Take Back Red California Summit
I was privileged to be on the events coordinating committee for this summit held this past Saturday May 21 in Berkeley,CA. All I can say about this event was that for the first time since Howard Dean’s campaign in 2004 I was exhilarated and energized. I came away from this all day summit feeling like there was hope and that the grass roots movement is alive and well. Those that worked so hard to put this together were an amazing team and it is my privilege to work with them.
So I’ll leave you with my impressions of the day…excited, exhilarated, empowered, awed, humbled by the red county stories, energized, exhausted…there aren’t enough words – it was Awesome
The overview of the day follows – and many thanks to the wonderful writers at DFA-Marin for this summary of the summit on Saturday May 21, 2005.
The Take Back Red California Summit in Berkeley on Saturday, May 21, was a huge success, beyond the expectations of the organizers Mayme Hubert (DFA-Marin) and John Warren (East Bay for Democracy). It was attended by approximately 150 activists from 23 California counties and two from “the great state of Nevada”.
Cross posted at DailyKos
The panel of red county Democrats explained the realities of campaigning and of just being a Democrat in very red areas. Ed Fleming, Jerry McNerney and other panelists described the complete abandonment of red counties by the state party. Tales of harassment and intimidation, dirty tricks and boycotts of Democratic owned business had blue county folks openmouthed. A red county democratic activist spellbound the blues as she reported pressure on parishioners and deceitful written material in Spanish by her Catholic Church aimed at increasing the vote for Bush. I had a visceral reaction to her report. Abuse goes very deep in red counties.
The blue county panelists covered the map with techniques and approaches that had worked in the bay area. Presenters covered the nuts and bolts of precinct operations, Registrar of Voters databases, house parties to raise funds or volunteers, letters to the editor and talk radio. Matthew Hallinan spoke on issue-based approaches as the tool to lead Republican leaning voters to think about specific Bush policies such as the Social Security question.
The afternoon ended with remarks from two representatives of the California Democratic Party: Alicia Wang, Northern California Vice Chair, and Michael Meurer of the Campaign for California’s Future, a project of the CDP focused on empowering the grassroots. Both of them were beginning to understand the depth of frustration among red county activists and the need for the party in California to reverse the increasing Republican trends in voting and registrations or become the “Ohio” of 2008. If anyone would like to receive the report/summary of the summit please tell us by going to TakeBackCA@hotmail.com.
Mayme and John thank DFA-Marin and the 6th AD Committee for making funds available for the Summit. We thank the generous and dedicated Marin members of the TBRC Committee: Dolly Verrue, Mary Renaud, Tamra Peters, Bill Carney, Alice Straus, Ina Tabibian, Jay Hubert, Sally Westgate, Gatian Cunningham, Jack Willson and Dick Tracey. We also thank the superb blue panel members from Marin: John Arensmeyer (Partnering with Small Business), Larry Organ (Writing Effective letters to the Editor) and Ken King (Participating in Call-In Radio).
Mayme and John particularly thank seven Democratic panelists from red counties and seven from the blue bay area. The panelists were the talent.
But, the summit could not have been realized without help from almost 20 folks on the coordinating committee. This magnificent team was made of individuals from East Bay for Democracy and those previously noted in the DFA-Marin website release. These individuals — the preparers of the lunch, fact sheet compilers and our videographer – all donated time and money to make this happen. It is satisfying to be on such a large but cohesive team.
The summit summary release from the website is reproduced here with full permission of the writers. This release includes updates being made to DFA-Marin website – late updates – not sure if they are up yet- we are truly still moving forward at an awesome rate of speed. Any inaccuracies or typos are the responsibility of the diarist and will be corrected – I’ll monitor for updates by the webiste.
Check DFA-Marin for more info locally to the SF Bay Area and East Bay for Democracy
Our great partners in Red California Yuba Sutter Democrats for information on their activities.
There was a great diary here and comments focusing on these general themes by kpardue on DailyKos on Monday.
And this writer’s apologizes if I missed any of the wonderful volunteers or link information. Any additional links or information – please add it to the comments and we will add it to future lists.
<u>Red counties meeting with Blue counties</u>
Those of us in the metropolitan blue areas need to hear what the small town voter has to say. This is not an invasion of metropolitan liberals going out to help the rural folks. This is a partnership!
-We need to hear what red counties want us to do to help them in their town and area.
-We need to learn how red counties want us to reach out
-We need to learn why red county voters think urban people are too liberal so we don’t make mistakes
-We need to be partners in taking back our country and getting rural voters to vote for their best interests – not against them.
So I’m issuing a challenge to all blog readers in California – and across the nation
Go out and get involved NOW – 18 months before the 2006 elections! Become partners with your red counties – find out what they want and need. Learn to talk their talk and walk their walk. Take this to your DFA meetings next week. Now is the time not next year!
The floor is yours – tell me what you are doing to take back your red counties and be partners in the fight for all of our country – not just the cities. Contact us for more information at the links above or email me directly through my info.
Cross posted at DailyKos
