Progressive Update--08/18/2008--Obama Update & Delaware Primary Forum

Obama News—Delaware (finally) has a state director of the campaign, Marla Blunt (marlablunt@yahoo.com), who is initially working out of DelDems HQ off Basin Road. Please email her or Rob Carver (rcarver@pfracp.org) if you would like to volunteer.
Paul Ruiz (paulruiz87@gmail.com) is the ‘State Director for Delaware Students for Barack Obama' (both college and high school, where Tim McBride is helping). Paul has a very impressive gameplan, including canvassing trips into PA every weekend, starting 9/6/08. For now, I suggest that you work through him if you are interested in door knocking in PA.
The national convention starts next week in Denver. http://www.demconvention.com/typical-day has a mini-schedule. Expect the VP to be named this week, and look for a great speech by them next week, before the culmination, Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday night before 75,000 Democrats.
Earlier this summer, Democrats across the country were asked to meet in neighborhood groups (including several in Delaware) and share their top concerns for the country. This feedback was incorporated into the Democratic Party’s Platform, “Renewing America’s Promise.” The full 94 pages can be found at http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/2008%20Democratic%20Platform%20by%20Cmte%2008-13-08%20(2).pdf Thanks are due to everyone who participated in this effort. The platform will be discussed, perhaps amended, and voted upon at next week’s national convention.
Delaware Primary Election—On September 9th, the state will determine which Democrats will face which Republicans in the November election. I have shared my thoughts on many of these races in past posts. It is time for you to make up your mind.
I chair the social justice committee of my church, www.uufn.org. We are hosting a Delaware State Primary Candidate Forum, this Saturday, from 8am to 3pm. There are seven primary races represented, with fourteen or more of the sixteen candidates agreeing to participate. Please find the current flyer at http://www.uufn.org/temp/ForumFlyerHours.pdf These forums need three factors to be successful—high participation by candidates, high participation by the audience, and good moderators. We have lined up WDEL’s Allan Loudell in the morning and WILM’s John Watson in the afternoon as the moderators. What we need is YOU. Please join us! Consider printing the flyer and posting it at work, and sharing it with your friends.
Paul S Baumbach