campaigning in fresno

so, this morning i went precinct walking for henry t. perea. one of the first things i noticed was that most of these folks weren't "true believers," in fact most very uneducated about perea. that's not good.

to start out, the morning was a little bit of a rally, then some training and then walking. the political guy that was leading part of the meeting talked about a rate increase passed by council w/perea on it to slam swearingen. that doesn't make sense. btw, he looked like fogle/mcluvin from superbad.

in some ways, it was like a bad youth meeting, with very little training. the training we did receive dealt in a lot of stereotypes, which was odd to me because it's stereotypes about the group present, like hispanics have chihauhaus.

the actual precinct walking was pretty good. it was nice getting out, talking to people, and i'll do it again. in fact, i'm signed up to do it the weekend before the election. so, if you're interested, we can use more people.

btw, here's one way not to run a campaign:

the stewarts in pennsylvania

so, we flew out for tim's wedding and are checked in to our hotel. we've already seen a good half dozen commercials for the presidential election. crud. we are lucky that california isn't a swing state and are bombarded by this nonsense. i can't imagine having to put up with it.

political winds of change could be a storm

last night, a lot of monumental things happened. it was an election day, and obama, who i admittedly began supporting when edwards dropped out, wrapped up the nomination. in fresno politics, we firmed up two candidates that will be in the november mayoral election. one is a young (about my age) hispanic male, the other is a slightly older than me female. this wouldn't be the first female mayor fresno has had, and i'm not sure if it would be the first hispanic either. but, both of these local candidates represent the next generation of politics in fresno. and, i would say that obama represents the next generation of politics in america.

we also recorded a podcast, which is clearly nowhere near the same level of importance. on it we talked about the local election, and had intended to talk a little national as well, but i skipped it on accident. basically, i wanted to talk about the potential storm that is brewing for obama: will he chose clinton as his running mate?

i thought this could have been interesting talk, as adam supported clinton and i support obama. i don't know if there would have been any sparks, but i do think it could have been a little contentious.

i've been wondering who he might look to for this key position. and i'll admit, i hope it's not her. mainly, i see her as being very similar to the politic that obama represents a change from. now, i know clinton supporters get fired up for her, just like obama supporters do for him, so it's not about passion. to me, she is the establishment. she is a hawk. she is more of the same two families that have run this country for the last two decades.

some have stated that to pick clinton would bring back together a divided party, and that clinton supporters have been polled and have stated that they wouldn't support obama. sadly, i haven't seen a reason why given. i'm not saying it's race, even though it has been an issue. here's an interesting quote from cnn,
"Concern about the division in the party arose because Clinton and Obama appealed to such different segments of the electorate. Clinton did well with working-class voters and the elderly. Obama rallied the support of affluent, well-educated voters, African-Americans and the younger generation. "

i don't buy it that clinton only appealed to working class (whites - my insertion) and the elderly. just like i don't buy it that the younger people that obama appealed to were all young, or well educated, or black. where do working class blacks fit? where do hispanics fit? are the elderly not educated?

this is what i do know: if democrats that supported clinton refuse to vote or vote for mccain, they had better really agree with that decision. because it's not like obama would be a one term president. and frankly, i'm guessing all the energized obama supporters will have this treachery in mind in four years if he were to lose and clinton was running again.

let me throw this out to you: what does Clinton offer? why should obama bring her onto the ticket?

because i don't think it helps him.