Sarah
2003-08-03 22:54:29 UTC
Kucinich lights Fresno spark
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/7234287p-8161602c.html
By John Ellis
The Fresno Bee
Published 08/03/03 04:25:15
Just outside the room where Rep. Jim McDermott proclaimed he is "not
afraid to say I'm a liberal" stood two women promoting a proposed
ballot measure that would scale back California's "Three Strikes and
You're Out" sentencing law.
The "Wall of Lies" was nearby, featuring a long list of statements
from Republicans such as President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and former White House Press
Secretary Ari Fleischer.
Buttons featured slogans such as "Oh please God, not another
Republican" and "More Humanity, Less Corporate Greed. It does a
society good."
This all drew a crowd Rep. Dennis Kucinich could love. And they loved
him back.
Delegates to the California Democratic Council's 50th annual
convention still were digesting breakfast Saturday morning when
Kucinich jolted them awake with a fist-pounding, lectern-rocking
speech. Approximately 150 people at the Piccadilly Inn-Airport
responded with hoots, chants and two standing ovations.
The speech was vintage Kucinich. The Ohio congressman, former
Cleveland mayor and now candidate for the Democratic presidential
nomination, hit his campaign's high points in a 10-minute rant against
business as usual in the United States.
He promoted universal health care, preserving Social Security as it is
now and keeping the retirement age for full government benefits at 65.
He heaped scorn on what he called the failed war in Iraq and the
questionable reasons the Bush administration has put forward for
waging it. If elected president, he said he would cancel the North
American Free Trade Agreement.
None of it was new, and many who attended Kucinich's May visit at
California State University, Fresno, recognized the themes.
Still, the crowd roared its approval for Kucinich, such as when he
promoted his plan for universal health care with the government as the
single payer.
"It's time we stood up for the people of this country and delivered
health care for all," he said.
Bernice Bonillas, a delegate from Bakersfield, liked what she heard.
Retired and struggling with health care expenses, she said "it's time
for something that is not so expensive."
Bonillas described herself as a progressive -- something many present
Saturday said as well. Buttons almost universally promoted Kucinich or
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for president.
Fresno delegate Larry Taylor added that Kucinich has some good ideas.
But he's a Dean supporter. He believes that Dean can better connect
with disgruntled Republicans and independents who will be needed for
Democrats to recapture the White House.
Other Democratic contenders -- those such as Connecticut Sen. Joseph
Lieberman and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards -- who have staked out
a more centrist position for the Democratic Party likely would not
have been well received.
In fact, only Kucinich and Dean had tables at the event.
As many said: The California Democratic Council has always tilted
liberal. It was founded 50 years ago, and its first convention was
held at the Californian Hotel in downtown Fresno.
Local activist and political gadfly Ray Ensher, then a student at
Fresno State, was at the convention as a charter CDC member. He was
dressed in his trademark Uncle Sam outfit.
Jim Clarke, the organization's current president, said the CDC was
formed to draw together Democratic clubs from across the state to
promote party candidates. At the time, California had "cross-filing"
in its primaries, which meant Republicans could sign up for Democratic
primaries and vice-versa.
There needed to be a group to promote and endorse Democrats in such
races.
Its success was immediate, and by its mid-1960s heyday, it included
500 clubs and 40,000 members. Thousands attended the annual
conventions, which often returned to Fresno.
Today, the effort is still there to "get back to grass roots,
retail-style politics," Clarke said. But the CDC is in a rebuilding
mode, currently reaching just 3,300 members. But that is up from 800
just a few years ago.
While Democrats hold the governor's office and majorities in the state
Senate, Assembly and the congressional delegation, he said battles
must be waged at the county supervisor, local school board and city
council levels, where Republicans have greater control.
This weekend, however, the focus was on national politics.
Approximately 100 dedicated attendees stayed up until midnight Friday
to greet Kucinich, who had flown in from Omaha via Salt Lake City.
Following Kucinich's fiery speech, McDermott, a Seattle Democrat, gave
a lower key, but no less impassioned, call to arms for liberals.
"If next year, the bumper strip on your car says 'vote for us, we're
pretty much like the Republicans,' [you should know] that is not a
winning strategy," McDermott said.
He said all Americans should serve a year of public service as
youngsters, either in an inner-city school, the forest, a prison or,
if they choose, the military. Children, he said, need to know they
have an obligation to the nation.
McDermott bemoaned that the United States no longer seems focused on
the common good, and instead has become a nation of "me first."
More than once, he said: "The question is: 'Where is the common good?'
"
The reporter can be reached at ***@fresnobee.com or 441-6320.
© 2002 , The Fresno Bee
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/7234287p-8161602c.html
By John Ellis
The Fresno Bee
Published 08/03/03 04:25:15
Just outside the room where Rep. Jim McDermott proclaimed he is "not
afraid to say I'm a liberal" stood two women promoting a proposed
ballot measure that would scale back California's "Three Strikes and
You're Out" sentencing law.
The "Wall of Lies" was nearby, featuring a long list of statements
from Republicans such as President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and former White House Press
Secretary Ari Fleischer.
Buttons featured slogans such as "Oh please God, not another
Republican" and "More Humanity, Less Corporate Greed. It does a
society good."
This all drew a crowd Rep. Dennis Kucinich could love. And they loved
him back.
Delegates to the California Democratic Council's 50th annual
convention still were digesting breakfast Saturday morning when
Kucinich jolted them awake with a fist-pounding, lectern-rocking
speech. Approximately 150 people at the Piccadilly Inn-Airport
responded with hoots, chants and two standing ovations.
The speech was vintage Kucinich. The Ohio congressman, former
Cleveland mayor and now candidate for the Democratic presidential
nomination, hit his campaign's high points in a 10-minute rant against
business as usual in the United States.
He promoted universal health care, preserving Social Security as it is
now and keeping the retirement age for full government benefits at 65.
He heaped scorn on what he called the failed war in Iraq and the
questionable reasons the Bush administration has put forward for
waging it. If elected president, he said he would cancel the North
American Free Trade Agreement.
None of it was new, and many who attended Kucinich's May visit at
California State University, Fresno, recognized the themes.
Still, the crowd roared its approval for Kucinich, such as when he
promoted his plan for universal health care with the government as the
single payer.
"It's time we stood up for the people of this country and delivered
health care for all," he said.
Bernice Bonillas, a delegate from Bakersfield, liked what she heard.
Retired and struggling with health care expenses, she said "it's time
for something that is not so expensive."
Bonillas described herself as a progressive -- something many present
Saturday said as well. Buttons almost universally promoted Kucinich or
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for president.
Fresno delegate Larry Taylor added that Kucinich has some good ideas.
But he's a Dean supporter. He believes that Dean can better connect
with disgruntled Republicans and independents who will be needed for
Democrats to recapture the White House.
Other Democratic contenders -- those such as Connecticut Sen. Joseph
Lieberman and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards -- who have staked out
a more centrist position for the Democratic Party likely would not
have been well received.
In fact, only Kucinich and Dean had tables at the event.
As many said: The California Democratic Council has always tilted
liberal. It was founded 50 years ago, and its first convention was
held at the Californian Hotel in downtown Fresno.
Local activist and political gadfly Ray Ensher, then a student at
Fresno State, was at the convention as a charter CDC member. He was
dressed in his trademark Uncle Sam outfit.
Jim Clarke, the organization's current president, said the CDC was
formed to draw together Democratic clubs from across the state to
promote party candidates. At the time, California had "cross-filing"
in its primaries, which meant Republicans could sign up for Democratic
primaries and vice-versa.
There needed to be a group to promote and endorse Democrats in such
races.
Its success was immediate, and by its mid-1960s heyday, it included
500 clubs and 40,000 members. Thousands attended the annual
conventions, which often returned to Fresno.
Today, the effort is still there to "get back to grass roots,
retail-style politics," Clarke said. But the CDC is in a rebuilding
mode, currently reaching just 3,300 members. But that is up from 800
just a few years ago.
While Democrats hold the governor's office and majorities in the state
Senate, Assembly and the congressional delegation, he said battles
must be waged at the county supervisor, local school board and city
council levels, where Republicans have greater control.
This weekend, however, the focus was on national politics.
Approximately 100 dedicated attendees stayed up until midnight Friday
to greet Kucinich, who had flown in from Omaha via Salt Lake City.
Following Kucinich's fiery speech, McDermott, a Seattle Democrat, gave
a lower key, but no less impassioned, call to arms for liberals.
"If next year, the bumper strip on your car says 'vote for us, we're
pretty much like the Republicans,' [you should know] that is not a
winning strategy," McDermott said.
He said all Americans should serve a year of public service as
youngsters, either in an inner-city school, the forest, a prison or,
if they choose, the military. Children, he said, need to know they
have an obligation to the nation.
McDermott bemoaned that the United States no longer seems focused on
the common good, and instead has become a nation of "me first."
More than once, he said: "The question is: 'Where is the common good?'
"
The reporter can be reached at ***@fresnobee.com or 441-6320.
© 2002 , The Fresno Bee