I joined the demonstration last Tuesday at the Vista office of Congressman Darrell Issa, Republican of California's 49th district. Though he was not considered vulnerable, the 8-term incumbent was surprisingly re-elected by only 1621 votes a year ago, the closest margin of any House member who wasn't defeated. This surprising vulnerability has engendered a blood-in-the-water response from local Democrats, who are aroused and eager to unseat Issa. Demonstrations have been held at his office in Vista every Tuesday for a year, with 300-600 people showing up every time.

 Here's a picture of me at the most recent one. As you can see, part of my objection to people like Issa is personal in nature!  



I live in the adjoining 52nd District, represented by Democrat Scott Peters. I still wanted to register my disgust with Issa and the rest of the GOP congress for their regressive moves on immigration, taxes, health care, equality, and in not standing up to the appalling demagoguery and dishonesty of President Trump. Issa himself is reputedly the richest man in congress with a net worth of around $400 million. He earned notoriety as chairman of the House Investigations committee, spending years trying to trash President Barack Obama without cause, and finding nothing, of course, to charge him with.   

 

Upcoming Rallies in Visalia and Farmersville

Today I want to highlight three opportunities for activism in the Tulare County area.



The first is tomorrow, Monday, at the Farmersville Memorial Day Parade. Susanne Gundy is looking for people to participate and help carry the Democratic Party banner on the march route. Lineup for the parade is at the corner of Visalia Road and Farmersville Road. Participants should arrive by 9:15 AM and the parade will be over by 11:30. Farmersville is a strongly Democratic city, so marchers should enjoy a generally positive response from the citizenry. Call Susanne Gundy at (559) 368-9464 to let her know of your interest or for more information.

Every Tuesday South Valley Civic is holding a "Replace Devin Nunes" rally outside the congressman's office in Visalia at the corner of Main and Church. It goes from 11:30 to 12:30.

This Tuesday May 30 South Valley Civic will be demonstrating outside the Gropetti Automotive dealerships, where Nunes will be holding a fundraiser for his wealthy patrons. As is customary for him, these are virtually the only people among his constituents he ever associates with. Gather at the corner of Ben Maddox and Noble Avenues. The demonstration is scheduled to go from 5:00 to 6:30 PM.

Tom Steyer Visit Sparks New Hope for Tulare County

This morning a group of local Democratic activists met with Tom Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor in Visalia to discuss furthering social justice in our area. The philanthropists are dedicated to economic, environmental and democratic justice and see the Central Valley as fertile ground to break the hold of uncaring selfish interests in the region. Tom ran Farallon Capital for 26 years until selling it in 2012 and is reputedly a billionaire. The pair were also in Tulare County to open a community bank along the lines of the one they have opened in Oakland. The model is to provide startup capital for small businesses and consumers at lowest possible interest rates and to drive unscrupulous gougers out of the business of preying on the most vulnerable in society.



Tom and Kat spent most of their time listening to the concerns of the local activists. For example, Maria Herrera spoke of antiquated and contaminated water works. She reported that some localities and county governments intentionally refuse to take advantage of available state funding, hoping that water shortages will drive poor communities of color out of their homes.

Abigail Solis and Tom Chamberlin spoke of the progress made in voter registration, and Tom made an appeal for office space and support to accelerate this effort. Congressional candidate Louie Campos emphasized the need to retain a focus on the Democratic Party and its candidates being the champion of the issues that truly affect people: clean air, good water, jobs and education. Joe Altschule talked about identifying people's self interest with their voting behavior. Jose Verduzco and I brought up the need for a four-year university in the area as an economic opportunity engine. Kathleen Dowling spoke of the serious social problems caused by economic hardship. Mike Maldonado, Joanna Zagarra and others expressed their eagerness to contribute in any way they could to bring success to a greater involvement and representation of the majority in the county. Central Committee Chairperson Ruth McKee was instrumental in setting up the meeting. Al Aguilar, Susanne Gundy and Alex Gutierrez contributed to the discussion as well.

A major focus on personalized approaches to voter registration, motivation and turnout is certain to be one outgrowth of the meeting. Doug Kessler explained how such an effort has achieved great success in Fresno. For the first time, there is real hope that the hard work of grassroots activists in the area may at long last be augmented by the kind of financial resources that could make a real difference.

Primary Election Picks

Tomorrow is the California Primary Election.  Like many people these days I've already filled by VBM (vote by mail) ballot out and sent it in weeks ago.  If you have yours or still go to the polls, please remember to vote!  If you have a VBM you haven't mailed yet, you can turn it in at the Registrar's office in the County Government Building on the west side of Mooney across from Mooney Grove Park, or at any polling place Tuesday.  You can find polling places and all the election information at their site, http://tularecounty.ca.gov/registrarofvoters/.uilera


As usual, I voted the entire endorsed Democratic slate.  There are some offices without an official endorsement, however, and I will give you my preferences for those.  With our still-new "Top Two" primary, the hopefuls of all parties and independents square off in the primary.  Only the top two vote-getters will appear on the general election ballot in November.

First, the officially-endorsed candidates. (I) means "incumbent."  Democrats hold all statewide offices in California.
Governor: Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown (I)
Lt. Governor: Gavin Newsom (I)
Treasurer: John Chiang
Attorney General: Kamala Harris (I)
Insurance Commissioner: Dave Jones (I)
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tom Torlakson (I)
Board of Equalization, District 2: Chris Parker
U.S. Representative, 22nd District: Suzanna "Sam" Aguilera-Marrero

Propositions:
41 Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention: Yes
42 Open Government Records, Public Right to Know: Yes

Now, statewide offices with no Democratic endorsement:
Secretary of State: Alex Padilla.  His opponent Leland Yee is embroiled in a corruption scandal.
Controller: Betty Yee (unrelated to Leland). She is better qualified, with a Master's Degree in Public Administration and experience as Deputy Budget Director, than former Assembly Speaker John Perez.

Legislative District Offices:
State Senate, 16th District: Republican Jean Fuller is running unopposed.  I did not vote for this office.
U.S. Representative, 21st District: Amanda Renteria.  She's a highly qualified candidate with a good chance to win.  This is the district to our immediate west.
State Assembly, 26th District: I voted for Carlton Jones.  Ruben Macareno, the Tulare County Party Chairman, is a good man and would be fine, too.  I voted for Carlton though, because as a sitting Tulare City Councilman he has shown he can win an election, and what Democrats need more than anything else in this area is someone who can win.

County Offices: In both these races we have situations in which incumbents stepped down and the Board of Supervisors filled the vacancies, creating appointed incumbents.  This is a favored tactic of insiders to keep their friends and handpicked successors in power after them.  Therefore, I don't like it.  Though I have met both candidates in each race and they are all qualified and can do the job, I voted for the candidate in each contest who was not the appointed incumbent.  These are not "top-two" races, and whoever gets the most votes tomorrow will win.
Sheriff: Dave Whaley. 
District Attorney: Ralph Kaelble.    




  

Greg Collins Comes to COS

Visalia City Councilman Greg Collins paid a visit to the College of the Sequoias Young Democrats meeting and had some prescient observations to go along with giving the group some insights into his common sense approach to city governance.  Greg brings the training and experience of a professional urban planner to his decisions and votes on the council.

He emphasized his long-held view that infill, or developing vacant and unused land within the built-up parts of town, needs to provide the basis for short-term growth.  It's more efficient in a number of ways.  First, it saves the city money because necessary infrastructure, such as water, sewer, roads and electrical are already in place.  Second, when development is compact it reduces driving mileage, cutting down on air pollution and the frequency of traffic accidents.  Third, it reduces emergency response times.  Finally, avoiding sprawl saves Valley farmland.     

Greg pointed to new projects underway.  One of these is an arrangement to return 13 million gallons of city-treated sewage water to agricultural use in exchange for 6.5 million gallons of new clean water.  The pure water will be pumped into local ponding basins to recharge the city's falling water table. As Greg said, "We live in a desert.  If we don't protect our water resources the cost will be more than we can afford to pay."  Visalia is the only local city to have a  project like this.  He also indicated his support for a city legal action to oppose Cal Water's plan to drastically increase water rates for Visalia residents.

Councilman Collins is a registered Democrat but the ballot is non-partisan and Greg agrees that's how he sees his service.  "There's no Democratic or Republican way to fix a pothole," he explains.  He  described himself as fiscally conservative, insisting on balancing the city's $250 million budget.  The city did a lot of belt-tightening during the Recession, which Greg points to as the main reason the city is in strong fiscal shape now, unlike some other California cities that have or may face default.

Yet he is at the same time liberal on his commitment to quality of life issues.  With revenues returning, he now sees scope for some improvements.  A new animal shelter will soon go out to bid, and is expected to cost $5-6 million.  Bids for a new water treatment plant have come in up to $30 million under expectations.  He wants to give city employees a raise, feeling that their willingness to accept pay cuts while taking on additional work during recent lean times has earned them a well-deserved reward now that financial conditions are improving.     
 

Greg became the youngest Visalia City Councilman ever when he first got elected back in the 1970s.  He was spurred to do so because as a recent college graduate in urban planning, he and some friends decided to attend a council meeting and saw them approving projects that went completely against the principles and industry standards he had learned in school.  Instead of going along with the old boys network he walked the city door to door and got elected.

Greg Collins has been on and off the council over the past thirty-plus years, serving as mayor at times but also sometimes facing strong political and monetary opposition from developers who want every project approved no matter what.  His principles, track record and common-sense approaches indeed mark him as a fine leader who can resist pressure and is truly the "quality of life candidate." He richly deserves re-election to the Visalia City Council on November 5.

Is This the Best We Can Do?

Fellow Visalian Bill Osak did some research on the lamentable record of our local U.S. Representative, Devin Nunes, who has been our congressman since 2002.  Bill circulated the message below and I felt it interesting enough to secure his permission to post it on this blog.  I've done just a bit of light editing.

 

Former Republican Senator Alan K. Simpson wrote, in a criticism of fellow Republicans, "If you want to be a purist, go somewhere on a mountaintop and praise the east or something.  But if you want to be in politics, you learn to compromise.  And you learn to compromise on the issue without compromising yourself.  Show me a guy who won't compromise and I'll show you a guy with rock for brains."

 

It's election time and where does our representative, Devin Nunes stand?
 

A less than average voting record shows that our representative voted against the Home Affordable mortgage program and voted against anti-recession stimulus funding. At the same time he voted against monitoring the TARP funds to ensure mortgage relief. Our representative voted against the auto bailout and against regulating the subprime mortgage industry responsible for the biggest equity loss in American history. Yet he expends political capital by strongly supporting an unlikely constitutional amendment to ensure marriage is between one man and one woman. He did not support funding for green public schools or federal funding for education. So where does he stand on energy issues that impact our wallet? Well, he voted against tax credits or incentives for renewable energy production and conservation efforts. He also voted NO on criminalizing oil cartels like OPEC that “fix” prices. It is interesting, though, he would not remove oil and gas exploration subsidies to companies having huge profits. His vision includes more off-shore drilling and more nuclear plants. Supporting Amtrak is not his style as well. He consistently votes against Amtrak funding for improvements and operation. While he has voted against education funding, he also has voted against assisting workers who lose jobs due to globalization. This is an odd position since he has favored several open trade treaties in South America that allow cheap goods to be imported and jobs exported. He is against “police state” union organizing, increasing the minimum wage, and any extension of unemployment benefits.

 

So what has he done to court favor here in the heartland of the valley? Depending on your station in life, different opinions will arise regarding his continued support of the Ryan budget plan, changing Medicare to a voucher program, and continuing the Bush tax and spending cuts that benefit the wealthy. One might think that since his district suffers economically, he would support expanding the Children Health Insurance Program and increase eligibility of the children in his district. But alas, his votes did not reflect that. Though the Medicare population here has similar economic issues, our representative has sided instead with corporate profit by voting against “negotiated Rx prices”while reducing Medicare prescription drug benefits.
 

It is a surprising fact that he voted NO to increasing the funds for waterway infrastructure from $4.9 billion to $23 billion. Apparently, water issues are not all that important to him.
 

Supporters often cite his strength in foreign affairs. After all, he has voted NO on removing US armed forces from Afghanistan, NO on getting out of Iraq, YES on declaring Iraq part of the war on terror, (thus starting 2 wars that can demonstrate American superiority.) He voted NO on supporting democratic institutions in Pakistan but supported foreign arms transfers to China. More worrisome is his YES vote on supporting Israel unconditionally. He votes consistently to stop funding for National Public Radio, is against gun registration, but supports photo IDs in federal elections.
 

So do YOU have a representative that reflects the wants and needs here in the valley? The “fiscal cliff” in January is looming and our representative played a role in the last downgrade of the US dollar.
 

I suggest that you look at Otto Lee , successful businessman and Iraq veteran as the alternative choice. Mr. Nunes, who has missed more votes than the average congressman, does not represent us nor has he been successful as a congressman. The above represents the votes that Nunes has taken since 2006. If you are happy with his inability to be effective, vote. If you do not like his positions, vote for Lee. We need to have a voice at the table and not someone who fits Alan Simpson's description. See the website http://ottoforcongress.org/about.html for more information.
 

Devin Nunes has a $2 million fund and is so confident of his re-election that little effort is being made here in his district. The only way to rock the boat and let him know change is needed is to get the word out and let people know there really is a good choice this time around. Circulate this email if you agree.

 

Tulare Councilman Spouts Racism

The following quote comes from Hillary Meeks, the Target Content Editor for the Visalia Times-Delta newspaper.

Tulare City Councilman Skip Barwick: "We up here, we keep our yards watered and mowed, we try to keep our house exteriors looking nice, and a lot of Hispanic people, those are not their priorities, whereas it is ours, because of where we come from and how we’re raised. And sometimes we think, ‘Why would you want to live like that?’ …They don’t want a nice, clean home and no animals in their yard. They want to park their cars in the grass and do what they want to do. They don’t have the same values, and trying to impose those values on them is very difficult. That’s one problem when you have a diverse community.”

It seems the neighborhood in question, Matheny Tract, has bad water, a common problem especially in unincorporated areas of the Central Valley.  They desperately want to get annexed into the city of Tulare to get on its municipal water system.  The city councilman was expressing his views about why he is opposed to their request.

The councilman's statement does rather speak for itself.  It also suggests that those who try to maintain that racism is no longer a problem in our society really aren't paying much attention.

Local Election Endorsements for November 8

After extending invitations and holding candidate interviews, the Tulare County Democratic Central Committee has made its local candidate endorsements for the November 8 election.  The recommended candidates for Visalia City Council are Amy Shuklian and Raymond Macareno.  The recommended candidates for Visalia Unified School District Governing Board are Lucia Vazquez in Area 6 and Lita Reid in Area 7.   

Visalia City Council members are elected at large throughout the whole city.  Since three seats are up for election, voters will be able to cast three votes, and the top three vote getters in the six-candidate field will  be elected to four-year terms on the Council.

Amy Shuklian is an incumbent council member and the Vice Mayor of Visalia.  She has a deserved reputaton as an extremely hard worker and is known for her openness.  Amy got her start advocating for a dog park and recreational facilities, and has helped bring both to fruition.  She has never missed a Council meeting, and is known throughout the area for her accessibility and effectiveness in working together with city, county, state and federal agencies and electeds to get things done for Visalia.  Always attentive to the voice and concerns of the people, she intiated a monthly open house where she makes appointments and meets with citizens to hear and help with their issues.  Amy well deserves a second four-year term.

Raymond Macareno is currently a service center Director and the former Executive Director of the Tulare County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.  Raymond combines a strong service ethic with a knowledge of the needs of small business.  As such, Raymond would provide a voice and sounding board for communities that currently are not represented on the Council, particularly in the Hispanic community.  Raymond's multifacted talents and experience merit his election to the Council.

Lucia Vazquez is running unopposed in Visalia Unified School District Area 6.  The School Board has for the first time gone to area elections, and Lucia will be representing a heavily Hispanic and low-income area that has not had representation before.  A Consultant and Researcher for Proteus, Inc., Lucia is not content to rest on her laurels as an unopposed candidate.  She is running a vigorous campaign to get her name out and meet her constituents.  She believes that education is the means up the ladder for today's youth as it was for her, and feels that parent outreach and involvement is a key to fostering an attitude of success.  That is something she intends to work hard on.

Lita Reid is our choice for the School Board in Area 7.  Lita has a proven record of community involvement and the commitment to make a difference.  She is a practicing attorney and was a longtime newspaper editor.  She realizes the constraints current budgetary realities impose, but has a systematic approach to keeping funding where it will have the most impact, in the classroom.  Her dedication to the education of the whole child, rather than simply teaching to standaridized tests, marks Lita as worthy of support.          
  

Ban the Blowers

I pulled into the parking lot at work Monday morning about the same time as Wayne, another faculty member. As we got out of our cars (he a truck, to be precise) our ears were assaulted by the horrendous volume of one of the groundskeepers running one of those leaf blower machines. The air was filled with choking dust. We griped about it to each other, remarking that the San Jaoquin valley is already one of the asthma capitals of the nation. Wayne, an anatomy and biology professor, said he had a mind to talk to the college president about it.

Later on, as I neared my own building, another one of the infernal devices was being used on the pavement there. It created a similar atmosphere, pun intended, of ear-damaging noise and lung-contaminating particulates. Are these things really necessary? I think I'd support banning the wretched nuisances as health hazards.

They have been banned in 20 California cities so far. You can go to a site explaining their ill effects, listing the cities that have prohibited them, and containing a sample resolution your city council can pass here. The site is called "What You Should Know About Leaf Blowers." The pithiest sentence there is this: "Leaf blowers are more accurately dust blowers; they blow dust from one place to another, containing fertilizers, pesticides, dog and cat fecal matter, top soil, etc." They operate at 90 decibels when 85 causes hearing loss, and gas-powered machines emit "as much tailpipe emissions in an hour as an automobile does over 350 miles. The difference is that a car emits all that pollution over a big stretch of road while the leaf blower deposits it all in one back or front yard."

People Angry at Local Shenanigans Too

Here is a little local evidence that the same cluelessness that led to the AIG bonus issue is not an isolated case. Here in the Central Valley of California, our Tulare County Board of Supervisors put themselves into a lot of hot water by approving raises for themselves in a surreptitious fashion at a time when they were cutting budgets and laying off full-time county employees.

Last September 30 the Board unanimously approved the "Consent Calendar" on their agenda without discussion. According to the local Visalia Times-Delta newspaper, "The board spent less than 10 seconds on the consent agenda." Items are customarily placed on the Consent Calendar portion of an agenda when they are matters of such a routine and non-controversial nature that they are not thought worth the Board's or the public's time to discuss individually.

At the Board Meeting on September 30 the Consent Calendar contained 20 items. On one of them, "The agenda listing said simply, 'Approve changes for employees in Units 9, 10, 11,19,20, and 21.'" These changes turned out to include 4.56% raises for the Supervisors themselves, plus $500 bonuses, plus an augmentation to the Supervisors' "flex credit," in other words, their health plan.

This did not come to light until January 12, when the Times-Delta learned the increase had gone into effect on January 4. The newspaper's and the public's responses were immediate and harsh. Meanwhile, all the supervisors claimed the process was open and transparent. Board President Phil Cox said, "If any member of the public was interested in that item, they should have asked the board to pull that item off so the board could discuss it separately." Supervisor Pete Vander Poel said, "...anyone could have gone back and into the agenda where it's covered in detail." It should be noted Vander Poel was not on the Board at the time. He has replaced Connie Conway, who was elected to the State Assembly in November. Supervisor and Vice Chairman Steve Worthley said of the process, "I think its been effective." Supervisors Allen Ishida and Mike Ennis refused to comment.

Matters finally came to a head at the meeting of February 10, when thanks to public outcry the Supervisors unanimously voted to rescind their raises. Their earlier statements defending their actions were quickly forgotten in the face of public anger. I have been to other bodies where the subject of raises for a governing Board was brought up and discussed in public by the Board itself, which invited public comment. The item was not hidden away in a subclause of an innocuously titled part of the agenda.

I for one do not begrudge public servants at least making a decent living. But this case was indefensible on two grounds. First, it had every appearance of the Board trying to pull a fast one and hiding a raise for themselves in an obscure place where no one was likely to find it. An honest and astute (in tune with the constituents) politician would know an issue like this needed full transparency and would provide it without needing to be asked. Second, the timing was all wrong for a raise. Leaders cannot be giving themselves a raise when times are bad for the rank and file and regular working people in the organization are being laid off. That is heartless and an absolute failure to lead by example.

There is now a movement afoot in the community to set up a recall of the County Supervisors. We will see if it makes headway and if the public's memory is long enough that any serious challenges are mounted against the incumbents the next time they run. In the meantime we can see the importance of local investigative newspaper work and the strength of an aroused citizenry. It isn't only in Washington and New York that people are sick and tired of business as usual and are demanding change.

Postscript: Reader Arielle's comment prompted me to do a little more research. The supervisors also get a yearly car allowance of $6615. That's enough for a $551 a month car payment. It basically means a free county-provided car on top of the salary, benefits and bonus. They also spent a combined $100,000 on travel last year. Source.

Inauguration Party

I was part of an Inauguration Party on Tuesday Night. The local Democratic Party made arrangements with a local restaurant to host a big dinner and fest for the nught of January 20, since many people had to work and would miss the Inauguration live.

It was held at Crawdaddy's, a New Orleans style place. People were asked to RSVP in advance in order not to overbook. We wound up with 227 attendees at $15 each. The admission included a dinner. This did not quite cover the costs. The local Party (the Central Committee) also raised some funds with a 50-50 drawing, in which a woman won $318, and by the sale of merchandise. So all in all it probably about broke even. The mood was festive and jubilant, as you might expect it to be among politically interested people when their candidate has just assumed the presidency.

I was the MC for the evening. The event was held on two floors, so pretty much everything had to be announced on one floor and then duplicated on the other. We had a fine black gospel singer on the second floor. The four local Democratic Clubs had their presidents introduced themselves to the crowd and invited people to join. The four clubs were the Visalia Democratic Club, Tulare Democratic Club, Democratic Women of Tulare County and The College of the Squoias Young Democrats.

We had three speakers. Victor Moheno of Visalia is a local attorney and longtime Democratic activist talked mostly about issues. Dean Singh had been a delegate to the National Convention in Denver and spoke of his experience there. Finally, Jake Torrance spoke on the impact on society from the perspective of an African-American.

After that everyone was invited to crowd into the second floor to watch two video presentations. First, local Tulare resident Stan Carter had produced an 8-minute piece that included interviews with African-American senior citizens speaking about their reactions to this momentous election, considering everything they have been through. That was followed by a showing of the swearing in and President Obama's Inaugural Address.

Doors opened at 6:00 and we said good night shortly after 9:00. Many who participated were surprised to see so many celebrating Dems in this majority Republican county. There was also extensive coverage in the local press and even on television news. You can read the Visalia Times-Delta story here. It was a great day for Democrats and Obama supporters in Tulare County.

Inaugural Night Event

Our Democratic County Central Committee is planning an evening event the night of the Inauguration to show the ceremony so those who are at work or in school can see it and share the excitement with other supporters. I'm on an ad hoc committee of four charged with setting this up. We've made arrangements at a local restaurant to host and provide a buffet. If it proceeds as planned it will be at Crawdaddy's on Burke and Main in Visalia. It should cost no more than $15 a head and go from 6:00 to 9:00 the night of January 20, a Tuesday.

Crawdaddy's is a three-story New Orleans-style place with the brick and wrought iron that would make it look right at home in the French Quarter. I've been tapped to be the emcee. There should be good Cajun eats. We'll have an invocation, flag salute, a taped greeting and comment on the importance of the moment from a local 104-year-old African-American and a good speaker. We'll introduce our local club chairs and they'll invite people to join their groups. Then we will show the Inaugural festivities from Dianne Feinstein's call to order through the swearing in of the President and Vice President and the Inaugural Address. Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perleman and others will be among those performing.

We're all looking forward to it and it ought to be a day and night to remember. If you are interested in coming and want to reserve a ticket or two let me know or give a call to Pam Mayo at (559) 732-1002.

Day at the Campaign Office

Let me give you an idea of the scope of the Obama organization as the election approaches. It's what first turned the tide his way in Iowa and has been an integral part of powering his run ever since. My job today at the county party headquarters was to train phone volunteers and get them started making get out the vote calls.

Though we were calling from Visalia, California, the county seat of Tulare County, the target state today was Montana. That's because Obama already has a huge lead here in the Golden State, and in our 56-44 Republican Central Valley county the local races do not look very good. Polls in Montana, on the other hand, show McCain vulnerable there, running only 4% ahead.

We had thirty volunteers come in to make calls. Many had never done anything of the sort; that is the kind of interest Obama has inspired. So, what can 30 people do? Make 3000 calls, that's what, to a state where there are only 456,000 registered voters. The 9000 statewide California callers could reach all those voters in Montana in a day. That's right, one day. They could find out who was undecided and make a short pitch. They could identify which ones were for Obama, which ones have voted early, remind those who haven't to vote on Tuesday, tell them where their polling place is and arrange a ride for them on election day if they need one. Then the 15,000 volunteers in Montana itself can take over from there. One volunteer for each 30 voters in the state is huge.

We started calling Ohio a few Saturdays back. Of course this is all in conjunction with TV ads, candidate or surrogate appearances and local efforts on the ground in the states. The effort is being coordinated nationwide. After two weeks Ohio went from McCain by a half a percent to Obama by 4. We then turned our attention to Colorado. After two weeks Obama's lead solidified from 4% up to 7%. We spent last Saturday on Nevada and saw Obama's lead go from 3% to 7%. Today it was Montana. It will be interesting to see what happens if there is a poll released there in the next couple of days, or if not, then what the results are on election day.

The number of volunteers, like the amount of money Obama has raised from small contributions, exemplifies the excitement and commitment Obama has engendered. The organization of the campaign effort similarly bespeaks of the high level of expertise and professional acumen within the Obama team itself. If this is any preview of how a prospective Obama Administration might be run--well, the difference from what we have gotten used to lately could be breathtaking.

Day on the Hustings

Today was an interesting day with a couple of satisfying activities. In the morning I met five students from our Democratic Club at my office to take them out for some precinct walking. In the evening I attended a conservative-liberal debate on campus hosted by Valley Public Radio personality Terry Phillips. I'll write about my morning with the students.

The five students showed up at 9 AM and we set out shortly thereafter. Patrick and Philip could only stay for two hours, so Patrick brought his car and followed me. Nathan, Isabel and Tony went with me. We were out to place door hangers for our Faculty Union-endorsed Board of Trustees incumbent Earl Mann and for our Community College Bond issue, Measure I.

Earl's district, Ward 3, is largely rural in a largely rural county. It starts on the northern fringes of Tulare County's main city, Visalia, and proceeds mostly north and northeast from there. He hails from the town of Woodlake, himself. Earl had asked us to go to the areas on the northwest outskirts of Visalia where most of the new housing is. His idea is that new residents are the ones most likely to be unfamiliar with his long record of service in the community.

The students were terrifically diligent workers, efficiently moving up and down both sides of the streets in systematic fashion. They intrepidly climbed up and down one set of stairs after another at apartment buildings. I followed and picked them up at the ends of streets, leapfrogging teams ahead to maintain efficiency. At times I worried about losing track of where people were, but we didn't lose anybody!

We saw a handful of signs stuck in the ground for one of Earl's two opponents, Ruben Macareno, but nothing from Carmita Rodriguez-Pena, his other challenger. This being the Central Valley, we saw a lot more McCain-Palin signs than Obama-Biden ones. Still, that was no problem for our efforts. Earl is a moderate Republican himself, a good friend of education. By the time we called it a day and I took the young people to Burger King they had placed about 750 sets of Earl hangers and Yes On I flyers. We have six students signed up to continue the effort on Sunday. It was a good day, and especially gratifying to be associated with committed young people at work in the best tradition of grassroots democracy.