Caucus 2008 preparation

Post local events and information from your candidates' campaigns here.

The first meeting of the Bremerton Kucinich Meetup will be taking place on Thursday 12/6. Any and all of you who can make it will be welcome with open arms. You may contact me for details. Hope to see some of you. (all of you would be better, but....) :) There is a lot of work to be done and I cannot wait to get started.

Jennifer Cecere
jgcecere {at} yahoo.com

1stLD Democrats Presidential Campaign Forum 12/6/07

Who will you caucus for on February 9th, 2008?

Please join us for questions and answers with representatives from
several presidential campaigns this Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at the
Ricketts Boardroom at the Northshore Administrative Center at 3330 Monte
Villa Pkwy, Bothell. Directions Map

Holiday Social starts at 7pm - Forum starts at 7:30

The following campaigns will be represented:

Clinton - State Representative Al O'Brien - Clinton campaign volunteer
Obama - Curt Eidem - Vice Chair of the 38th LD & Obama campaign
volunteer
Edwards - Debby Nicely - 1st LD Rep to the Snohomish Cty Dems & Edwards
Campaign volunteer
Richardson - Ken Camp - State Director of the Bill Richardson for
President Campaign
Kucinich - Rebecca Wolfe - State Co-Coordinator Kucinich for President
2008 Campaign

http://www.docaucus.com/

This is not in any way accessible from the official state party website for some reason. Please disseminate widely.

Saturday January 19th, 1-4PM
Burien Public Library
14700 Sixth Ave SW
Burien, WA 98166

Saturday February 3rd, 1-4PM
Carpenters Hall
231 Burnett Ave N
Renton,WA 98055

If your LD or county is doing this, please post the information.

http://action.dennis4president.com/event/view/id_568/

When:
12/29/2007 at 05:30 pm

4505 NW 324th ST.
Ridgefield Washington, 98642

Email Contact:
gene5504 {at} wildblue.net

Community Awareness at Tacoma AMVETS

Where:
AMVETS
5717 South Tyler, Tacoma, WA 98409

When:
Saturday, December 29, 12:00PM

Come register to vote, learn about the caucus, visit AMVETS and support our veterans, inquire info about Dennis Kucinich, and/or recycle your Holiday gifts to a non profit organization. Families are welcome, we have a KIDS' CORNER Toys/Games/Milk and Cookies.
Seattle band 80:20 will be performing at the event. Must be 18 and over

for this area. More bands TBA AMVETS is generously providing 'members
only' pricing to all beverages to our guests.

This event is open to all, even if you can not attend please invite
others to attend.

-----
The organizers of this event are interested in getting volunteers to
help with it, if you are interested in being a volunteer, please email
Haejong Kim at hk4dk4pres {at} gmail.com

I am a college student on the East Coast, still registered to vote in Washington state. Is there *any* way for me to participate in the caucuses without physically being there?

No luck yet--so far it's just disability, religious observance or military service.

Attached is information on two events we are having for John Edwards -- please pass them on to anyone you think might be interested.

1. Iowa Caucus watch party on January 3rd at the Spitfire in Seattle .

2. Washington Caucus training at the Renton Carpenters Hall on January 6th.



Hope to see you there!



Paul Berendt

berendtpaul {at} comcast.net

Kucinich Campaign Meeting
Welcome, All Volunteers! Join our Washington State Kucinich Team
and Help Restore Democracy!

Date: Sunday, January 6, 2008

Time: 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Location: Large Meeting Room, Shoreline Public Library
175th Street and 5th Avenue, Shoreline, WA

Agenda: Welcome, new volunteers! Volunteers and Team Leaders will report on activities.
January 2008 will be “crunch time” -- so much to do; so little time.
We expect to have some very good news to announce soon!
Further details to be determined.

Yet again, the Washington Democratic Party has decided that the primary vote will be meaningless. They are not even holding to the previous premise that the primary will be "advisory," as the caucuses will be held on February 9, 2008 ten days BEFORE the primary on February 19. The caucuses, NOT the primary, will determine the candidate supported by Washington at the National Convention.

Voting in the primary will be effectively useless. If you wish to support a candidate and have your voice heard, you MUST attend the caucus.

You're invited to my Kucinich for President House Party/NH Primary Watch Tuesday Jan 8th starting at 6:30pm! This site gives you all the details + you can RSVP by clicking on the button above. I hope you can join us - it's a fun way to help Dennis, get some great prizes and DK campaign materials, learn about what our campaign is doing locally, and how you can help. We will also be watching the results of the New Hamshire primary roll in throughout the night!

Dennis, whom has been campaigning so hard for us, our issues, justice, the public interest, and peace, needs a little grassroots boost. Some love from his supporters out here in progressive WA, especially after some shameless treatment from the corporate media (being excluded from debates and the lack of coverage in general) and the unfotrunate news of the death of his brother. Let's give him and the campaign the strength and support to stay competitive in the early primaries. Help us build momentum to give our media friends and their pundits a big shock, and Dennis a little smile, as we work to win WA -or finish tied for 1st might be acceptable! :>)

We'll be watching a Kucinich DVD, a speech by Dennis, as well as the news to watch the most recent results of the NH primary that evening. We'll relax and chat about DK, politics, and anything else of interest that comes up. I'll make a short presentation and an appeal for campaign donations to Dennis. Prizes will be given to the highest contribution and those wih the best knowledge about Dennis and Elizabeth (a fun-fact quiz will be given, prizes for the peeps with the most Dennis 411). I'm hoping we can get a conference call with Dennis and/or Elizabeth, and an update from the NH campaign by our friend Kayla from Olympia, who has been doing some good work in New Hampshire along with the other volunteers there. Some "finger food" and snacks will be provided for this laid back evening, as well as a variety of beverages.

Not sure if you can come? Choose "maybe" on the RSVP page. That will help me plan the party. Feel free to invite friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc. If you can't attend, please consider donating to the campaign/event and especially voting Kucinich in your primary. Please also forward this to people you think might be interested. Thanks, Brad 206-406-4159
2439 NW 58th St. Seattle, WA 98107

http://events.dennis4president.com/parties?e=bradssanders&userid=148935

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/347323_statecaucuses15.html

Political activism starts at state caucus

By PETER HOUSE
GUEST COLUMNIST

On Feb. 9, Washington's major political parties will conduct precinct caucuses. At 1 p.m., in schools and meeting halls across the state, citizens will come together to begin the process of weighing in on the 2008 presidential election. Ultimately, Washington will send delegates to the national political conventions. The path to becoming one of those delegates begins with the precinct caucuses.

I have been an active Democrat for more than 25 years, and without doubt, the caucuses are my favorite part of my political activism. Here is what I love about the caucuses.

The caucuses are uplifting: In 2004, it was quite a sight to see folks come out of their homes and walk to their caucus meetings. They signed in and then talked with and listened to their neighbors about the presidential candidates. After a time, they held quick elections and decided whom to send as delegates to the next level of the process. If there was time, they talked about issues and passed resolutions. This is political discourse at its best: person-to-person, not 20-second sound bites.

The caucuses provide a portal to more civic engagement. Participation at a precinct caucus is often the first political act of the attendee's life. We all know we should be coming out from behind our locked doors and talking to our neighbors, and, by gosh, attending a caucus feels good. After the caucuses, our party ranks swell as more folks get involved.

The caucuses are fair: One criticism of the caucuses is that insider party hacks control the process, thereby locking out regular folks. In fact, the process assures that no person can take advantage of his or her position within the party. Anyone can get elected to the next level and a large proportion of the delegates coming out of the precinct caucuses have no previous political experience. In states with primary elections, the people cast their votes but the delegates are chosen by the campaigns. Here, anyone can move through the process and make it all the way to the national convention.

The caucuses are easy: If all you want to do is "vote" for a presidential candidate and you do not want to talk with your neighbors, just sign in at your caucus and leave. It will matter that you attended, because the presidential preference that you express on signing in will be used to allocate your precinct's delegates to the presidential candidates.

Finally, the caucuses are amazing. Just think of the complexity of this process: We must find, reserve and rent 25 to 30 sites per legislative district. Then we must recruit and train individuals to run the caucuses. Then we prepare the venues. Finally we host thousands of folks, some of whom know little about how to participate in effective meetings. Just for good measure, this will be done entirely with volunteers, and we have to start and end at a precise time. In my district, we have been working up to Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. for more than a year.

But isn't democracy something? Despite the challenges, we will hold the caucuses and we will increase civic engagement in our communities. And we will have fun doing it.

So make plans now to attend a caucus (Democratic or Republican) on Feb. 9 and experience the wonder and the messiness of democracy that Thomas Jefferson celebrated. You, your community and your country will be the better for it.

Peter House is chairman of the 36th District Democrats Peter House is chairman of the 36th District Democrats (representing Ballard, Magnolia, Queen Anne and Belltown.)

www.rainbowcntr.org

741 St. Helens Ave
Tacoma, WA 98402
(253) 383-2318
Get directions


Anita Latch anita.latch {at} gmail.com wrote:
Caucus Training
How to get what you want out of the Democratic Party process.

Join me on Jan 29 at 7 pm at the Rainbow Center!

Election 2008 is upon us, and it is time to unite as an LGBT community, speak out, and advocate for important issues.

Many of the Candidates have expressed their views on the issues of marriage equality and other equal rights issues. The candidate we select for President will be creating policy about these issues and will enact legislation that will affect the entire LGBT community.
Delegates who will choose this candidate will be selected at Democratic Party Caucuses statewide on February 9th, and you could be one of them. No matter which candidate you support, the amount of people attending the caucus will determine the number of delegates for each candidate that go to the National Convention. To better advocate for LGBT issues and your candidate, you must know how to use the procedures to accomplish your goals.

Attend Caucus Training at the Rainbow Center January 29th at 7pm.

It is time to strengthen the party platform and elect a President who values the LGBT community.

Anita Latch, President
Washington State Stonewall Democrats

Today the State Party posted a Spanish language version of the Precinct Caucus Packet and the Table Agenda on the State Party Bulletin Boards - http://www.wa-democrats.org/phpBB/ If you have trouble logging onto this site please contact Patrick Mead at patrick {at} wa-democrats.org or (206) 583-0664.

There is also a version of the Sign-in Sheet for the Precinct Caucuses that has space for mailing and registration address. This may prove useful in certain rural areas of the state.

Please download and copy these materials if you feel that they would be useful in your jurisdiction.


Sincerely,
Jaxon Ravens


Executive Director
Washington State Democrats
P.O. Box 4027
Seattle, WA 98194
(206) 583-0664
Jaxon {at} wa-democrats.org
http://www.wa-democrats.org

Thanks for volunteering to provide The Seattle Times with citizen reports of the caucuses this Saturday. We're hoping you and your fellow citizen reporters can send us e-mail dispatches both during and immediately after the caucuses. If you don't have internet access during the caucus, a report after it's over would be helpful.

These reports should be short, just a few paragraphs at most. Even a paragraph or two that captures the nature of the discussions and vote is fine. We want to hear how the discussions are going, which candidates are getting support, and which issues you and your neighbors at the caucus believe are most important to the country and to picking a president. You can send along as many reports as you wish. We will use as many as we can online at seattletimes. com, and may excerpt some for the print edition of the paper.

Please provide your name, caucus location, party that you're caucusing with, and a phone number in case we need to get back to you. We won't publish your phone number.

Dispatches should be e-mail to me, Richard Wagoner, The Seattle Times politics editor. My e-mail is rwagoner@seattletim es.com. I will be working on Saturday, reading the dispatches and getting them ready for posting to the Web.

Shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions. Thanks again for helping out, and I look forward to hearing from you on Saturday.

Richard Wagoner
rwagoner {at} seattletimes.com

Two pieces on Caucus Strategy posted to Washblog. You can check them out by following these links.

http://www.washblog.com/user/the%20imp/diary
and
http://www.washblog.com/story/2008/2/5/20114/01179

Also, there are a number of resolutions for precinct caucuses located at http://pdcw.org/resolutions/

You can print as many copies of the resolutions as you may need for your area caucus by inquiring as to the number of precincts meeting at your caucus site.

Won't we have to wait for the state convention to determine the exact delegate count?