More and Better Democrats. We in the netroots are the most vigorous champions of candidates who truly represent their districts, candidates who challenge the status quo and demand tangible changes in our government. If we had the power to create the quintessential strong Democrat, we'd be hard put to make up someone more authentic, intelligent, and schooled in the needs of his community than Manuel Perez.
Yesterday morning, Agxibel Barajas greeted me from the front page of our local paper, The Desert Sun. Agxibel is the office manager and scheduler for Manuel Perez, the powerful progressive Democratic candidate for California's 80th Assembly District. We're going to lose her in the fall when she heads to law school, and that's going to hurt. She and Manuel go way back:
Six years ago, Agxibel Barajas was asked what she wanted to do with her life.
"Her response was: ‘I hope to be the first woman president of the United States,'" said Manuel Perez, who at the time was a field representative for Assembly candidate Joey Acuña.
Barajas had arrived at his office wanting to volunteer her services for Acuña's campaign.
Six years later, the Coachella native is featured in a documentary by "Mad, Hot Ballroom" writer Amy Sewell that attempts to get people talking about why the United States has yet to elect a female president.
Disclosure: I've been with this campaign since the 2007 CDP convention.
Manuel Perez has a significant, double-digit lead over his Republican opponent and
is well-positioned to win back the seat for Democrats in California’s 80th Assembly
That's the latest polling we have (Source: Heidi von Szeliski and Associates), and it looks good all over.
This has been a district made for Democrats to win since the last redistricting, and yet we've lost over and over. But now California Democrats are heading into the general of a key battleground for our 2/3 majority fight with four major factors in our favor: numbers, nominee, polling and ground game.
The Political Insider of the Desert Sun was surprised to find Steve Clute with us at Manuel Perez's victory party last week. We weren't. When Manuel Perez announced his candidacy for the 80th AD, Steve Clute was there. Steve Clute was part of our kickoff, and his endorsement quote headed the original website: "Manuel has the heart, corazon, to truly represent the people of this district." Clute left me a classy message before the campaign, and called me afterwards to thank me again for my work on behalf of Manuel. He made that call to everyone heavily involved in the campaign.
As we head into the general election, it's appropriate to take a moment to appreciate what a mensch Steve Clute's been throughout this campaign.
Disclosure: I've been a volunteer with the Perez campaign since April 2007.
We won. Manuel Perez won the Democratic nomination for the 80th Assembly District in California. He won thanks to grassroots organizing, an insightful and professional grasp of core issues, and the powerful support of his brothers and sisters across the broad spectrum of the labor movement. But essentially because he's a mensch, and he's in this for us. His rally speech at 2pm:
Video shot by Rafael Aguilera, director at The Verde Group, who has worked with Manuel, and came down to be here for the campaign. Crossposted from Calitics. Updated on Sun., June 8th to trim a bit, title was From Rally to Victory Speech - Election Day.
Manuel Perez is at once scholarly, passionate, and gracious. He knows public policy from both the planning and outcome perspectives, so give him a topic, and he'll give you a progressive and practical answer, with footnotes.
Manuel Perez wasn't going to be at the Rancho Mirage Library for the candidate forum Friday night. He was scheduled to be the honoree at an event for a coalition of fellow nonprofits, and they had already rescheduled the event around his campaign once. But we finally convinced him that a candidate has no choice but to be there, and he was brilliant. The interaction among the 80th candidates showed a clear frontrunner, the focus of both Rick Gonzales and Greg Pettis's attention. Manuel pivoted on both challenges, and his scope of understanding about education, healthcare, jobs and the environment was finally on display in the proper context.
The California 80th Assembly District has the affluence of Palm Springs and La Quinta, where the well-off winter, and the Grapes of Wrath poverty of Duroville.
Manuel Perez: "For too long, the 80th Assembly District has been ignored and neglected by politicians. Growing up the son of farm workers, I know the struggles of working families. I will fight locally and in Sacramento to bring new opportunities and prosperity to all our communities."
Manuel Perez focuses on parents as well as students as a School Board Trustee, recruiting them to work with him to reverse the schools to jails pipeline in our poverty burdened communities. But it's not enough to educate, we need jobs in California, and specifically a green tech business plan from Palm Springs to Calexico. Check the plan on the flip.
I live for Al Rodger's excellent photo diaries at dKos, so here's a tribute to that great man- the photo diary about Manuel Perez.
In this diverse and challenging district, Manuel Perez is the only Latino Democratic candidate to support gay rights and gay marriage, the only Democrat in the race fluent in both English and Spanish, the only teacher, the only promontore, and the one with the full backing of the healthcare, education, and labor unions. But there are four candidates, three weeks to go, and nothing is guaranteed. ActBlue action here.
The IEs are here at last, like Santa in the summer. Running a grassroots campaign with a base of working people, some of whom live in the poorest parts of California, means the campaign's funds are always tight. The majority of the staff work for little or nothing. But oh, how sweet it is when the unions start to do their thing. Our website has an excellent photo gallery. Behold, I receive in the mail my candidate teaching my kids.
The latest endorsements are United Auto Workers Region 5, the California Faculty Association, the San Diego/Imperial County Labor Council, and the Border Patrol. Education, healthcare, labor, UAW, and now law enforcement. Nice.
Manuel Perez is bringing a socially conservative, economically progressive county back to the Democrats. Imperial County is one of the poorest in California. It's part of the California 80th Assembly District, which reaches from Palm Springs to Mexico and Arizona. dday gives the best brief of it here. It's not on the radar of some of the wealthy liberals in the west of the district, which is one of the reasons why we've lost this race to Bonnie Garcia over and over. Imperial County has been voting against registration and handing victory to the Republicans, but it's looking up in 2008. Voters in Riverside and Imperial Counties have a winning progressive this year.
Not only California Teachers Association, but the CSEA supports the CA 80th AD's People Powered candidate:
The California School Employees Association has endorsed Democratic candidate Manuel Perez for 80th Assembly District, the campaign said today.
Perez, who is a Coachella School Board trustee, is vying to replace Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City. Garcia cannot run again because of term limits.
"Manuel Perez is clearly an education leader," Ellen Soto, CSEA chapter president at Coachella Valley Unified School District, said in a press release. "Manuel is rolling up his sleeves and working hard every day to improve schools and create educational opportunities for our kids. Manuel’s leadership has brought $250 million to the Coachella Valley to build new schools and modernize classrooms."
The 80th AD in California (Palm Springs to Arizona to the East, and to Mexico to the South) is one of the best pickup opportunities this year, and we have just the transformational candidate to make it happen. Manuel Pérez is a hands-on, no bs, Harvard-educated community organizer from the heart of the Coachella Valley, a direct, unapologetic progressive with experience in building a just and healthy society. He won't promise loyalty in Sacramento in exchange for support, he's getting his mojo the time-honored way: walking precincts, meeting with more union review committees, and he just participated in a podcast on Calitics.
I've been posting on this race since last May, and have yet to compile the best quotes nor list the endorsers adequately. Let's kick it off with the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO:
Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO:
Manuel Perez knows first hand the struggles of working families and will be a champion of healthcare, education and creating new jobs in the State Assembly.
After the 80th AD caucus in San Jose, which vacated the CDP endorsement of Manuel Perez’s chief rival for the nomination, one of the delegates in support of Greg Pettis treated me to their latest talking point on Manuel Perez, namely that his only elected experience so far was that of a board member of a "failed school district." This is a bit shortsighted, as Perez's experience is that of a teacher, healthcare access provider, grassroots youth organizer, researcher, and a successful advocate for millions of dollars for local schools and local jobs in Coachella. The recent David Binder poll has, after positives and negatives are weighed in, both Pettis and Perez running even in the primary, with Perez winning in the general against (R) Jeandron, and Pettis losing.
But let’s address the fallacy of Democrats adopting GOP talking points on NCLB to attack the those who are in the direct line of fire from Bush’s policy:
California Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero and celebrated labor leader and civil rights champion Dolores Huerta endorse Manuel Perez, Candidate for the 80th Assembly District.
"I feel honored beyond words", says Mr. Perez, "to have received this support from two of California's most distinguished leaders. Both Dolores Huerta and Senator Romero have worked hard for those who have been marginalized and underrepresented. I will attempt the same.”
This is one of the few California state seats in play this year, and the demographics indicate it should be blue by now. Manuel Perez is an organizer, a healthcare provider, and a powerful progressive voice for this region. Good thing I listened to netroots nags and ran for state delegate, because now I'll have the honor of endorsing him this Thursday at our Pre-Endorsement meeting, and caucusing for him at the State Convention. For your people-powered politics fix, read more about Manuel Perez on the flip.
Another major endorsement for Manuel Pérez, who already has the strong support of last term's Democratic candidate, Steve Clute, CA Latino Legislative Caucus Chair Joe Coto, Coachella Mayor Eddie Garcia, Imperial County Supervisor Victor M. Carrillo, Rep. John Conyers and former Congressman Esteban Torres, among others. Manuel has the strong support of the LIUNA 777.
Here's Eddie Garcia, Joe Coto, and Manuel Pérez at La Estancia (just down Hwy 111 in Indio, great food)
Jono Hildner of No on Shadowrock, is on a mission in Palm Springs.
Our NO on C campaign is definitely a David vs Goliath contest. The election is November 6 and the Yes on C campaign filed a campaign report for the period ending September 22 showing a single contribution from the new owners of the property, a Wisconsin based investment group, of $225,000. We showed contributions for the year to date of just over $18,000. They had already spent much of their total, so I'm expecting at least that much more. We're hoping to raise $40,000. The campaign treasurer for their committee in this little municipal election is none other than Thomas W. Hiltachk, the Sacramento attorney who filed the initiative to change the way California elects electors to the Electoral College.
Paul Krassner met a man last week, and he'd like to get the word out about what happened to him. He sent me this this morning, and I suggested that it be posted on Daily Kos, as this community will want to know about it. This is crossposted from HuffPost with his permission.
I spent this past weekend at the 11th annual Earthdance celebration, a global festival for peace held in northern California, uniting with over 250 locations in 50 countries, providing a wide variety of live music, workshops, speakers, inspiration and a worldwide sense of community.
On Saturday, I was among a large group of men and women participating in the International Elders Forum. Each one had six minutes to share their wisdom with an overflowing crowd in the huge Electronica Dome. A native American, David of the Blackfoot tribe, would play the flute after five minutes of talk as a signal that there was one minute left.
My friend Carole, a terrific Democrat who knows how to work a room, had the ear of a Major Insider at the Magic Johnson party for Hillary this past week (I'm still listening to everyone and leaning Obama). She was pushing for DC attention to the CA-45th, as she often does, because we have two Democratic candidates (so far) to challenge Mary Bono, and our Dem candidate will need some real support. Mr. Major Insider thought our GOP/Dem breakdown was 80/20ish, a common misconception, and one which drives Carole right up the wall. Our actual numbers are:
Dem (35.85%) * Rep (45.53%) * Other (18.62%)
Not only that, the CA-45th has a high growth rate with newcomers trending Democratic, a weak Bushbot incumbent, a bargain media market (for California), and last year's race was the first potentially competitive one in thirty years. But the DCCC gave Roth no tangible support. So why no love from Washington? Follow me past the flip for the many reasons why the Democratic Party needs to start playing to win in the CA-45th.
