PDA Metro San Diego Endorses Vickie Butcher in CA-52

According to a story today at the Progressive Democrats of America website, the Metro San Diego chapter of PDA has endorsed Vickie Butcher in the 52nd Congressional District. Excellent choice! Vickie is running for the seat that Duncan Hunter has held for forever and a day. His son, Duncan Jr., is running in his stead in the upcoming June primary. There are several Democratic candidates running in this race, but Butcher is the clear progressive choice, and I'm very happy to see an endorsement for Vickie Butcher from San Diego's Metro PDA Chapter.

Vickie generated much excitement among those present as she spoke against the war and for universal health care, election reform, and ending poverty. She plans to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus next January.

Vickie easily won the endorsement and is genuinely pleased to have the Metro chapter's support. A true progressive in every sense, she faces three candidates in the CA 52 Democratic primary on June 3, none of whom sought the endorsement.

Vickie Butcher's public service and leadership resume is impressive, to say the least. She's been an East County resident for 27 years, has taught in the Grossmont School District and at Grossmont Community College. She has chaired the El Cajon Planning Commission, and been a member of the Grossmont Hospital Foundation Board and California Regional Water Quality Control Board. She also has a law degree, and many years of experience with a wide range of public agencies.

Butcher's leadership skills haven't been contained by the boundaries of CA-52! According to her campaign website:

I also bring national and international leadership skills to this race. As past president of the National Medical Association Auxiliary, and a member of an FDA panel on medical issues, I speak with authority in support of universal healthcare for all. As executive director of Water for Children Africa, a nonprofit organization, I have led international humanitarian efforts to bring water and medical supplies to those in need. I also organized 11 international trade and business conferences. As a small business owner myself, I understand the needs of the business community, while also supporting the rights and needs of working people.

That's very modest. Read her campaign website's Bio page for more about Butcher's extensive leadership experience and impressive catalog of achievements. Public service is clearly one significant part of her life's calling, and becoming the Democratic Congressional representative for the 52nd is another step on that path.

San Diego's East County has been strongly Republican for a long time, but that is changing. In the presidential primary just past, 45% of the voters in the district voted for a Democrat. That's an amazing number to this long-time East County resident who's seen Duncan Hunter win election after election by extremely large margins. Another Congressional District is turning blue....and they said it couldn't be done. Oh boy, were they wrong.

Please help Vickie win by going to her website at www.votevickiebutcher.com and make a generous donation! And if you're a member of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club you can also support her by attending tomorrow evening's endorsement meeting at 7pm at the La Mesa Recreation Center (4975 Memorial Drive, just off University Ave. in La Mesa).

Then in the upcoming June election, Vote For Vickie!

(crossposted at Calitics)

San Diego County Democratic Club Convention

I had to get up and get ready at 0'dark thirty this morning so I could ride with Kristi to the San Diego Democratic Club Convention, because she wanted to get there early to set up the San Diego for John Edwards table. It was at the site of the old Naval Training Center in Point Loma, and is now called Liberty Station. First off, wow. It was an absolute trip for a life long San Diegian to see all the construction and remodeling of that old base, and how it's being turned into a neighborhood. Frankly, I've only paid limited attention to the news of what all they have been planning for that site, so when we drove into the area I was amazed as well as incredibly lost. However we eventually found the right location, and they did have a Starbucks down the street, so I bought a latte and all was right with the world once again.

The convention was great. Well done, SD County Democratic Party people. I'm not going to give a blow by blow report, because that would be an awful lot to absorb. I'm just going to hit the highlights.

Richard Barrera, who will be running for a SD School Board seat, was the first speaker on behalf of It's Our Healthcare. We signed Get Well Soon cards to send to Sacramento for our poor, sick healthcare system. :-) We also watched Sicko, but unfortunately the DVD had Issues, and kept skipping so it was very annoying to watch...they ended up stopping it short because it was cutting into the rest of the program. We saw most of it though, and I'd seen it before. Too bad they had a crummy dvd though. There was an It's Our Healthcare workshop in the afternoon, but that's not what I chose to attend.

The late morning session was a debate between proxies for the candidates from the presidential race, and was followed by a straw poll. The winner was....Hillary Clinton, who was followed by Edwards, Obama, Kucinich, and Richardson, in that order. Edwards wasn't far behind. Maybe 5 percentage points if I recall correctly. I didn't write it down. (bad, bad blogger!)

The keynote speaker during lunch was Jehmu Greene, the former Executive Director of Rock the Vote who spoke about attracting and empowering young voters. Good stuff. I attended her workshops in the afternoon too. The first half of the afternoon was about engaging "Generation Y", and the later afternoon part of the presentation was about coalition building. It was good. Kind of a freewheeling, give and take discussion, but definitely worthwhile, and Ms. Greene knows her stuff.

One thing that made me say "woo hoo" today was Michael Lumpkin's announcement of his candidacy in CA-52. I don't know a lot about him yet, but I will definitely find out more and share that with you, my dear readers. Lumpkin is 8 days retired from the Navy. He was a career officer, and a commander in the SEALS. He's a member of the East County Democratic Club, as well as the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club. And he was a good speaker. Dynamic and passionate, without being over the top. I certainly had an excellent first impression. Time will tell. I was happy to hear him says that Hunter's seat in the 52nd "isn't a birthright". Heh.

There was so much more. Too much for me to condense at the moment, but let it be said that it was a great convention. Very worthwhile, educational and entertaining. As a bonus, I have blog fodder for future days now. :-)