Charlie Brown locked in a close race facing a recount

While election day brought great news to many at both the national and the local level, it was not the perfect storm that some had hoped for on the Democratic side. There are in fact still a number of very close races that still need to be resolved.

One of the races that is so close and so important if you are on the left is the Fourth Congressional District. Ret. Lt. Colonel Charlie Brown is locked in a very tight battle with State Senator Tom McClintock, a right wing icon in California. The only problem with Senator McClintock is that he is running for a district that is over 400 miles from his home. There is no law that saw you must live in the Congressional District that you run for, only the same state. However, McClintock could not even vote for himself.

It is a district that has a 15 percent Republican convention, and yet Charlie Brown came within a nose in 2006 of defeating longtime incumbent John Doolittle who has since be indicted. And now he is even closer to McClintock.

But this will go to the courts and the recount committee.

Here's the current numbers:

Charlie Brown (Dem) 155,735 49.8%
Tom McClintock (Rep) 156,379 50.2%

A scant 554 separates the two.

Charlie Brown issued a statement yesterday afternoon to his supporters:

“I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to every single voter who participated in yesterday’s historic election. It appears we are headed for a record turnout. We understand that there are still more than 40,000 ballots remaining to be processed, and we will not know the outcome of this election until all of those votes are counted.

Our priority today is to support a fair and accurate count of every ballot. I want to thank the election department staffs and directors of all of the counties who are working so hard and so well to assure an accurate count.

I want to thank my wife Jan, my entire family and my entire campaign team for all of their tremendous work during these past many months. I am proud of the campaign we ran—one focused on putting patriotism before partisanship and solving problems. While I remain very confident that we will prevail once all the ballots are counted, I know that this team has already won important battles for veterans, for families facing tough economic times and for so many other important priorities.”

There are roughly 40,000 provisional ballot still to be counted. Those could swing towards Charlie Brown. McClintock has not claimed victory. And even once those votes are counted, there will likely be a recount.

Charlie Brown said on Wednesday morning:

"It appears we are headed for a record turnout. We understand that there are still more than 40,000 ballots remaining to be processed, and we will not know the outcome of this election until all of those votes are counted. Our priority today is to support a fair and accurate count of every ballot."

It could therefore be weeks before we know the outcome of this election.

---David M. Greenwald reporting

Former Senator Max Cleland in Davis At Charlie Brown Fundraiser

By Bill Ritter

Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland of Georgia came to Davis last night for a fundraiser honoring Congressional Candidate Charlie Brown who is running again in the 4th District. Senator Cleland came to Davis two years ago to offer his support to Brown who narrowly lost to John Doolittle.

An enthusiastic group of 70 attended and joined Davis Mayor Pro-tem Ruth Asmundson, Davis Councilmember Lamar Heystek, Yolo County Assessor Joel Butler, West Sacramento Mayor Chris Cabaldon, former Davis Councilmembers Mike Harrington, Jerry Kaneko and former Davis School Member Jim Provenza along with members of the Davis Democratic Club and members of the UC Davis College Democratic Club.

After campaigning with Charlie for the day Max came to our town to deliver his message of hope and urgency that the 2008 elections are critical to repairing our nation from the disaster the George W. Bush administration has brought upon us.

After being introduced by both Jan & Charlie Brown, Max joked that folks often ask him how he wound up in a wheelchair losing both his legs and an arm, to which he replied “I went duck hunting with Dick Cheney.”

Turning to the matter at hand, Max reminded the crowd how the Bush/Cheney administration has seriously damaged our country leaving us with massive debt and deficits, an economy that is in a recession, 9,000 American citizens a month losing their homes, a needless and unnecessary Iraqi War all the while failing to capture Osama Bin Laben in Afghanistan and destroy Al Queda and not taking care of our wounded veterans as they return from war. It is due to this massive incompetence that Max is once again traveling throughout the country campaigning for candidates who are seeking to return sanity and good government to Washington DC.

It was simply a joy to be in the presence of this wonderful man who is such an inspiration to all of us.

Having shown his 2006 campaign to be credible and nearly successful, Charlie Brown is recognized by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a top-tier candidate worthy of early and significant support. Several months ago Majority Leader Steny Hoyer came to the district and announced the Democratic Congressional Leadership was supporting Brown with resources his first campaign did not have.

As was the case in 2006, many of us from Davis and Yolo County will be again volunteering to work to elect Charlie Brown and see him join our own Congressman Mike Thompson in Washington DC. Hearing from Senator Cleland inspired and reaffirmed our determination to do all we can to help Charlie Brown.

Congressman Doolittle to Retire

The Associated Press reports this morning that Republican Congressman John Doolittle, who serves in the Fourth Congressional District, will retire rather than seek reelection.

Congressman Doolittle was nearly defeated in the most conservative district in California by Retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Charlie Brown.

The Congressman who has served since 1990, has come under fire for his involvement with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

According to the AP story, Doolittle has denied wrongdoing in his ties to Abramoff, the disgraced former lobbyist whom he considered a close friend. But after the FBI raided the congressman's Virginia home in April looking for information about event-planning work that Doolittle's wife did for Abramoff, the congressman was forced to step down from the powerful Appropriations Committee.

Republican leaders have not only distanced themselves from the Congressman but have encouraged him not to run.

In the last hour, Democrat Charlie Brown has issued the following statement:

“I believe John did the right thing today for his family, for the 4th District and for America. Now is the time to unite as Americans, heal our wounds and move forward to solve the many difficult challenges we face both here in CD4, and across the country we love.”

Unfortunately for Charlie Brown and the Democrats, this move puts in peril Brown's chances for election in the heavily Republican district that extends from Roseville to the Nevada Border. A number of Republicans have already stepped forward to challenge Mr. Doolittle and without the stain of scandal, it may be difficult for Brown to make headway.

Nevertheless, Brown has created a formidable organization with money and a strong grassroots movement. His moderate views and background as a military official will serve him well in this fight.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting

Charlie Brown and Other Key Electeds Highlight the Yolo County Democratic Bean Feed

Last night, was the 31st Annual Democratic Bean Feed at the Davis Veteran’s Memorial building. Just over 100 people gathered at this annual event that serves as a prime fundraiser for the Yolo County Democratic Central Committee. The audience included a large number of Democratic elected officials as well as a number of candidates for political office for November as well as for 2008.

The event also featured four main speakers. It was Christopher Cabaldon who noted the relatively small number of attendees this year as compared to previous bean feeds.

“I know we need a rah-rah speech but first I have to tell you, we've got to do better. We have a very important election coming up, not just the one in both of our cities in West Sacramento and Davis and elsewhere in the county, but next November is critical and we have to do better than we did tonight. I've been on the central committee now for almost 15 years and if we don't turn out to vote more people next November than we brought to the bean feed tonight, we are not going to win back the White House and we are not going to win the most contested senate race in all of California.”

The highlight of the evening came from a guest to Yolo County, but certainly one of its adopted sons, Charlie Brown who will be waging a fierce battle in the foothills as he attempts to unseat incumbent and embattled Congressman John Doolittle. Charlie Brown, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and then remarked:

"I thank you for letting me lead the Pledge of Allegiance and I would like everyone, when you say the Pledge of Allegiance, to stop and think about what it means to you. You get too used to saying these things by rote, but I view this as when I, 35 years ago, became an Air Force Officer and I took my oath of office to support and defend the constitution of the United States, and when we say the Pledge of Allegiance -- I Pledge Allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands -- it is everything this country stands for and that is liberty and justice for all. It is not to a political party, it is not to special interest groups, it is not to large donors, but it is for everything this country stands for. Now the trick here is to get people to think about that because when they think, they are going to realize it is the Democrats who upholding those values."

County Supervisor Mariko Yamada who is running for the 8th Assembly District offered this moment as a call to action for local Democrats.

“This is the annual call to action for all good Democrats, as was mentioned earlier, we may not always agree, we may not always exactly come to the same point of view, or support the same candidates, but in the end we are all Democrats and we all know what we stand for, and we all know what is the left thing to do in our country not the right thing to do...”

State Assemblywoman Lois Wolk will soon be facing a tough battle for the State Senate against Republican Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian.

“My opponent will likely be Greg Aghazarian from Stockton. [Crowd boos loudly]. And you don't even know him yet. But I'll just give you a hint, virtually every single piece of legislation for which I've been recognized statewide--mandated reporting of elder financial abuse by banks and by financial institutions, the wild and scenic river designation of Cache Creek, the flood protection of our region, he's voted against all of those things and plenty of others. So I'm looking forward to the race, I know you'll all be there, it's going to be a great November I can feel it.”

But again it was West Sacramento Mayor and candidate for the 8th Assembly District Christopher Cabaldon who really embodied the call to action as he juxtaposed his success as Mayor of West Sacramento against the realities of the limitations of his lifestyle and sexual orientation in this country.

“I know many of us feel it here, but we may be leading comfortable lives in prosperous communities, doing very well, but we know something is fundamentally wrong with our country and with our state and we know we should be doing something about it. Maybe we just become numb, all of the lies about the war and weapons of mass destruction, or clear skies, or arsenic's not so bad in the water supply really, the patriot act... And time after time after time, I think Americans and so many of us in our own communities become numb to what this whole Republican arrogance has done to our nation and to our society and to our government. To our expectations about what democracy and justice are all about.

I certainly feel it every day, I have an opportunity to lead an exciting city, and during the daytime I make decisions about what happens to our police department, but in this country I don't get the opportunity when I go home after figuring out what we do with the police force of the city and marry the person that I love. And when I get up the next day, and try to figure out whether or not we need save levee breach number 8 or levee breach number 9 in West Sacramento first, those are the kind of decisions that I'm charged with in our community, fundamental issues of public safety, but if I go to the Davis Blood Bank tomorrow to offer to donate blood to save someone, I will be turned away. And anyone like me will be turned away for the rest of our lives. So the paradox of what it means to be in this country, to be successful, to have some amount of power and prosperity and yet to know that there is something still fundamentally wrong with who we are as a nation and who we are as a society is compelling, it's powerful. For me it's what motivates the work that I do in public service. It's why no matter how dynamic and exciting my little town gets to me, I know that the challenges that we're facing in California and across this country that we step up and that we get serious about what's facing us.”

The Yolo County Democratic Bean Feed has been a hallmark event for a number of years. It serves as a rallying point for the local Democratic leadership as well as a key fundraiser for the party to engage in critical activities. There are key races facing this community and this nation. We all know about Measure P and Measure Q which will help to fund libraries in Davis as well as the schools. West Sacramento has a critical bond measure for its schools as well, funding nearly $60 million, it will be critical for that school district to obtain those funds as well as Davis to be able to sustain the high level of services that this community is accustomed to. But the two-thirds threshold is very high and it will require mobilization and coordination to pull that off.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting