"The reason I went and sat at his table is I personally think Ned is a terrific candidate and I want to support him," said Mr. Dean, one of 1,700 guests at the political event. "I think not only is it a good race for the voters because he's bringing the war back, I think his campaign will benefit candidates up and down the Democratic ticket."
Jim Dean (Democracy for America) in the New York Times
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Hi everyone -

The Oakland DFA Meetup is supporting (not organizing) the promotion of a special event on Wednesday night that was just announced.

When: Tonight - Wednesday April 19th 8:00pm
Where: Uptown Club, Downtown Oakland (On Telegraph Between 20th & 19th)
$25 per person (or whatever you can contribute) to help send Sen. Joe Lieberman into early retirement!!!

You know about Ned Lamont and his courageous campaign to defeat Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary. Thing is, Ned actually has a shot because the grassroots and the netroots are behind him, in Connecticut and across the country -- including many DFA groups. And Lieberman is running scared (he even threatened to run as an independent as a counter-tactic).

Come to Oakland on Wednesday night and meet the man who could change the party by throwing down the gauntlet on blue-state Democrats-In-Name-Only who sell out progressive values.

Please forward this to everyone you know who cares about taking back the Democratic Party. And changing our country.

More below...

Image reposted with permission from Down With Tyranny

Today I attended Pete McCloskey's announcement speech in Lodi. I was impressed with the event itself, and with McCloskey himself. He has a personal charisma and a pugnacious spirit that will surely make the Republican primary an interesting race to watch. Furthermore, there is so much readily apparent narrative drama (which McCloskey plays to) that there is a virtual certainty that the media will eat up McCloskey's candidacy with a spoon. But as enthusiastic as I am about McCloskey running (I am aware that there is no downside to his candidacy from an anti-Pombo perspective), I have to say that I don't feel like I have joined the McCloskey bandwagon. At the very least, I have to say that I left Lodi unconvinced that McCloskey has a better shot to unseat Pombo in the primary than the Democrats have in the general. Maybe this is foolish of me, and I am certainly open to changing my opinion as his campaign develops. But it is where I'm at right now.

Oh happy day! Yesterday I attended a wonderful meeting in San Ramon put on by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund and I came away uplifted by my experience there.  Although I had initial misgivings, some months ago, about Defenders running the Pombo in Their Pocket campaign, I have now become convinced that they have a tremendous, and very central, role to play in the fight to oust Richard Pombo from office.  The meeting itself was great, and even better was the rap session a number of us had after the meeting at a coffee shop.  To me it epitomized the confluence of energy and resources it will take to dislodge Pombo from Congress.

Top 5 Reasons:

1) Richard Pombo needs to go.

He's at the at the center of the pervasive culture of corruption in the Republican Party and he's completely beholden to business interests that want to destroy our environment.

2) Pombo is vulnerable.

His approval rating is in the mid-30's, Barbara Boxer won CA-11 in 2004, and the DCCC is targeting the race.