---

Sometimes it pays to play by the rules!  (How I became an Obama delegate)

Susan speaking at CD12 caucus	April, Susan, and Mark

by Susan Pfeifer

I am very pleased to announce that I join my “slate mates” April Vargas and Mark Brickman as elected Delegates to the Democratic National Convention, representing the 12th Congressional District (“CD 12”) for the Obama campaign. 224 votes were cast at the United Food and Commercial Workers' union hall in South San Francisco on Sunday, April 13th.

Several significant events, decisions, and (yes) pure luck factored into my election as a delegate.
After tabling for Obama every Saturday at the Ferry Bldg. (an SF for Democracy tradition) for 5 months, I attended something called “Camp Obama” which was a weekend boot-camp to learn field organizing for Obama volunteers.  At Camp Obama we were asked to work within our respective Congressional Districts. I live in San Francisco’s outer Sunset district which falls into CD 12 (formerly Tom Lantos and now Jackie Speier’s district), the bulk of which is in San Mateo County. I don’t really feel like I’m part of San Mateo, but I cooperated and re-routed my efforts into coordinating the San Francisco portion of CD 12,  spending the next 8 months working on the West side of SF and Daly City.  This is not what I preferred to do but it is what was asked.

When it came time to elect District delegates for Obama, this decision paid off.  While there were 42 people who signed up to run in CD 12, there were 70 running for 3 slots in CD 8 (Nancy Pelosi’s district and the bulk of SF).  With the introduction of “social networking” technology online in the campaigns this year, a record number of volunteers learned about the district delegate caucuses and entered to run.  The base of active volunteers in CD 12 was smaller than CD 8 and my efforts stood out more, thus making me more visible.

Adding to my decision to concentrate my efforts in CD 12, was my decision to put together a “slate” to run with.  I chose very strategically. As the overall District Coordinator, April Vargas ran the CD 12 campaign office in South SF and is a well-connected member of the San Mateo DCCC who could “get out the votes” for our slate.  As the San Mateo Coordinator, Mark Brickman sent out many of the organizing emails and helped coordinate the San Mateo county phone banks. With my efforts in SF and Daly City this became a winning team.  The next highest vote-getter among CD 12 women candidates also lives in the SF Sunset district.  She chose to concentrate her activities with the CD 8 SF volunteers.  While it may have been more fun, she was not as well known when it came time to run for a delegate position.  So, playing by the rules and doing what was asked by the Obama campaign paid off for me.  Lessons learned.

Now, it’s on to Denver and hearing Barack Obama give an historic nomination acceptance speech in August!

---

Endorsements for the April & June Elections

On March 20, SF4D Federal Action made its endorsements for local Congressional races:

U.S. Representative

District 8	Nancy Pelosi
District 12	Jackie Speier

For more information on the candidates, see our forums.

---

Let the Voters Decide!

John Trinkl, Will Carsten, Will Easton, and Tom Brown deliver the petition to Nancy

On February 25, 2008 DFA activists in Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. delivered petitions to top superdelegates Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Howard Dean asking that they “let the voters decide.”   

The petition stated:  “DFA members understand the work you have put into the Democratic Party and your commitment to moving America forward. We ask that you exercise your best judgment in the interests of the nation and the Democratic Party. We believe the right decision is to ratify the will of tens of millions of Democratic primary voters instead of overturning the vote and choosing a different winner.”

In San Francisco, DFA activists John Trinkl, Samuel Luo, Will Easton, Will Carsten and Tom Brown delivered California petition signatures to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district office today, stopping to take pictures in front of the Federal Building.  Since cameras were not allowed in the building, we proceeded without our camera up to the 14th floor to meet with CD 8 District Director Dan Bernal, who welcomed us warmly.  We explained that at this point DFA was not making any Presidential primary endorsements, but instead wished to insure that super delegates respect the will of the voters in casting their votes for a Presidential candidate at the convention in August.

Quoted in a recent KCBS interview, Speaker Pelosi seemed to agree with DFA’s position:  “I think this will be worked out. I think the participation of the super delegates is important, but I do not think it will overturn the wishes of the people. It can’t do that.” 

---

Our Official 2008 Presidential Endorsement Vote

After a week of on-line voting using Demo Choice software, no one Presidential candidate was able to reach the 60% threshold needed for an official SF4Democracy Federal Action endorsement.   But the distribution of votes in the first round made clear the majority of those who voted overwhelmingly favored one of three progressive candidates:  Edwards, Kucinich, or Obama.  

An advantage of using ranked choice voting in a contest where the individual voter may find several candidates acceptable is that its instant run-off results will reflect a broader base of support for a possible “run-off winner.”   In this particular poll, many members who had a first choice preference for one of the lower vote getters were still able to influence the final results by virtue of their second or third choice preferences. As the rounds of ballot counting progressed, it was clear that people who had cast their first choice vote for Clinton, Dodd,  Richardson, or McKinney had also indicated a lower choice vote for one of the candidates listed above. 

The penultimate round saw the elimination of Kucinich, leaving Edwards with 58.7% of the final vote, and Obama with 41.3%. Taken as a whole, 92% of participating voters wound up having a say in this final outcome.  You can view all the rounds of voting in this Demo Choice poll here.

It's interesting to note the similarity of our results to a recent DFA Presidential Primary poll in which no one candidate received the 66% needed to earn DFA's endorsement, but 78% of DFA members nationwide supported one of the same three progressive candidates. Apparently, after four years, Deaniacs are still thinking pretty much alike.

---

Write Letters to Iowa DFA'ers

Sound familiar to anyone?  Isn’t this where some of us “came in”?

Democracy for America has launched Unite for a Progressive President,a letter-writing campaign to contact Iowa caucusgoers whose preferred Democratic candidate may fail to demonstrate viability during the precinct-level caucus meetings on January 3, 2008. When this happens, the practice has been for the frontrunner’s people to persuade the disenfranchised delegates to join his or her campaign. But since the frontrunner this time around may not be as progressive as we'd prefer, DFA has a better idea: why not unite around an alternative candidate who can truly qualify as a progressive? In particular, why not select from the top three Democratic candidates who, collectively, received the support of 78% of DFA members in its 2008 Presidential Primary poll --- Edwards, Obama and Kucinich?

The Iowa caucus isn't a typical election. There are no secret ballots. People state their candidate preferences and then are given multiple chances to switch based on the viability of their chosen candidate and conversations that occur in the caucus room. This allows the unique opportunity for Iowa voters to Unite for a Progressive President before the end of the night rather then split the progressive vote between two or more candidates.

During the entire month of December, DFA activists across the country will write letters to DFA activists in Iowa (there are 9,000 of them!) encouraging them to Unite for a Progressive President during the Iowa caucus. This will be an incredibly positive campaign.  Any one of the Democratic candidates will make a great President and is significantly better than any of the Republican candidates.  But primaries matter, and Iowa presents a terrific opportunity to go to the General Election with the candidate we wish to have, not just the candidate we have.

In order to participate in this campaign, you will need to sign up at the DFA Unite for a Progressive President web page. Select your preferred candidate, and you will receive instructions on how to recommend uniting around your candidate to Iowa caucusgoers.

---

Results of the November 7 Presidential Forum

Attendees at SF4D Federal Action's Presidential Forum appear to have been strongly in a mood for change! Our straw poll was won by Representative Dennis Kucinch, in part no doubt because of his call for implementing constitutionally-mandated remedies for Executive Branch criminality (which drew by far the strongest applause of the night), followed by Republican Representative Ron Paul with his strong stance against business-as-usual in Washington. Senator Barack Obama took home the bronze. While a few Meetup regulars were disturbed by campaigns "packing" the house, such is to be expected at an open event like this; at any rate most seemed to agree the evening was quite stimulating and thought-provoking overall. Video here.

Official straw poll results:

1. Dennis Kucinich
2. Ron Paul
3. Barack Obama
4. John Edwards
5. Bill Richardson
6. Hillary Clinton / Al Gore

Also, members, don't forget to vote in our official endorsement poll later this month!

---

SF4Democracy Federal Action sponsors Presidential Forum

On Wednesday November 7, San Francisco for Democracy Federal Action presents our Presidential Primary Forum. Come talk with representatives from your favorite progressive campaigns and parties about why you should support their candidate for president in California's presidential primary on February 5, 2008.

Confirmed campaigns/parties include: Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, the Green Party, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Barack Obama, Rep. Ron Paul, Gov. Bill Richardson; more to come.

To RSVP for the forum, go to: http://dfa.meetup.com/123/calendar/6484309/

A few notes about our forum:

• For the sake of time, questions will be collected in writing before and during the event, and will be chosen to reflect the overall interests of the audience as much as possible. For example, if many attendees want to ask about the Iraq War or health care, then we will make sure those topics are addressed. Please e-mail timothyhsu@earthlink.net, and we'll try to make sure that the most frequently asked questions get addressed.
• We'll take an informal straw poll of attendees at the end of the event. Note that the straw poll does not directly affect the formal endorsement by San Francisco for Democracy Federal Action, which will be decided by a vote of the dues-paying membership to take place online and by paper ballot from November 23-30.

 

 

Paid for by San Francisco for Democracy Federal Action and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.