D-Day for President

OK, not quite.

Chris Bowers mentioned the "silent revolution" of running to be a delegate to the California Democratic Party.

About one in every seven or eight members of the netroots is from California. Given this, the upcoming elections for the Democratic State Central Committee of California should be of great importance to the netroots. If my little reformer ward in Philadelphia can sneak two members onto the Pennsylvania State Democratic committee through a local write-in campaign, we the netroots should be able to put several new reform Democrats in the California Democratic Party with more than a month to campaign [...]

I know there are a lot of people who have problems with the California Democratic Party, but rather than just sitting around and complaining about it, this is a great opportunity to step up and do something. And remember, it would not just be a hostile takeover of the party. Serious reformers can bring new energy, new ideas, and new communities to help supplement and improve the existing party infrastructure. For example, in my ward, while we took the ward over, we also managed to massively improve on turnout compared to 2002. Hell, we actually had turnout higher than 2004 in some divisions (precincts), including my own.

I'm 95% likely to be running, and it's going to be a very tough election. I'm in the 41st Assembly District, which goes from Santa Monica all the way north past Malibu and the like and into Calabasas in the West Valley. As I understand it there are going to be two competing slates, one progressive and one more establishment. Both slates are expecting to turn out hundreds of people for the caucus. The meeting room where the caucus will be held seats about 40. It should be absolute chaos.

This will be a major test for the progressive movement. If we can't deliver a slate in a community this progressive, we have to go back to the drawing board. There's a LOT of money in this district, and I'm guessing the establishment slate will be spreading some around.

There's actually an executive board meeting tonight in Anaheim, and the Progressive Caucus is meeting there at 9:30 and will have more information for anyone interested in running or participating. All registered Democrats can attend. More info here. Jerry McNerney will be speaking there as well.