Fact-esque

Get Democratically Active in Lower Bucks County

Local Dems are hitting the ground running:

SEPT. 2:  Patrick Murphy Labor Day BBQ
When: Saturday, September 2, 2006, 2:00 PM
Where: New Patrick Murphy Headquarters
           7500 Bristol Pike
           Levittown PA 19057

There's torrential rain predicted for the next 72 hours so this may get moved.  Call the campaign office for details.  215.547.5211

SEPT. 9: Paul Lang is having an Open House/volunteer training at his NEW campaign office - free coffee and doughnuts!

When:  Saturday Sept. 9  8:30am - 10:00am
Where: 1259 Wood Lane
           Langhorne, PA 19047
           call 267.897.9155 for directions 

Come meet Paul and see the new office.  Paul is endorsed by Lower Bucks for Democracy. This will be a fun campaign to work.

3.  SEPT. 9:  Canvass for Murphy
When: Saturday, September 9, 2006, 11:00 AM
Where: Super Fresh Parking Lot
           85 Franklin Mills Blvd.
           Philadelphia PA 19154

And Sept. 10 is Lawn Sign Day for Murphy.

What: Patrick Murphy lawn sign distribution
When: Sunday, September 10, 2006, 11:00 AM
Where: Patrick Murphy HQ
           7500 Bristol Pike
           Levittown PA 19057

SEPT. 16: Statewide Day of Action - rally with Gov. Rendell

When: Saturday, Sept. 16  10 am
Where: Bristol Township Municipal Complex
           2501 Bath Road
           Bristol, PA 19007

From Julia Ramsey of the Rendell Campaign: We are planning a statewide Day of Action on Saturday September 16th. We would like to get several thousand people on the ground that day to motivate Democratic voters to come out and vote Democratic this year. In Bucks County we will have the pleasure of the Governor being a huge part of our day. At 10 am he will address the volunteers in a small rally at the Bristol Township Municipal Complex, from there we would like to send out a 100 volunteers onto the streets of Bristol Township and Bensalem. There are so many voters there that need a few extra pushes! Anyone who is interested should contact me, preferably over the phone.

Julia A Ramsey
Bucks County Coordinator
Rendell for Governor
Office: 610-832-2139
Cell: 267-767-2998

Tell Us What You Believe In

Project Vote Smart is one of my favorite sites.  It tracks the votes of every member of Congress in an easily searched, easily read format.   I found this upsetting bit of information there tonight:

Over 100 national                                                                     political leaders and news organizations                                                                        now test candidates' willingness to                                                                        provide voters with essential issue positions.                                                                  Afraid of opponents and hoping to manage                                                                        you with manipulative messages, half of                                                                         all candidates refuse this basic voter's                                                                        right.

So far the site has info as to whether candidates from Pennsylvania, Iowa and New Mexico have filled out Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test.  The questions are very straight-forward.  The only problem - and it's a big one - is that there isn't a set of questions about voting rights on any of the surveys. 

Here's a section from Chaka Fattah's (PA-2) questionnaire:

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding immigration.
	a) Decrease the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country.
	b) Establish English as the official national language.
	c) Support a temporary worker program that would enable illegal immigrants to work in the United States legally.
X	d) Relax restrictions barring legal immigrants from using government funded social programs (e.g. public housing, food stamps).
	e) Support amnesty for illegal immigrants already working in the United States.
	f) Other or expanded principles
I am in support of creating a path citizenship.

So who in PA has filled a questionnaires out and who hasn't?   Gov. Rendell has.  Chris Carney, Lois Herr and Jack Murtha have.  Bob Casey, Man on Dog, Mike Fitzpatrick, Patrick Murphy, Lois Murphy, Jim Gerlach, Joe Sestak and Curt Weldon have not.

On the state level, Paul Lang (running for State Senate in the 6th) and Chris Serpico (running for State Senate in the 10th) have.  Their opponents, Tommy Tomlinson and Chuck McIllehenny have not.  In the Rep races, some of my favorite candidates have filled out the survey:  Harris Martin,   David Steil, Chris King, Larry Glick and Jason Trimble.    None of their opponents has  except for Harris'.

Project Vote Smart is right.  Their survey is a good snapshot of a candidate's position on important issues.  I wonder why anyone would not want to take advantage of that opportunity. 

A Revolution in Pennsylvania

I made it over to the Disabled American Veterans' hall in Bristol today to be at Paul Lang's event with Sen. Max Cleland.    Nearly fifty people crowded into two rooms to hear Max Cleland endorse Paul for the State Senate.   Earlier in the day Cleland made an appearance with Brian Lentz, who's running for State Rep in Delaware county. 

Cleland clearly had done his PA homework.    At one point in his brief speech he said something like, I don't know anyone who can raise their pay twenty thousand dollars over night and then he mentioned that passing that hike was particularly tone deaf when the legislature can't get any action on a minimum wage bill.   

He also told the crowd that 2006 is a time for action.  No matter what your political position is, Democrat, Republican, Independent, "don't stay indifferent this year.  The stakes are too high."

Paul told his the story of  his time in the Coast Guard, which is harrowing.   I've heard his stump speech before though so I sat quietly in the doorway to another, less crowded room while he was making it.  From my position behind the speakers I got a good look at the crowd.   Iraq War vet, Patrick Murphy was there and was later introduced to the room.  And of course there were veterans from other wars as well.  There were also people from peace groups, from the Coalition for Voting Integrity, from both of the local Democracy for America groups.   Every Democratic group out here knows Paul Lang and loves what they see and hear from him.   I'm talking about Democratic groups, famous for their inability to agree on much of anything agreeing that Paul Lang is the guy they'll come out late on a weekday afternoon to support without a single complaint.   

That's because as soon as you spend five minutes with Paul, you know that he's a genuinely honest and informed person skilled in the ability to build real coalitions - the kind where everyone walks away thinking about what they get out of the deal instead of what they gave up to get it.   Max Cleland picked a winner.

This is a photo of Sen. Cleland singing a petition to bring voter-verified paper ballots to Pennsylvania.   The race he lost to Chambliss, where he lost a 5% lead in the polls overnight to lose at the polls by 7%, is a one of the icons of the VVPB movement.   For some reason he doesn't talk about it, joining Gore, Lieberman, Kerry and a bunch of other Dem pols.  It's like there's been a directive from the Party not to discuss suspicious losses.   Anyway, he took the time to sign our petition even though they were trying to organize a photo-op with him.  I'll take what I can get.

UPDATE: Jane has a rundown of both the Lentz and the Lang events.   One day I'm going to meet that woman.

Bucks County Politics Are the Best Politics Around

Doug Platz is a candidate I'll be pushing in the months ahead.  He's a soon-to-be Emerson grad who's stepping up to run against a very popular state rep, Dave Steil.   

I met Doug at a houseparty and was immediately floored by his intelligence, presence, grasp of state and local issues and, more than anything, his obvious dedication to students in the district.  One of his big issues, in addtion to education, will be openess and accountability in the state government.  We're sorely lacking both of those right now.  He's the kind of person who makes you want to be involved in politics.  How many of them are there around like that?  Paul Lang is one.  (Paul: get that website up!)   Chuck Pennacchio is another.  And there's Doug.   

Right now everyone is in petition-mode so the campaign won't be able to really kick off until some time after March 7, when we find out who will even be on the ballot.   There's always that horrible period of waiting while the signatures are certified.  That's when you hear and start to believe the horror stories of the candidate who missed the ballot by three signatures and it was because her mother and two sisters filled out their township incorrectly!!!!   It gets crazy.