’t give voice to Gallinger, we will.  Here’s a copy of the Letter Gallinger sent to Smith on Friday.  This is similar to the post we had earlier, but there is some new material and its something I don’t think the Tattler will publish.

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Filed under: Orange County - Local | No Comments »

We got a tip Wednesday morning and a second tip Wednesday afternoon alerting us that State Senator Dick Ackerman had decided to run for Mayor in Irvine once his term in the State Senate is complete. 

I called the Senator’s Tustin office Thursday morning, and the person answering the phone said, “It’s the first I’ve heard of this.”  I was referred to the press office and Ackerman spokesman Tom Collins.  I left a message with my cell; no return call.  I called back late in the afternoon and reached a staffer who gave me the same answer; “It’s the first I’ve heard of this.”  She said Senator Ackerman was on the phone but he’d call me back.  I didn’t get a return call. 

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Filed under: Uncategorized | 16 Comments »

Perhaps I’m the only “Process Nerd” glued to coverage of the Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws hearing on a beautiful Spring afternoon. But I’m sure there are others out there. What do you think so far?

Here is the link to the Live CNN.com webcast.

I think that Donna Brazile summed it up best when she stated (paraphrasing as best I can remember) the her mama taught her that changing the rules in the middle of the game (or near the end of the game) is cheating.

How do we address the voters who believed us when we told them the contests in Michigan and Florida would NOT count? I think many stayed home believing it was a non-binding Straw Poll at the Presidential level. Or, since it was an open primary, chose to vote on the Republican side?

How should we count WRITE-IN votes in Michigan where voters were faced with a choice between Clinton, Dodd, Gravel, Kucinich, and Uncommitted (Obama, Edwards, and Richardson removed their names)?

I’m torn about this one. How do we follow the rules established and include Michigan and Florida? Is there a creative way to resolve this FAIRLY?

It’s LIVE this afternoon and CNN and CSPAN. They’re taking a lunch break until 1:15 pm PDT.

Filed under: National-US | 1 Comment »

I have been accused by a number of identified and anonymous bloggers of being a “shill” for First District Supervisor Janet Nguyen. Dictionary.com defines shill as a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.

To make things as perfectly clear as possible, I believe there are no acceptable choices for Supervisor in the Orange County First District contest. Here is my ranking of the candidates.

Janet Nguyen – BAD
Dina Nguyen – WORSE
Hoa Van Tran – WORST

If some think that this ranking is an endorsement of Janet Nguyen, then English may be your second language. (more…)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 14 Comments »

OK, readers. By now, I’m sure you have a good idea on what’s happening in the 42nd Congressional District. I’m just so grateful to both the Ed Chau and Ron Shepston campaigns for allowing me to look inside their operations and share what I found with you, our dear TheLiberalOC.com readers. But now that the June 3 primary is quickly approaching and the summer heat is surely returning, it’s time for us to shift gears.

Within days, we’ll know who all the Democratic candidates will be for all the local races in November. And throughout the summer, I’ll be going inside as many of these campaigns as possible to let you know what our Democrats running are doing to win this fall. But hey, I still need your help on something. Will you please give me tips on the hot races in your area?

Now don’t get me wrong, I already have some exciting surprises in store for you in June. I just want to make sure I’m not missing out on any race that OC Democrats should pay attention to. So go ahead, tell me which Democratic candidates you want me to feature this summer. Whether it’s a Congressional race, an Assembly race, a city council race, or a water district race, I’ll be more than happy to take a good look at the good Democrat running for that office.

So what are you waiting for? Give me some tips! I’m ready to start looking inside more campaigns!

Filed under: Orange County - Local, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

FYI, this came in from the Shepston Campaign late last night.

Mission Viejo, CA – Come help Ron Shepston’s campaign GOTV efforts this weekend. Ron’s campaign will be walking precincts in Orange County as well as phone banking. His LA office will be concentrating on phone banking. Bring your laptop and cell phone to participate in the fun.

“We’re expecting an overflow of volunteers this weekend,” said Dot De Leon who manages the Diamond Bar office. She went on to say that Los Angeles electeds have stopped by to help in the past few weeks. It might be a good time to find out what Democrats are doing in Los Angeles.

Ron’s campaign announced today that it has raised $92,353 from about 700 contributors. The campaign has been very successful with their efforts on Act Blue and through their recent fundraisers featuring former ambassador Joe Wilson.  Additionally, they’ve logged 3500 volunteer hours with more than 100 volunteers working over that past few months. Their latest phone banking campaign has already reached more than 17,000 high propensity Democratic voters and you can help reach even more interested voters.   

The offices will be open Saturday & Monday 10 am – 8 pm, and Sunday noon – 8 pm.

For more information, call the Mission Viejo office, 714-709-4413, or their Diamond Bar office at 909-860-6891.

The Rowland Heights office is at 21308 Pathfinder Rd., suite 119 Diamond Bar, CA 91765. If you want to stay closer to home, visit Ron’s campaign at 22151 Los Alisos Blvd. (corner of Los Alisos & Trabuco), Mission Viejo, CA 92691.

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Filed under: Orange County - Local | 19 Comments »

This just in from the OC Labor Federation! Tomorrow, our union brothers & sisters (and all those that love them!) will be taking action to dump the VERY anti-labor Dana Rohrabacher and replace him with someone who will fight for working people as our member of Congress. Don’t you want to be a part of this?

Check out what’s below and mark your calendar for tomorrow!

Please join your union brothers and sisters for a precinct walk in support our union
endorsed candidate for

UNITED STATES CONGRESS, 46TH DISTRICT DEBBIE COOK.

WHEN: Saturday, May 31, 2008- 9:00 AM

WHERE: Debbie Cook for Congress

17308 Beach Blvd.

Huntington Beach, CA 92647

For more information, please call: 714-270-1991

Filed under: Orange County - Local | 6 Comments »

On June 4 most of the “fun” (and I use the term very loosely) will be over for a while for Orange County political watchers, but in South OC we’re just getting started because on June 24 in Capistrano Unified School District we’re voting in a special recall election.

The question on the ballot will be whether to recall trustees Marlene Draper and Sheila Benecke and if so, with whom to replace them. The OC GOP has endorsed Sue Palazzo, who is uncontested in the race for Draper’s seat; and Ken Maddox, who is running against Gary V. Miller and Makam Subbarao for Benecke’s seat.

Yesterday the Friends of Ken Maddox were making phone calls to Democrats in the district. Here’s a transcript of Maddox’s message:

This is a special message about our local schools. Due to the indictment of two top school officials, a special recall election has been called for June 24th. Democrat [sic] voters are urged to vote yes on the recall and yes on Ken Maddox for school board. Ken Maddox is known as an education leader. He is who we need on our local school board. Remember, Yes on recall, Yes on Ken Maddox. Paid for by friends of Ken Maddox.

Ken Maddox is a Republican former member of the State Assembly.

UPDATE: I think Maddox’s robocall is deceptive, but I also know that if the roles were reversed a smart Democratic candidate would be doing the same thing. The only thing that I object to about the call is the use of the highly offensive term “Democrat voters.”

If Republicans want to court votes by members of my party, I think they might start by not slurring us. We are members of the DemocraTIC party.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

As eloquent as Misha Houser was in communicating the conditions for her inside Hoa Van Tran’s campaign for First District Supervisor, our own Gila Jones made a powerful impact as well. Here is her statement from Tuesday:

Many allegations have been made about things going on in Hoa Van Tran’s supervisorial campaign. Many of these things are truly just allegations and we’ll probably never know whether they’re true.

There are some things we do know, however.

We know that Hoa is very carefully controlled by his campaign manager, Edgardo Reynoso, who rarely, if ever, allows Hoa to speak for himself. I consider this unacceptable. A candidate should speak for himself, not through or with the permission of his handlers.

We know that Hoa was told repeatedly, over a period of more than a month, that his campaign finance report needed to be amended. Though the amendment was finally done, Hoa was either unable or unwilling to persuade his campaign staff to take care of this problem in a timely fashion. When asked specifically at the last central committee meeting why the amendment wasn’t taken care of quickly, Hoa gave an embarrassingly evasive answer. I consider this unacceptable behavior by Hoa.

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Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

So did you like what you saw with the Ed Chau for Congress campaign on Monday? If so, you can be a part of their next precinct walk this weekend! Check out what just popped into my inbox from OCYD!

Dear TheLiberalOC.com Reader,

Volunteer for Ed Chau

Ed Chau, the OCYD endorsed Democratic candidate for the 42nd Congressional District, is asking you to volunteer for his campaign this weekend, the last weekend before the primary election. If you are interested in phone banking or precinct walking for Chau please contact
Drew Cornick at 714-732-8052 or at drewcornick@adelphia.net.

For more information please visit us online at OCYD.net.

Democratically yours,

Chris Roa, Communications Director

Orange County Young Democrats

Filed under: Orange County - Local | 26 Comments »