Table of Contents

• SFYD Important Dates
• President's Column, by SFYD President Luke Klipp
• David's Telescope, and Updates
• SFYD Needs You: Recruitment for Committee Assistance
• Political Classifieds

SFYD Important Dates

April Membership Meeting Location: State Building, 455 Golden Gate Avenue, between Polk and Larkin Streets This location is wheelchair accessible. When: Wednesday, April 11, 7:00pm to 9:00pm We are pleased to announce that, at our April 11 membership meeting, we'll be hosting the first debate for the State Senate District 3 Primary between Senator Carole Migden and Assemblyman Mark Leno. Our debate moderator will be John Scott of Quake Radio's Progressive News Hour. In addition, we will be hearing from all the candidates for California Young Democrats (CYD) elected office. This will be a very exciting meeting for all of us to learn about some important races. And at the conclusion of the debate, all eligible SFYD members will vote to endorse in the State Senate District 3 primary and all of the CYD races. SFYD April 11 Membership Meeting Featuring: - Presentations from all CYD Candidates - SD-3 Primary Debate between Senator Carole Migden and Assemblyman Mark Leno - Endorsement vote for CYD Candidates and SD-3 Primary State Building, 455 Golden Gate Avenue Milton Marks Auditorium As all our meetings, this meeting is open to the public. Contact SFYD President Luke Klipp at sfydprez@gmail.com for more information. --------- SFYD's A Ball in Blue! Join SFYD as we celebrate our first annual blow-out fundraiser with friends and our elected family! Thursday, April 19 7:00pm-11:00pm Open Bar - 7:00pm-9:00pm Live DJ - 9:00pm-11:00pm Rasselas Jazz Club 1534 Fillmore St (Cross street: Geary) Tickets: $35 in advance, and $40 the day of the event For more information and to get your ticket, check out the online invitation: Ball in Blue Evite Major Sponsors: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi Alexis Ward and Barbary Coast Consulting San Francisco Firefighters' Union --------- State Democratic Party Convention April 26-29, San Diego This should be a blast. Come enjoy the sunny weather in "America's (formerly) Finest City." The "modest" slogan was removed after Mayor Murphy and Rep. Duke Cunningham resigned in disgrace. Now it's the Democrats' turn to bring ideas and fun times to town. No, we probably won't be saying hi to Shamou! If you're interested, try checking www.Southwest.com and www.kayak.com for airfares. Perhaps carpools can be arranged for last minute attendees. Email Newsletter Editor David Weinreich, who is working on convention transit, at sfydnews@gmail.com for details.

top

President's Column
by SFYD President Luke Klipp

Making Tough Choices

I was 10 years old on that gray day when my mom sat me and my siblings down after our Sunday brunch for a chat. Mom was going to be starting a full-time job. Until now, she had done part-time work and we could count on her to be at the house after school. But she had an opportunity, and she needed to provide for the family. We would make it work with a combination of latch-key programs and staying at our neighbor's house after school. It did not make sense for mom to avoid a full-time, good-paying job just to be there after school when we had other ways of making it work just as well, while putting our family on more solid financial ground.

These past few weeks, a number of columnists have been saying that, given her diagnosis, Elizabeth Edwards should stop what she's doing, that John Edwards should cease his campaign, and that they should just spend time together and with the family. The Edwards' response has been that they could either give up their lives just to be together, or they could soldier on, that stopping what they are doing would be, in the words of Elizabeth, "letting the cancer win."

And the Edwards are absolutely right.

And the decision they have made shows not selfishness or irresponsibility, but, rather, leadership and courage. When faced with the biggest challenge in their lives, the Edwards had said they will not let it conquer them. Instead, they will fight on, not only putting a very public face on cancer, but also re-dedicating themselves to public service.

For anyone who watched the Edwards' press conference announcing both Elizabeth's diagnosis and their mutual decision to continue on with the campaign, what they saw was a couple very much still in love after 30 years and speaking very candidly from their hearts. It stood in stark contrast to the pre-fabricated, meaningless, flowery language we hear daily from our President, and, even, from other Democratic Presidential contenders. For me, it was a breath of fresh air, and one reason that I've been watching John Edwards fairly closely, despite his continual third-place standing in the national polls.

After their press conference, the Edwards interviewed with Katie Couric on 60 Minutes. Couric repeatedly pressed them with assertions that "some people say" this or that about the Edwards, and should John and Elizabeth just stay at home, and what about the kids, and aren’t you going to die from this? Elizabeth's poignant response was "well, Katie, we're all going to die someday. I just happen to know what I'm most likely going to die of." I believe she added that the point is what we do with the time we have to live.

A curious side of this was a comment made by Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, who said that "the only people not criticizing the Edwards are cancer survivors and their family members." He understood himself because of his own cancer diagnosis a few years ago. It's like having cancer is the new gay, as it were, with those who have no personal connection to that experience rushing to judge those who are living it. And why can't John and Elizabeth continue to do the things they care about, through the toughest times they face? Who am I to judge? Who are you? Who is anyone?

Family choices are tough choices, but ultimately they involve the family. Something so personal, so painful, is not as simple as yes or no. Sometimes we just gotta do something because not doing it is the less healthy, less wise choice, even if to others not in our circumstances might think otherwise. Whether it was my mom taking on a full-time job for the first time, pulling her away from her children, or the Edwards pressing ahead either despite or because of Elizabeth's recent diagnosis, it takes courage and a lot of love to make such tough, personal choices under difficult circumstances. After all, this will all be over someday; the point is what we do with what we got.

top

David's Telescope
by SFYD Newsletter Editor David Weinreich

Primary Challenges

The pressure continues to cook in San Francisco as our incumbent State Senator Carole Migden and Assemblyman Mark Leno vie for the same seat in the 2008 June primary. Members of the San Francisco Young Democrats are already feeling the heat. We saw both candidates out pressing the flesh at our March 24 cleanup of the Juri Commons Mini Park in the Mission, and the effort to make their cases is only bound to increase as the days flip away towards the April 11 candidate debate & endorsement SFYD is hosting between the two - the first debate they will engage in.

This fiercely-contested race is grabbing attention, headlines and (likely soon) money from around the state. While much of the attention focuses on the potential nastiness in a race where differences center on style more than substance, I want to take a closer look at other recent primary challenges and what has motivated them.

There is clearly a larger statewide trend our local race is connected to, a trend of termed-out challengers running against incumbents in an era where two term limits dramatically reduce the meaning of the word "sitting Congressman or Senator." At the same time, movement to the suburbs and around the country since the 1960's has reduced the power of party machines to a fraction of what it once was. (notice how much time we spend registering transient voters).

In the past year alone, we have witnessed the primary challenge of termed-out Assemblyman Juan Vargas against seven-term Congressman Bob Filner in San Diego, alongside the challenge by termed-out Assemblyman Joe Nation - right here in Senate District Three - against another seven-termer, Rep. Lynn Woolsey.

Both Vargas and Nation were about to be termed-out and had little to lose. Both were also seen as more moderate than the incumbent, and therefore able to attract essential business support - important because they were unlikely to see similar support in Sacramento or D.C. power circles.

In the end, Juan Vargas was defeated, 51.4%-46%, and became a lobbyist for Safeco insurance. As Insurance Committee Chairman, 17% of his campaign donations had come from the insurance industry, according to the LA Times.

Meanwhile, the stability that comes with proving one's self against a serious rival has been a great boon to Rep. Filner, who recently ascended to Chair of the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs.

Assemblyman Joe Nation was not nearly as pro-business, but also tried to appeal to so-called ‘more main-stream interests' than incumbent Lynn Woolsey, the ardent antiwar Congresswoman representing Marin and Sonoma Counties. He lost by a nearly 2-1 margin, and - with far more integrity than Vargas - is likely going back into teaching.

Primary challenges need not come from the right or center. That just happens to be where California's races of 2006 originated.

We all know about the Ned Lamont challenge to Hawkish Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman—opposition clearly from the left. This threat was largely backed and encouraged by Move.Com and the blogging community.

Farther back, in 2001, Rep. Hilda Solis successfully challenged sitting Congressman Michael Martinez. Most important in this race was, again, the groups behind Hilda Solis' race. Miguel Contreras of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor famously said: "We've lifted the bar for endorsements. It's not enough to say you're for a minimum-wage increase and expect our backing. We want candidates who make a commitment to be with us on every vote, and to be with us on the picket lines."

There can be many reasons why such challenges come up. They are hardly unnatural, but are, rather, an integral part of our democratic system. The important thing for voters to realize is every race is different. One must ask why each one arises, what interests are backing the challenger and the incumbent, and who would make the most effective representative for the district.

---

In other news...

Community Cleanup Efforts!

On March 24, the San Francisco Young Democrats joined with Democrats Work at Juri Commons Mini-Park in the Mission District of San Francisco for a morning of clean-up, restoration and fun volunteering in our community. We were joined by the presence of both Assemblyman Mark Leno, who raked leaves with our members, and Senator Carole Migden, who swept sidewalks and talked with members.

The "juri" is still out on which competing candidate for Senate District Three made the better impression on attending members in advance of the crucial SFYD endorsement vote April 11, but both were talking to everyone who was there to help!