DK delegate gets sole standing ovation at Miami Platform Committee mtg

[no name no slogan]

Go visit www.kucinich.us, and watch the 2.5 minute video of John Sherman, a Kucinich Delegate from Minnesota, get a standing ovation for his address to the platform committee on strong anti-Iraq occupation language.

A little background: John Sherman has been a HUGE assett to the MN for Kucinich campaign this year, as he's one of the few people who has any REAL experience in dealing with the party. He is the MN campaign's laiason with the DFL, and helped us organize a peace/civil rights coalition at our state convention in May. And incidentally, he will also become the father-in-law to one of my best friends on Aug 20 (and yes, I get to be in the wedding!).

The nomination may be a foregone conclusion, but our voices are still being heard, and are still making a difference in the party!

:toast:

[Nadienne]

1. Congratulations

Standing ovations and weddings - happy news!

[no name no slogan]

2. Yeah, it's really funny!!!

I have known his future son-in-law for about 17 years now (I'm a guitar player, he's a drummer, and we've played in bands together off and on all the time we've known each other), and he's been with John's daughter for about 4-5 years now.

During the campaign, I mentioned to my friend that I was working on the Kucinich campaign in MN, and he mentioned that his girlfriend's folks were also quite impressed w/ DK, too, and had been very active in party politics for the last 20 years or so. So, in May, I get an invitation to their co-ed wedding shower, with John's return address and his email address as the RSVP. So finally I put two and two together and figured out that John was my friend's girlfriend's father. So that was an interesting and happy coincidence!

And now, they are all officially seven degrees from Kevin Bacon, as I am six degrees from him. Wild and wacky stuff indeed!

:D

[Nadienne]

3. LOL

Small world! Funny how that works out! :)

[dpbrown]

4. John Sherman kicks ass

John Sherman is a phenomenal, incredible, insider with soul who's done an awesome job giving the DK supporters in Minnesota enough guidance to get Kucinich delegates and get elected to local party positions, and now he's done an even more superb, stupendous job working with DK's representatives to actually get the MAJORITY plank modified before the upcoming convention, when everyone was prepared to walk away with nothing from the meeting in Miami.

John Sherman is the correct person at the correct time with Dennis Kucinich's message and the tools to make a difference.

Thank you John Sherman!

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[no name no slogan]

5. kick for the afterwork crowd (nt)

[Radical Activist]

12. Well everyone knows

that the Minnesota Kucinich campaign had the best grass-roots organization of any state, and did the most with the least paid staff. Good job folks.
:D

[no name no slogan]

22. Thanks for the kind words!

We're still together, too, keeping it real for the fall!

We've formed our own state Progressive Caucus (www.progressivecaucus.net) and are having a fundraising party tonight for our national delegates and supporters (I'll be providing the entertainment, but I can't go because of my unemployment situation :().

We made a big impact at the state convention, and now have several of our folks as precinct chairs, county unit chairs, state central committee delegates, and even two people on the twelve-member state party board of directors. And that doesn't even count those of us who are volunteers on the numerous campaigns this fall!

When Kerry wins, we'll still be around on November 3, helping him enact the most progressive legislation this country has seen in a half-century. We'll just Keep On Keepin' On....

:D

[MaggieSwanson]

6. Well done, John Sherman!

:toast:

[NNadir]

7. Dennis Kucinich will still win the nomination.

Unfortunately for Dennis, this event will occur in the 91st dimension, but that's really not a problem. Mr. Kucinich has resided there for quite some time.

Someone ought to tell Dennis about John Kerry. Has he ever met John Kerry? Does he know who he is? Can Aunt Shirley McLain channel the right spirits (and stardust) to help Denny understand that he is NOT the nominee in this dimension. Even though Ralph Nader won the 2000 election with 2% of the vote, it cannot be said that Denny has repeated the same trick with the Democratic Nomination.

[WI_DEM]

9. I believe that DK is well aware that he is not the nominee

but I admire the fact that he is trying to help influence the democratic platform. He has said he will endorse and work for John Kerry and also applauded Kerry's choice of John Edwards. He is a great progressive democrat.

[no name no slogan]

10. Frankly, I prefer your ceaseless Nader-bashing posts (n/t)

[NNadir]

18. I prefer to bash Nader too. Nader of course is an obvious fraud and liar.

I certainly prefer Kucinch to Nader by a tiny fraction. Kucinich isn't really evil I think. He's just pixilated and clueless.

[Radical Activist]

11. Yeah, isn't Kerry that guy who

voted for the war in Iraq, the WTO, NAFTA, and just got the Democratic Party to water down its platform so that we can't even stand up and say the War is wrong? I think he's heard of him.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[redowl]

20. wow. nice one. too bad you obviously have no point

on second thought- that wasn't nice at all -not even close.

quite mean and pretty dimwitted on your part since you miss the point of Dennis running completely.

guess I shouldn't be surprised by the density & nastiness of some here, but I am.

[Zomby Woof]

8. coolness!

[no name no slogan]

13. Another kick for Sherman

because he's a hell of a guy!

:kick:

[blm]

14. Very cool.

And who's ready to push for Dennis K for Speaker of the House when the Dems take over?

[LWolf]

15. I am!

I think Dennis would make an incredible, powerful speaker of the house. It's what I've seen him doing ever since it became apparent that he wasn't going to get the nomination this time around.

I've also always thought our nominee would beat Bush, no matter which of them we ended up with. I still do.

The best support I can think of would be to campaign hard in the house races and deliver some more democratic congresspeople to our next president.

:bounce:

[no name no slogan]

16. All we need is 11 house seats...

...and the House is DEMOCRATIC!

And what better speaker to work with the Kerry/Edwards administration than Dennis Kucinich? He's already chair of the largest Dem subcaucus in the house, has a long record of fighting for our principles, and is not afraid to take on the rightwing interests that want complete control of this country.

KUCINICH FOR SPEAKER IN 2005!!! What better way to scare the holy hell out of Tom DeLay?

[LWolf]

19. So...

what are the top 20 most vulnerable house seats? I'll be working with my local dem club to campaign for Fred "Tim" Willoughby, who is challenging Howard "Buck" McKeon for the 25th district in CA. I've lived here for 24 years and have yet to see a democrat elected from this region, but my city went for Gore in 2000. The dems have been growing, and there is always a first time!

I don't think Buck would make that top 20 list, though. I wonder who does?

[no name no slogan]

21. I would hope the House Democratic Caucus would have the list

I assume they'd welcome any kind of help to win back the House. IMHO it really wouldn't be that hard, given the vulnerability of the Shrub administration (and those dogmatic House members who've voted lockstep with it).

It may be worth a Google or two! :hi:

[goodhue]

23. here is a list of most vulnerable repukes

It looks several months old, but here someone's list . . .

http://www.angelfire.com/mo/zdawg/2004/house.html

Republican Incumbents
in order of vulnerability
GA-12 Max Burns
AZ-1 Rick Renzi
GA-11 Phil Gingrey
CO-7 Bob Beauprez
IN-8 John Hostettler
NV-3 Jon Porter
FL-5 Ginny Brown-Waite
PA-6 Jim Gerlach
KY-3 Anne Northrup
NM-1 Heather Wilson
AL-3 Mike D. Rogers
IA-2 Jim Leach
NM-2 Steve Pearce
CT-2 Rob Simmons
TX-19 Randy Neugebauer*

* Neugebauer is in an incumbent vs. incumbent contest

Republican Incumbents

GA-12: Max Burns
2002 margin: 55-45
Opponent County commissioner John Barrow, ex-state sen. Doug Haines, or state rep. Keith Heard; most likely Barrow or Haines.
Upshot This seat was created expressly to elect a Democrat, but Burns won the open seat anyway against the ethically-challenged Champ Walker. It will be the #1 target in 2004. Burns has already been elected president of the 2002 House freshman class and lost the lottery for congressional office space. He'll get a lot of help from fellow Republicans in the state and nationally, and he'll need every bit of it.

GA-11: Phil Gingrey
2002 margin: 52-48
Opponent Former state board of education member Cathy Henson has been mentioned.
Upshot Gingrey, a pro-life physician, won marginal seat in a new district in 2002. He has a big pile of campaign cash, which should tide him over through reelection.

NM-2: Steve Pearce
2002 margin: 56-44
Opponent Attorney Gary King or activist Jeff Steinborn
Upshot Pearce, though far from a great candidate himself, drew a weak Democrat opponent to win an open-seat race fairly comfortably; this is the most Republican of the state's three districts. Expect the Democrats to come back with a stronger challenger this time around, especially now that Bill Richardson is running the state. New Mexico is a swing state for the presidential election, so there will be plenty of money and support for both candidates here. Still, Pearce should be fine as an incumbent.

IA-2: Jim Leach
2002 margin: 52-46
Opponent TBD
Upshot Leach's district was given a dollop of new Democrat voters in 2002, but somehow it didn't matter. He just keeps on winning, now in a district that leans Democrat.

AZ-1: Rick Renzi
2002 margin: 49-46
Opponent Paul Babbitt, ex-mayor and county supervisor, is the brother of former governor and Cabinet Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

Upshot Babbitt is a very strong challenger for Renzi, a freshman Congressman. In Renzi's favor: incumbency and the difficulty of campaigning in the expansive 1st district.

CT-2: Rob Simmons
2002 margin: 54-46
Opponent TBD
Upshot Has survived a couple of close elections since first winning this district. He will again be a target.

PA-6: Jim Gerlach
2002 margin: 51-49
Opponent Attorney Lois Murphy is a weak challenger.
Upshot Gerlach is a freshman congressman; he won an open seat and should be stronger as an incumbent.

CO-7: Bob Beauprez
2002 margin: 47-47
Opponent DA Dave Thomas gained prominence in the Columbine shooting, and has the primary all to himself so far.
Upshot Beauprez won this new district by the closest margin of any House race in 2002. He's drawn a stong opponent, but should be fine with the power of incumbency and George W. at the top of the ticket.

FL-5: Ginny Brown-Waite
2002 margin: 48-46 over incumbent Karen Thurman
Opponent So far no strong challenger has stepped forward; Brian Moore and male nurse John Russell are the only announced candidates.
Upshot Knocked off Rep Karen Thurman in 2002 in a district made more Republican-friendly. If she can beat an incumbent, she should be able to hold the seat, and the Democrats seem to have written this one off.

[LWolf]

24. Great, thanks!

I can google all of those reps when I'm looking for a good excuse not to do the house or yardwork here in the triple digit temps. Maybe I can find one race to focus on in addition to my local race. Double-up, so to speak.