I'm Back ~ Happy New Year!

I had to take a break from blogging for a while as I just didn't have the time! This year I am making one New Year's Resolution and that is to blog more! There is going to be a lot to blog about this year and I want to share my insight to those who care to read it.

I really am an optimistic person and I would like to say my glass is always half full rather than half empty. This New Years day is exciting! In 20 days we will finally have a President I am proud to call President again! President elect Obama inspired so many people to get involved in politics and thank goodness for that because we need every one to be active and engaged and involved. Getting Obama elected was the first step, now we must support his agenda in order to turn this country around, we must work together.

As optimistic as I want to feel this New Years Day, I pick up my paper and the front line above the fold reads, "Phoenix unveils targets for cuts. Budget victims may include city staff, seniors and homeless." The article goes on to talk about the recession and tough decisions our City Council members MUST make. Phoenix is not alone in the budget cuts. I was in California for Christmas and they were debating what cuts they must make just to make payroll. As much as I want to feel optimistic, I also want to be realistic, and all signs indicate that things will get worst before they get better and we have not seen the tip of the iceberg. What we need now is leadership not pointing fingers.

My prediction at the state level is the Republican controlled legislature will blame the departing Governor. They will spin that the Governor created the mess we are in. I have a saying that I find comfort in, "it is what it is." The first step in solving a problem is to accepting that there is a problem. Pointing fingers does not produce results. Who will emerge as leaders this legislative session? We all need to accept the fact that our current system of partisan politics does not serve us well. We must work across party lines and work with each other not against each other. The leaders that emerge will not make everyone happy including myself. I am a democrat but I am a rational democrat.

My challenge for all this year is to look for solutions and embrace change. We survived 8 years of George W. Bush so we can survive the economic melt down but we need to brace ourselves for a wild ride. I am hopeful the debate on National Health Care will begin and it will not be single payer. It will involve private and public partnerships, I am hoping we can adopt a Medicare model with modifications and give aways to the pharmaceutical industry must stop but there still needs to be funding for research and development. As for what we can do about health care we have to start with us and living a healthy lifestyle, and popping pills is not health care, eating well and exercising is something we can do ourselves. I am hopeful that the Employee Free Choice Act will move forward but I am realistic that it will not pass the way it is currently written. We need to address the environment and we all need to make changes starting by looking at how we can all do more to drive less and recycle more.

One of my favorite quotes from Obama is, "ordinary people can do extraordinary things." Let's all aim for extraordinary in 2009! Yes we can!

Emerge Makes Elle Magazing

The link is now up. Since this article and the article in the political insider SWITCH is a hip spot to be seen. If you have not been you must! Check out the article here!
http://www.elle.com/featurefullstory/14263/women-in-politics-democrats-and-republicans.html

Call with Senator Hillary Clinton Tomorrow!

Hillary didn't secure the nomination but it was still a close election no matter how you slice can dice it. Hillary was the first woman ever to win a primary. Every time the political pundits said this was it, back she came with yet another win. Because the primary was so close and Hillary did receive over 18 million votes the Hillary delegates simply wanted to make sure there was a roll call vote on the convention floor. After months of waiting we finally got news that both Hillary and Obama had agreed that they too thought it would be the best way to heal the party. I couldn't agree more. So after a couple of months of not much from the Hillary campaign I received an email earlier today that there would be a call with Hillary and her delegates. What Hillary will share with us in anyone's guess but I can be late to my HOA meeting in order to participate. I am sure there will be more on this tomorrow!

Call with Senator Hillary Clinton Tomorrow

Hillary didn't secure the nomination but it was still a close election no matter how you slice can dice it. Hillary was the first woman ever to win a primary. Every time the political pundits said this was it, back she came with yet another win. Because the primary was so close and Hillary did receive over 18 million votes the Hillary delegates simply wanted to make sure there was a roll call vote on the convention floor. After months of waiting we finally got news that both Hillary and Obama had agreed that they too thought it would be the best way to heal the party. I couldn't agree more. So after a couple of months of not much from the Hillary campaign I received an email earlier today that there would be a call with Hillary and her delegates. What Hillary will share with us in anyone's guess but I can be late to my HOA meeting in order to participate. I am sure there will be more on this tomorrow!

Emerge Makes the Political Insider

This past week the new Elle magazine came out with a great article by the one and only Gloria Feldt called Where the Hell are all the Women? It is a great article about getting more women to run for office. It is a great article and I strongly recommend reading it. I can't find it online to link to it. The republic mention can be found here. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/08/17/20080817insider0817.html

So Many Invitations so Little Time

In an effort to give you a little inside information from a Delegate I thought I would share with you some of the invitations to events that I have received. Tomorrow I am meeting with the fab five and a few more to try and plan our convention schedule. As for the fab five we named ourselves the fab five because we went have traveled to a couple of states to help with "get out the vote (GOTV) activities and wherever we went, Sen. Clinton won. (I will blog about how I was elected as a delegate soon). As for the invitations they are:
Emily's List - Women Vote to celebrate the 88th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage with guest speakers: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama (RSVP'd to this one- $50
Women's Equality Tea- Eleanor Smeal, Kim Gandy, Dolores Huerta, E. Faye Williams, Dr. Elizabeth Clark (Passing on this one- As much as I would love to go it is $150 bucks- I little steep for this delegate).
Unconventional Women - this is 6 hour training about running for office. Since I run Emerge Arizona a training program to train women to run for office I like to find out what others train on. I have RSVP's it is a give what you can event.
Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. This is a free event prior to the convention starting with a lot of invited speakers and guests. Will plan on stopping by.
Democracy for America - an evening event with three Senate candidates including: Scott Kleep, Jeff Merkeley and Andrew Rice. Event is free.
A salute to American Veterans. This event has too many speakers to name but there are 30 members of Congress who have affirmed the Veterans Bill of Rights
Emerge America (an organization I am proud of will host a lunch for Emerge graduates and board members who will be at the convention). We are now in 7 states. Will be great to meet everyone. I will be there since I am the contact person).
There are events with the College Democrats, the Young Democrats and Emerging Democrat Leaders.
Winning Health Care Reform in 2009. There will be a discussion with Families USA and SEIU. Free
Also receive an invitations on America's Agenda- Health Care for All with Dick Gephardt.. Free
I also have some invites for receptions from local political consultants many who I have worked with.
This is just a sample which I wanted to share with you. Not everything is free and there is something for everyone. Some events are educational and some events are just entertainment.

Getting Ready for the Convention

This just in....I just received the list of who will be speaking at the convention. It is going to be exciting and I can't wait. This is what the delegates just received.

The 2008 Convention program will highlight Americans coming together to change the course of our nation and feature prominently the voices of Americans from across our country – those who are calling for a new direction, those who share Obama’s concerns and strongly support his detailed economic plan and those who share his vision of making America stronger and safer. The early highlights follow:
Monday, August 25 – One Nation
Headline prime-time speaker: Michelle Obama
Featured speakers: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senator Claire McCaskill, Maya Soetoro-Ng and Craig Robinson
Tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy
Mayor John Hickenlooper and a video segment introducing delegates and other Convention attendees to the natural beauty and strong voices of leadership in the Mountain West
Tuesday, August 26 – Renewing America’s Promise
Headline prime-time speaker: Senator Hillary Clinton
Keynote Address: Mark Warner, former Governor of Virginia
Featured speakers: Governors Napolitano, Patrick, Rendell, Schweitzer, Sebelius and Strickland; Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and Federico Peña
Wednesday, August 27 – Securing America’s Future
Headline prime-time speaker: Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential Nominee.
Featured speakers: Former President Bill Clinton; Governor Bill Richardson; Senators Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Jay Rockefeller and Ken Salazar; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,;House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn; Representative Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth.
Thursday, August 28 – Change You Can Believe In
Barack Obama’s acceptance speech: On Thursday night, the DNCC will throw open the doors of the Convention and move to INVESCO Field at Mile High so that more Americans can be a part of the fourth night of the Convention as Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination.