04/11/2008--Windmills and Windbags

Wind Power Tug of War—Two big events occurred this week. House Concurrent Resolution 38 passed the house (go to http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS144.nsf/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/30dcba0d779ffcee85257427007de016?OpenDocument to see how your Rep voted—Terry Schooley voted in favor of this important legislation that directs the Controller General to stop stone-walling the contract which was approved by all three state agencies that studied the bids and the contract.

With 25 Reps voting for it, and with six Senators co-sponsoring it, more than a majority of the General Assembly supports this, so why is the Controller General continuing to stall? Tom Noyes runs a great blog, with special attention to the wind power issue, at http://tommywonk.blogspot.com/

Delmarva’s marionette puppet Senator Harris McDowell’s sham hearings have, surprise, surprise, this week led to a report (seemingly penned by Delmarva) that argues for buying land-based wind power (without any price protection, and without bringing any jobs to Delaware). Anyone willing to bet that the report wasn’t written before the first sham hearing? House Bill 6 was passed two years ago to bring control to the price of power to Delaware. Bluewater Wind (BWW) won the bidding process fair and square, by meeting the requirements. Delmarva (and therefore McDowell) didn’t like the results, and so they are working hard to scuttle it. To bring jobs and clean off-shore wind power to Delaware, ask your state senator to vote in favor of HCR 38, recommending that the Controller General approve the BWW contract.

Discrimination Update—Senate Bill 141 (SB 141) would make it illegal to discriminate against someone in Delaware based on sexual orientation. Let’s join Maryland and New Jersey and 18 other states (and DC) and get this passed now. The bill is stalled in committee by Senators Still, Copeland, and Cook. Sponsoring senator David Sokola is passing a petition to bring the bill to the senate floor. Please contact your own senator and ask them to sign onto the petition for SB 141, to put an end to this discrimination in Delaware.

If you live in Senator McDowell’s district (Senate District 1 in north Wilmington), please give him a call at 302-744-4147 or 302-577-8744 and ask him to stand up against discrimination, and sign Senator Sokola’s petition. (You should probably not mention that I think that he is Delmarva’s lap dog.) THANKS!!!

Spaghetti Dinner/Auction Update—Tonight is the night. Bring family and friends to tonights spaghetti dinner and auction for the 23^rd RD Democratic committee, at the Newark UU church (www.uufn.org for directions). The cost is $10, and the dinner starts at 6pm. Chris Coons is a terrific auctioneer, and most Democratic candidates will be there. Will you?

State Democratic Party Convention Update—I was not selected to go to Denver as an Obama delegate. I posted some information on my blog about the state convention on Saturday April 5^th. The process is quite involved, and I did not go into all of it. I described it to some as sausage—the result is great but you don’t want to see what goes into it. The delegation selected to go to the national convention in Denver is wonderful, and will do a great job in representing the state. However, it was painful for many who really wanted to go and did not understand the Byzantine system, especially in selecting ‘add-on’ delegates. Also, state party chairman John Daniello’s behavior during the selection of delegation chair was atrocious.

Presidential Primary Update—There are only 11 more days until the primary in Pennsylvania, only two more weekends to volunteer to help your candidate get more votes. Each candidate has a good website, where you can find out how you can volunteer (and donate). I continue to really enjoy going to www.electoral-vote.com daily to get updates on election issues, including polls. It notes that Obama has 130 or more delegates more than Clinton, and this gap is insurmountable. There are some great tables of data at www.realclearpolitics.com , including the 2008 Democratic Popular Vote (with and without Florida, Michigan, and caucus states IA, NV, ME, and WA). I see zero chance of Clinton receiving more popular votes, states, or delegates than Obama. When can we move onto challenging John McCain?

I’m a financial planner, and a reporter asked me this week what I thought about the 3 candidates’ views on estate tax reform. John McCain wants there to be no estate taxes until a couple has $10 million, and then cut the tax rate from 45% to 15%. Both Hillary and Barack want to freeze the levels at $6 million per couple. McCain’s position is not too surprising, given that his wife is worth about $100 million. I simply don’t get how Republicans can continue to say, with a straight face, that they are fiscally responsible, and at the same time talk about drastically cutting tax revenues from families with more than $6 million. That kind of fiscal responsibility got us into the current financial mess. How can we cut taxes for zillionaires when we need money for schools, health care, and infrastructure? I just don’t get it! We need to get a Democrat into the White House in November!

Governor/Lieutenant Governor Race—I serve on the Progressive Democrats of Delaware’s (http://www.progressivedemsdel.com/) endorsement committee. We examined the candidates for Delaware governor and lt. governor last month, and this month we endorsed Jack Markell for governor and Matt Denn for lt. governor. Please realize that the other two candidates (John Carney and Ted Blunt) are good people, and good candidates, however we felt that Jack and Matt are the best.

Good Government—We are asking the Newark City Council to join New Castle, Elsmere, Smyrna, Ocean View, Felton, Farmington, Lewes, Wyoming, and Odessa, and the League of Local Governments, to urge the General Assembly to pass Senate Bill 4, to remove the General Assembly’s exemption from abiding by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Likely this will come up at a council meeting in the next month. Let me know if you’d like to attend and support this resolution.

If you live in the city of Newark, please contact your councilperson (and the mayor) and express your support for this resolution. You can go to http://www.cityofnewarkde.us/index.asp?NID=475 to find your council person, click on their picture, and bring up a page with their email address. Be prepared for comments such as ‘city council likes to stay out of partisan issues’ (response—good government isn’t partisan, and this bill will help Newark better see how its interests are being handled in Dover—no more closed-door sessions), or ‘other folks are addressing this’ (response—shouldn’t Newark stand up and be counted along with the others who wish to improve our state government).

Paul's Path to Denver Ends--04/06/2008

Well, I gave it my best. I spent many, many hours in Dover today, at the state Democratic delegate convention, but was not selected to represent Barack Obama in Denver. I end this post with an article from the Wilmington News Journal on who was selected.

The good--some great delegates were selected to represent Obama, people who have worked a tremendous amount for the campaign. The Obama campaign is very pleased with the makeup of the state delegation, and this is terrific! It was good to see such a full set of great candidates. A big weakness of the Democratic Party these days is having too many good choices from which to choose!

The bad--I was amazed at the autocratic style of state party chair John Daniello. Late in the day he nominated himself to lead the delegation in Denver, from the podium, and then proceeded to run the meeting even though the order of business was his nomination. Daniello follows the style of Senate Pro Tempore Thurman Adams (who freely uses his desk drawer veto, and who obstructs the passage of Senate Bill 4, which would have the general assembly fall under FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act). Daniello appears to consider himself, also, above the rules--that the rules are made for others. Clearly we progressives have some work cut out for ourselves here in the First State, to make the Democratic Party, well, democratic.

On the topic of bad form, I didn't appreciate having to listen to well over an hour of state leaders speaking--Daniello, Minner, Carper, and Biden. There were some good messages, but not even close to worth taking up so much time of hundreds of Democratic activists. Biden admitted that even he found his own talk boring!

I'm very disappointed with not making it to Denver, but this will fade. What won't fade is my desire to help Barack Obama seal the nomination--he already leads in delegates, popular vote, and states, and there is no question, he will continue to lead in August. The next stage of the campaign is the Pennsylvania primary on April 22nd.

The article >>> DOVER -- Several hundred Democrats met at the Dover Sheraton today to sort out who will represent Delaware at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer.

It took almost a full day, but they got it done, electing 16 delegates from around the state, including nine pledged to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, six pledged to N.Y. Sen. Hillary Clinton and one unpledged delegate. They will join the state’s seven so-called “super delegates,” who have slots on the Delaware team by virtue of their elected office (governor, member of Congress, state party chairman).

Before getting down to business, delegates heard speeches from four of those super delegates -- Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden and Tom Carper, and Democratic State Chairman John Daniello.

Then they elected the following delegates:

Kent County: Joe Dillon (Clinton), Elisa Vassas (Obama), Peter Couming, alternate (Obama)

New Castle County: Robin Whitaker (Obama), Bernard Pepukayi (Obama), Betsy Maron (Clinton), Ken Woods (Clinton), Saundra Ross Johnson, alternate (Obama)

Sussex County: Kay Ryan (Clinton), Tim Willard (Obama), Ardeth Savage, alternate (Clinton)
Wilmington: Stephanie Bolden (Obama), Darius Brown (Obama)

At-large: Dr. Spencer Epps (Obama), Samuel Lathem (Obama), Crystal Barnett (Clinton), Bill Skogen, alternate (Obama)

Pledged party leader and elected official delegates: Wilmington City Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz (Obama), state Rep. Helene Keeley (Clinton)

Unpledged add-on: Rob Carver

Who is Paul Baumbach?

Blogger—I began sending emails out to people supporting John Kerry in 2004. Initially, these were focused on how people who help Kerry win in 2004. Even though Delaware was ‘a lock’ in 2004, I provided information on opportunities to help in battleground states, including ‘door-knocking’ in Pennsylvania, and writing to voters in Nevada. In early 2005, I began a blog, to include the periodic emails which I called Progressive Updates. I address national, regional, state, and local issues, all from a progressive/liberal perspective.

Democrat—I joined the 23^rd Representative District several years ago (2005?) and have been active on the committee. I have also been involved with the Progressive Democrats of Delaware, and currently serve on its Endorsement Committee, charged with identifying which Democratic candidates in Delaware pass an appropriate 'liberal litmus test'.

Campaigns—I worked for John Kowalko’s successful campaign against Republican incumbent Stephanie Ulbrich in 2006. For John, in addition to door-knocking, I worked on talking points, speech and forum presentation, and other strategy. I have served as the treasurer for two local campaigns. I also helped other candidates in 2006 in speech and forum presentation matters.

Barack Obama—In January I organized a fundraiser for Obama that raised $2,500. I also offered my business for evening phone-banking ahead of the Super Tuesday primary. I attended both the Michelle and Barack Obama speeches in Delaware (was Michelle incredible, or what?).

I have worked to be selected as a delegate to the national convention, where I plan to not only vote for Obama, but also to convince additional delegates (uncommitted, and Clinton-supporters) to vote for Obama. The country needs Barack Obama to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, and I wish to help make this happen in August in Denver.

Social Justice—I helped resurrect the Social Justice committee at my church (www.uufn.org ), which I have led for more than five years. We have a long list of accomplishments, of making the community a better world in the past several years, including:

• Candidate forums in 2004, 2006, and 2008
• Voter Registration Drive in 2004
• Lobbying for Anti-Discrimination Bills (currently SB 10 and SB 141)
• Code Purple Sanctuary—open our doors on cold winter nights for those without shelter
• Seminars—We held two wonderful lecture series, including one on Religions of Mankind by Professor Alan Fox
• Films—We have shown many great films with social justice angles, including An Inconvenient Truth.
• Service Trips—youth service trip to Central America and West Virginia, Katrina relief trips to the Gulf Coast
• Partnering with Community Groups—Newark Empowerment Center, Emmaus House, Hope Dining Room, Delaware Food Bank, Sierra Club

Professional—I am a fee-only investment advisor. In 1996 I founded Mallard Advisors (www.mallardadvisors.com), an independent financial planning firm, in Newark. We help individuals plan towards retirement, and in retirement.

Family—I have been married to Pam since 1985, and have lived in Newark since 1990 with our son who is now a college freshman.

Hobbies—When not working and politicking, I enjoy road bicycling, tennis, jogging/walking/hiking.

Wind Power--03/07/2008

Sent today to the Wilmington News Journal

Skipping Class

How well have our state legislators done in bringing dependably-priced energy to Delaware? They passed a bill two years ago to establish a process of requesting and approving bids, a process won by Bluewater Wind, and yet the contract is held up, on our legislators. Almost half of the state legislators have sponsored House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 38, which will end the delay.

One argument I hear is that the legislators who condone the delay is that they don’t know enough about the contract, since they did not attend the many public hearings in the past year and a half. This excuse doesn’t hold up. If your child misses a class, it is their responsibility to go back and get the notes—if not, they fail. The notes (minutes) from these public hearings are available, but the legislators who refuse to sponsor HCR 38 are too lazy to ‘do their make-up work’. What grade do they deserve?

Ask your representative and senator whether they support HCR 38. If not, ask them what they have done in the past two months to make up for their absences at last year’s contract hearings. If they have done nothing, in November give them a failing grade—they have earned it.

Not sent (too long for the News Journal)

This week brought the latest disgrace to this process, as Senate ‘leaders’ DeLuca and McDowell paid $35,000 of your money to bring a DC attorney as Grand Inquisitor of state employees from departments that ruled in favor of the Bluewater Wind contract, a contract that DeLuca and McDowell are fighting the public and their fellow legislators to kill. ‘Shoot the messenger’, anyone?

McDowell’s kangaroo court is a further waste of precious time and money, and the McCarthy-era grilling of our state employees is reprehensible, lobbyist-scripted politics at its very worst. This waste is largely the result of the 35 legislators’ failure to co-sponsor HCR 38 and demand the immediate end to the contract’s delay.

Progressive Update--03/06/2007

Good/Bad News—The Democratic nominee for Presidential candidate goes on. There are some benefits of this. Some Dems note that the race is news, and there is no such thing as bad media attention. Others note that the country has not decided which Democrat they want to run against McCain, and they need more time to hear more from each candidate.

The other camp sees disadvantages to the continued primary contest. Especially the Ohio contest showed significant negative campaigning, and while some consider this as beneficial to the ultimate candidate (it hardens them), most feel that it shows a bad side of the party. The longer that this goes on, the more analysis and attention will be paid to the ‘superdelegates’ and the issue of how to treat voters/delegates from Michigan and Florida. While drama (of a late August decision on the nominee) is exciting, it certainly seems to make it more difficult for the ultimate nominee to wage a two month campaign against McCain, who has four times as much time. Another issue is that a continued primary contest sucks dollars from Democratic donors, to fund Obama’s and Clinton’s primary campaigns, money that is far better spent against McCain.

The Michigan and Florida issue is tricky—if the national committee tells you that you need to wait until Super Tuesday or later, or else your delegates won’t count, why would you go ahead and hold it in January? Well Michigan and Florida did. Now what? I think that you can not count the delegates that were selected through breaking the rules, as it would reward the rule-breakers (rules which MI and FL agreed to over a year earlier), but MI and FL can hold a new primary/caucus. In a contorted manner, this will accomplish what each state initially wanted to achieve—having their primary matter (but by being late, not early). Regardless, a ‘do-over’ is more complicated than it first sounds …

www.electoral-vote.com notes “Lurking in the background are the delegations from Michigan and Florida, which will not be seated under party rules because they scheduled their votes before Feb. 5, in clear violation of party rules. The governor of Florida (and Vice Presidential hopeful) Charlie Crist, has said he would not be against having a new Florida primary. Of course when a Republican governor offers the Democrats a tasty treat, one should look at all the details to see exactly what he has in mind. Is he doing this to sow discord among the Democrats? Does he think Clinton would win it and be the weaker candidate? What's the catch? He wants the DNC to pay for it. It is estimated that a primary would cost $25 million. Thus what he is really proposing is draining $25 million from the DNC warchest and probably having the weaker general election candidate win it. Sounds like an excellent plan (if you are a Republican governor hoping to be tapped as Vice President). The Democrats could hold caucuses in Florida and Michigan instead of primaries. Caucuses are paid for by the parties but they are MUCH cheaper. The problem with caucuses is getting both Clinton and Obama to agree. Caucuses are sparsely attended and the candidate with the better organization usually wins them. Obama has won nearly all the caucuses so far, so Clinton would prefer primaries. Politics does not have a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get interface like modern word processing programs. You have to parse every sentence very carefully and know the context to see what they are up to.”

The super-delegate ‘issue’ is quite touchy—should they follow their heart, their state’s popular vote, their state’s pledge delegates, or what? I believe that they should, in the full light of day (as opposed to in a dark smoke-filled room in Denver) all shift to the campaign with the most delegates when the pledged delegate race is decided (now, after Pennsylvania, after Michigan/Florida—I don’t know when). This will accomplish the goal of ‘ending the madness’, helping the 2^nd place candidate see that the gig is up (as Huckabee finally did on Tuesday night), and permitting the whole Democratic party to get behind the clear, cleanly selected nominee.

US Congress—While the Democratic Presidential candidate race has been in the headlines, there has been a very good development in the Congressional races. The Congress has instituted a two-year limit on departing Congressmen, whereby they can’t lobby during their first two years out of Congress—unless they retire by this November. As a result, there is an exodus from the House and Senate, not surprisingly of Republicans. This opens the door wide to strong gains by Democrats in both the House and Senate this year, and that doesn’t even include the Republicans who are leaving due to scandals. January 2008 may not only bring a Democratic White House, it can also bring a far more Democratic Congress (perhaps even enough to break Republican filibusters). Five Republican Senators are retiring, and six incumbent Republican Senators are ‘vulnerable’, according to www.electoral-vote.com.

Letter to the Editor--02/19/2008--McDowell short on facts

Submitted to Wilmington News Journal, 2/19/2008 17:15

State Senator Harris McDowell wrote a Delaware Voice letter on the 19^th. In it he attempted to explain the reasons that his Senate committee has called for yet further hearings on the wind power contract, hearings that the News Journal staff has rightly identified as unnecessary foot-dragging. His letter contained significant mis-information.

He claims that the four state agencies were unable to agree to approve the contract in December. Actually, there were three state agencies, which all support the contract, and the Controller General, who answers to ‘the leadership’, including Senator McDowell himself. Why did these ‘leaders’ compel the Controller General to disagree with the experts, and stall this process?

McDowell claims surprise at objections to public hearings. What he fails to mention is that there have already been a number of public hearings and staff reports. He appears to feel that hearings that he failed to attend did not occur. I am disappointed that Senator McDowell would prefer to grandstand than to take the time to read the transcripts and reports.

McDowell also misleads when he discusses how much the wind power will cost. He mentions cost estimates two to ten times what the PSC analysis concludes (again, I certainly wish he would read their reports). He intentionally confuses the cost of wind power (which is known) with the difference in cost between wind and fossil fuel (which is unknown, due to the variable, and rising, cost of fossil fuel).

Bluewater’s wind power contract is like a fixed-rate mortgage, while natural gas is like an adjustable rate mortgage. Which mortgage is best depends on future interest rates (fossil fuel prices in this case), which can only be projected. This is why HB6 was written in the first place, to begin to insulate Delaware a bit from these rising fossil fuel costs.

I trust that Senator McDowell understands this—it is a shame that he prefers to confuse the issues rather than illuminate them.

Progressive Update--02/21/2008

It’s been a few weeks, so here we go.

Presidential Primaries—There is a debate tonight, and several primaries on March 4^th which could end or prolong this horse race.

I would like to apologize to readers who feel that I came on too strong, perhaps even implying that ‘no good progressive would support Hillary Clinton’. I did not mean to imply that. I only wanted to share I decided to strongly support Barack Obama, and to share some of the reasons, not to criticize those who prefer Hillary Clinton. In this email list/blog I will resume my fevered, unrestrained level of support when a clear party nominee is identified (although I likely would be understandably more restrained if the party nominee has the initials HRC).

I was selected as an Obama delegate by my representative district (RD) to go to the state-wide caucus in Dover on April 5^th. This was due in no small part to the help that several of my friends offered at the RD caucus (especially Joe, Julia, and Carol, but also others). The state caucus will determine who will serve as delegates at the national convention in Denver in late August. If you are, or know, a state-wide delegate from suburban New Castle County, who supports Barack Obama, I would really appreciate your support. If you would like to chat, send me a line. I currently put the odds of making it to Denver at 20:1, but they could improve with your help.

There are a few RDs (districts) that have not yet held their caucus, and which still have openings for people to participate. To see the schedule, go to http://www.deldems.org/ht/redisplay/1/printerfriendly/1. If your RD’s caucus has not yet met, and you’d like to know whether you can still participate, call DelDems HQ at 328-9036 (NC County) or 800-685-5544 (Kent & Sussex).

I use website http://www.electoral-vote.com/ to track the primaries. They are a bit liberal-leaning, but not enough to affect the value of their presentations. If you’d like to know recent polls from upcoming primary states, this site has them. The data on this site convinced me in late January that Obama would win many more Super Tuesday states than expected, and would clean up later this month, as he has repeatedly and reliably closed the gap with Clinton when given the chance to campaign in each state. I expect that the worst that Obama will do is to split 50/50 the March 4^th delegates, which will leave him 100 or so delegates ahead, but more likely, he will widen the gap (that was restrained, wasn’t it?)

Superdelegates—I expect that one way or the other, the race will be decided by the end of April (the PA primary is on 4/22). By that time I expect that one candidate or another will have an irreversible lead in normal delegates (and in the popular vote), at which point it appears that the ‘party leaders’ including Pelosi, Dean, and Gore, and perhaps Edwards, will 1) encourage the #2 candidate to gracefully withdraw, and 2) encourage the superdelegates to jump in force on the wagon to support ‘the people’s choice’. The last thing that they want is for there to be a back-door candidate, selected in a smoke-filled room in Denver. It will be time to focus on McCain rather than swiping at each other. Don’t you agree?

Wind Power—State Senator Harris McDowell has joined with Delmarva Power on a massive mis-information campaign. I have submitted a letter to the News Journal this week identifying several of McDowell’s distortions and lies; I am hopeful that it will be published shortly. For good information, go to http://tommywonk.blogspot.com/ where Tom Noyes collects some great information on the BlueWater Wind contract.

Governor—You likely know that I support Jack Markell for governor. You can find out more about his position on the issues at http://www.markell.org/issues.aspx

I was asked to let people know that John Carney, who is running against Jack Markell, will be at the VFW in Newark (behind City Hall on Elkton Road), on Thursday the 28^th at 6pm for a Q&A session. If you want to know more about John Carney’s positions, plan to attend. I believe that light refreshments will be served.

If you are not registered in Delaware as a Democrat, you will need to do so by March (I’ve heard both the 20^th and 30^th) in order to vote in the September primaries which will determine which Democrat is nominated to run for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Insurance Commissioner, and any other contested primary race position. You can register online by going to https://registertovote.elections.delaware.gov/VoterRegistration/TermsAgreement and follow the instructions.

City of Newark—There is a city council meeting this Monday at which the Newark Country Club project will be discussed. It sounds like we are stuck with what the developer is offering (unless we want another lawsuit against the city), which is disappointing, however we don’t have to take it quietly!

Ezra Temko is running for city council. Today’s Newark Post announced that he will have a competitor. To find out more about Ezra, go to his website at http://ezratemko.com/ He also has a letter to the editor in the same edition of the Post.

Sierra Club/UUFN—The Sierra Club has joined with the Social Justice committee of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Newark (UUFN) to show ‘the Dioxin movie’ on Wednesday the 27^th at 7pm at the UUFN (www.uufn.org for directions). DuPont executives may wish to skip this movie and discussion.

Paul S Baumbach

Send me an email if you would like to be removed from this email list.

You can find this and all past emails at my blog site: http://paulprogressive.blogspot.com

Obama Update--02/06/2008--Super Wednesday

Thanks are due to everyone who voted, and who helped get out the vote yesterday. Roughly twice as many people voted Democrat yesterday than Republican, not that it surprises anyone reading this.

I was following the recent poll numbers, at www.electoral-vote.com, and was very pleased that not only did Obama take the majority of states, but he also took five states where he had been polling in second place: Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota, Missouri, and (no surprise here) Delaware. Hillary did likely get some more delegates than Barack, however the gap is far smaller than it would have been if Super Tuesday was only 7 days earlier. The momentum is clearly with Obama. Why is this?

One reason that Obama’s chances of taking the nomination is that Super Tuesday worked against him, and from here on out, the odds are with him. Obama began the campaign an unknown, while Hillary was a household name. As anyone who has seen him can attest, Obama makes quite a positive impression when you see and hear him. A half-the-country Super Tuesday reduces his ability to get in front of as many voters as he’d like. From now on, he will be able to be seen and heard, and as we know in Delaware, that makes all the difference.

Remember rule number one for Obama—he can not win this alone—he needs each of us. Alone, he will lose, together, we will win.

If you are in a state that has had its primary, this does not mean that your job is over. I live one mile from the Maryland state line, and its primary is next week. Go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple and enter your zip code and how many miles you are willing to drive to help Obama win, and you will find volunteer opportunities and events where you can help Obama win the nomination.

Unlike the Republicans, with their undemocratic winner-take-all approach, no Democratic state primary has a winner-take-all approach to delegates. This means that even in states where Obama takes less than 50% of the vote, he still is earning precious delegates. Every state is worth fighting for.

Let’s make this dream happen.

Yes we can, yes we can.

Paul S Baumbach

Progressive Update--03/01/2007--Super Tuesday Eve

If you live in DE (or NJ, or NY, or …) VOTE TOMORROW (especially if you vote for Barack Obama)

I heard the following from my friend Matt Kerbel, political science professor from Villanova University (and commentator on a local Philadelphia TV channel)

Hi, Paul. I don't know how much time I'll have tomorrow, but i can share a few quick "pre-game" thoughts with you today. On the Democratic side, the momentum is clearly with Obama, as I'm sure you know. We see this in the way he has closed the gap in national polls (which are relevant for the first time as the campaign moves into wholesale mode) and in a number of specific states. We see it in the size and enthusiasm of the crowds he is gathering and in the key endorsements he's been getting. I don't see any evidence that the debate last week slowed this momentum, which has been building since his lopsided win in South Carolina.

Remember that the calendar tomorrow favors Hillary. Both her home states (Arkansas and New York) go to the polls, along with states in her home region (New Jersey and Connecticut). She has an institutional advantage in California. Her plan was always to finish things off on Super Tuesday in the event that she wasn't able to finish them off in New Hampshire. But that won't happen, and if the Obama surge translates into huge turnout and the undecided voters break his way (which is indicated by the trends but not guaranteed), he could find himself in the driver's seat on Wednesday. Watch California. If Obama picks off a win there it will be stunning, and he will emerge as the new frontrunner (with a favorable calendar later in the month). If undecided voters break for Obama nationwide, this will become his race to lose. Like I said, it hasn't happened yet. But it wouldn't surprise me if it does.

On the Republican side, Huckabee's presence in the race is killing Romney (with voters and his kids, who feel he's wasting their inheritance on a fool's errand!), allowing McCain to edge ahead in primary states where he still has significant conservative opposition. But because the Republicans have so many winner-take-all states, McCain looks to win more delegates than his relative strength among supporters would suggest. If the Republicans played by the same proportional rules as the Democrats, McCain wouldn't be able to build a commanding delegate lead tomorrow. But they don't and he will. The one wrinkle in all this is California, where the Republican base is very conservative and where Romney has moved ahead in late polling. If he pulls it off and wins enough delegates elsewhere to maintain some semblance of viability, and if Huckabee pulls out after playing spoiler in state after state, Romney may calculate that he can go head-to-head with McCain and win. And he may be right, but the delegate numbers have to be there.

So that's what I'd look for tomorrow.

Progressive Update--02/01/2008 Obama & Delegates

Michelle Obama came to Wilmington and Dover Delaware yesterday, on January 31^st, and she was spectacular. I met her at a reception before her speech at the Grand Opera House, and then sat in the 3^rd row to hear her full talk. She captivated the entire standing-room-only audience.

I am sometimes asked why I back Barack Obama. Earlier this week I pointed to Caroline Kennedy’s Op-Ed on how Obama can be a President like her father, JFK. Caroline’s essay really captured my gut feel, that both Obama and Clinton have wonderful sets of policies, enough to make it a tie in my mind on that level. This forces me to examine the character, to examine what kind of president each would make. I would like to tell my grandchildren that I helped Barack Obama become President. I am not certain that I would be proud to say the same for Hillary Clinton.

Then I heard Michelle Obama. Her speech helped further crystallize this. Let me quote David Brooks (a seemingly Republican columnist for the NY Times): Obama is the one insistently calling on audiences to serve a cause greater than self-interest. He’s the one transcending partisanship and telling young people that politics can be the means to a meaningful, purpose-driven life. The Obamas won’t let us off the hook—they force you to ask what you can do for the country, and I like that, and the country does too.

I am tired of politicians telling us what we can not do, why we can not hope for better things. Obama inspires me to dream. Michelle Obama hit home another point—the road the Barack Obama lays before us is not easy, and he will not go it alone—it is much too difficult. The only way for us to make the changes he is laying out is for us all to work together towards these goals. This is hard, and a politician such as Hillary Clinton or John McCain have no ability to mobilize the country for something this hard. No one since JFK has had the ability to get so many people to say ‘where do I sign up?’

To sign up, first come to the rally on Sunday and get fired up. You will also have plenty of opportunities to sign up then.

***********************

Thank you to the twenty-plus friends who came to our Obama fundraiser on the 30^th. We raised over $2,500 to help Obama win most of Delaware’s delegates, on the road to his nomination as the Democratic candidate for US President this November.

Please join Barack Obama at a 'Stand for Change' Rally in Wilmington, where he'll talk about his vision for bringing America together and bringing about the kind of change we can believe in.

Stand for Change Rally with Barack Obama in Wilmington

Rodney Square
Corner of 10th and Market Street
Wilmington, DE

Sunday, February 3
Gates Open: 11:30 a.m.
Program Begins: 1:15 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public but an RSVP is strongly encouraged, so sign up now:

http://de.barackobama.com/wilmington

For security reasons, do not bring bags. Please limit personal items. No signs or banners are permitted.

I’ve attached a PDF file with the schedule of Representative District (RD) Caucus Meetings. If you turned in your delegate form by yesterday afternoon, then you are permitted to participate in your RD’s caucus. See the PDF file for date, time, and location for your meeting. Then show up! If you selected Barack Obama on your form, and would like to help me make it to Dover and then Denver, then if you are in the 23^rd RD, vote for me on the 11^th. If you selected Barack Obama on your form, and would like to help me make it to Dover and then Denver, but you are not in the 23^rd RD, then ask your fellow caucus goers to send vote for you so that you can go to Dover on April 5^th, and on April 5^th vote for me to go to Denver.

The following explanation of the caucus procedure was distributed by the DelDems (www.deldems.org) earlier this week.

· * The Next Step on the Road to Denver

If you filled out a delegate selection application and your presidential candidate received at least 15% of the February 5th primary vote in your representative district, you're eligible to participate in the representative district caucus. At the caucus, you'll meet with other delegate hopefuls in your representative district who are supporting the same presidential candidate as you. You'll receive 1-2 minutes to explain to the others why you should represent the district as that presidential candidate's delegate at the state convention. After everyone has had the opportunity to speak, both you and all of the people in the district supporting your candidate will vote on who becomes that candidate's delegates to the state convention at the Sheraton Dover Hotel on April 5th. Each representative district will send four delegates and two alternates to the state convention. Again, you cannot vote for delegates who are pledged to a presidential candidate other than the one you selected. You cannot change your presidential preference at any point after January 31st at 5:00pm. You are not allowed to "write in" anyone's name on the ballots distributed at the caucus. Finally, you cannot vote in the caucus or be selected as a delegate in the caucus if your candidate did not receive at least 15% in the primary. Go to the Delaware Democratic Party's website at deldems.org to find the time, date and location of the caucuses. If you have any questions or need to know in which representative district you live, please call Delaware Democratic Party headquarters at (302) 328-9036.

Paul S Baumbach

http://paulprogressive.blogspot.com/

Email me if you’d like to be removed from this email list. You can always go to the blog to see past entries.

Progressive Update--01/27/2008--Obama, Wind Power, and Obama

A few quick notes. The invitation to the Obama fundraiser I’m organizing is at the end of this. Note that it is this Wednesday, not Thursday as I earlier mistakenly stated.

On the topic of this Thursday, Michelle Obama is coming to Delaware this Thursday, 11:30am at the Grand Opera House, and 2pm at Del State in Dover. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is. Please email to Delaware@barackobama.com, or call HQ at 302-573-2540 to RSVP or for questions.

Wind Power and Scooter Libby Justice coming to Delaware. Remember way back when our illustrious President (not that he can spell illustrious) said that anyone in his administration who was involved in the disclosure of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identify would be swiftly dealt with. Scooter Libby was indicted and found guilty of obstruction of justice in this investigation. How did Bush deal with this criminal? He commuted Scooter’s conviction, essentially pardoning him. He stands by the rules unless he doesn’t like the result. That is Scooter Libby justice.

Well, Delmarva Power and several other (Delmarva-paid) legislators had no problems with the open-bid and open-meeting process for finding Delaware’s next energy source until the outcome was that offshore wind power was the winner. Now Delmarva and some of our legislators are saying that the process was not sufficient. I’ve had enough of Scooter Libby justice. Clearly the process would have been fine for Delmarva if the winning bid had been some fossil-fuel powered generating plant that brings them greater profits, and us worse health and higher costs and less security at home.

Ask your legislator these simple questions—did you vote for House Bill 6 that defined this process? If so, were all the steps under the law followed? Was there an open bid process? Did it consider all qualifying bids, whether from sea-based or land-based wind power? Were all experts for and against each proposal permitted to speak to the state regulating agencies which considered each bid? Were there open meetings for the public (including legislators who are, contrary to their own opinion, members of the public) to attend?

If your legislators say NO to any of these questions (and they really can’t), that they were uninvolved in House Bill 6, that this process was not followed, that an open bid process was not followed, that expert witnesses and open meetings were not held, then I have no problem if they work to slow down the BlueWater Wind process. However, if all of these steps were done, then stop this Scooter Libby justice system of standing by a process unless it results in an ending you (or your lobbyist friends) don’t like, and then changing the rules. Let’s reject the George W Bush model of governing.

I’m organizing a fundraiser for the Barack Obama campaign this Wednesday. If you are interested in attending (or sending a check), please read on. I am hopeful that the campaign will send Chris Lu, the campaign’s state communication director, who went to law school with Obama, and has been his chief legislative aid during Obama’s years in the US Senate. Note that I list a suggested contribution—it is just that, a suggestion, more is welcome, as is less. The campaign needs your money, to pay for signs, bumper stickers, ads, and transportation (say to bring Michelle Obama to Delaware).

Invitation

Barack Obama “I’m asking you to believe” Fundraising Party

When: Wednesday, January 30^th, 7-9 pm

Where: 3 Tufts Lane, Newark, 19711

RSVP by January 29^th, to paul@mallardadvisors.com so I can estimate for drinks and desserts

Campaign offices and TV ads cost money, and Barack isn’t hitting up corporate America for donations; he needs contributions from you and me. Let’s raise at least $2008 for Obama on the 30^th, just in time for Super Dooper Tuesday on February 5^th.

This is a fun-raiser and a fund-raiser, so bring nothing but yourself and your checkbook (suggested donation of $50 per person, checks to be made out to Obama for America—if you contribute more than $200, please provide your occupation and employer information)

If you can’t make it, don’t let that stop you from mailing an Obama for America check/donation to my home (38 Country Hills Drive, Newark, DE 19711) by the 30^th, and we’ll add it to the total.

For those of you who have already contributed the maximum ($2,300 per individual) towards his primary campaign, please join us without your tired checkbook, but plan to infect us all with your Obama-fever.

Please come even if you don’t RSVP, and don’t feel terrible if you RSVP but can’t make it at the last minute—I understand.

Barack Obama is in a very tight contest with Hillary Clinton to win the nomination of the Democratic Party. If you would like him to win, then please back up your good wishes with a contribution, and come and join us on the 30^th to celebrate working together to help Obama become the next President of the United States.

Paul S Baumbach

http://paulprogressive.blogspot.com/

Progressive Update--01/17/2008--Delegate Stuff & More

I would appreciate your help. I would like to serve as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, which will select the Democratic Party nominee to run for President in November. In this email I will describe how the process works, and, if you are interested, how you can help me go to Denver (at my cost) to participate in this process. (You can also use this to help yourself be selected to go to the national convention.)

There is a Delaware Delegate Selection Plan, which defines how Democrats in Delaware select their delegates to go to the national conference and actually elect their nominee to run for President in November? It is long and it is not as clear as it could be. I have (in my mind) improved the wording in this posting, at times diverging from the more confusing wording used in the Selection Plan. I will try to cover the most important steps.

Delaware will send 10 ‘Subdivision-level Delegates’ and 3 Alternates to the convention. There are also Unpledged Delegates and Pledge Party Leader and Elected Official Delegates, however amongst us mere mortals, the path to the convention is in the Subdivision-level delegates and alternates. These 13 slots are divided amongst Wilmington (2), the rest of New Castle County (5), Kent County (3), and Sussex County (3).

Your Role #1—Be a registered Democrat in Delaware, and vote at the Primary on February 5^th. I encourage you to vote for Barack Obama. The 13 slots are divided amongst the presidential candidates based on the percentage that each receives in the February 5^th vote of the public, so my chances of going will improve as Obama receives more of the vote of Delaware Democrats on the 5^th. Read on if you will consider participating further.

RD Caucus—Delaware has 41 RDs, Representative Districts. Each has one state Representative serving the district’s residents in the House of Delaware’s General Assembly. To find out what RD you are in, go to votesmart.org/index.htm and in the left side look for a box to enter your nine-digit zip code. After pressing enter, the page will fill with your national, state-wide, and local representatives. Look for your State Legislature > Representative. The district number is listed. Remember this number.

Each RD is holding a Caucus from February 8^th to the 29^th. Each RD will select 4 primary and 2 alternate people to attend the state convention/caucus on April 5^th in Dover. You can go to www.deldems.org and look for the entry for the caucus list. A partial list is available at http://www.deldems.org/ht/d/sp/i/1126873/pid/1126873 (I have no idea why the list is not complete, as these meeting dates/times were due weeks ago). If you wish to vote at the Caucus, you MUST complete a Delegate/Alternate Application Form, and turn it in by January 31^st. I have several (email me if you would like one), or you can contact www.deldems.org (302-328-9036, or Delaware@deldems.org) to request your own. Please remember to mark the State Convention box in the top, and not the National Convention.

Warning—If you complete one of these forms, you will be added to the DelDems database, and you will likely receive regular emails and mailings. Of course, most of you are already on their list, so this may not be a significant concern.

Your Role #2—If you wish to participate further, request, complete, and submit your Delegate Form by 1/31/08 at 5pm. With this accomplished, you can vote at your RD Caucus for a person to go to the state convention on April 5^th. If you wish to support me, then if you live in the 23^rd RD, then please submit your form with Barack Obama as your Presidential Preference, attend the 23^rd RD Caucus on 2/11 at 7:30pm at West Park Elementary, caucus with the Obama folks, and vote for me to be selected to go to the state convention.

If you wish to support me but do not live in the 23^rd RD, then consider if you are willing to go to the state convention. If so, submit your form with Barack Obama as your Presidential Preference, attend your own RD Caucus (by checking the schedule), caucus with the Obama folks, and ask them to vote for you to go to the state convention.

If you are selected by your RD, you will need to fill out another Application Form, and turn it in by March 5^th at 5pm (completing it as you did the earlier one, except marking National Convention in the box near the top this time).

State Convention/Caucus—On April 5^th the state convention will be held. Only those selected at the 41 RD Caucuses will be permitted to vote. All 165 or so folks will go to the caucus of their Presidential Preference, and in these subgroups they will vote on who goes to the national convention. Again, the number of delegates to the national convention that support any particular candidate will be determined by how many votes that candidate received at the February 5^th Presidential Primary in Delaware (so please vote).

Your Role #3—If you are selected by your RD Caucus to go to the state convention/caucus, and you selected Barack Obama as your Presidential Preference, then you are able at the state convention to vote for me (or anyone else in the caucus) to go to the national convention.

Delaware Civics class dismissed.

That was long enough, that I’ll keep my remaining comments fairly brief.

For local information on Barack Obama’s campaign, go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/dehome and find events and shortly volunteer opportunities. Now that Iowa and New Hampshire are behind them, the Obama campaign is really gearing up in Delaware.

For information on Jack Markell’s campaign for Delaware’s Governor, go to www.markell.org . Earlier this month I declared my support for both Barack Obama for US President, and for Jack Markell of Delaware Governor. Look at the recent posting at my blog for my rationale.

Wind Power—This is on hold at the moment. My frustration level (with how Dover operates) is over the top on this issue—every time BlueWater Wind, the winning bidder is asked to jump through a hoop, they do and then find yet another hoop presented—it never ends!! It sounds like the best approach for citizens to use for sharing their views are to write to Russell Larson, Controller General, Legislative Hall, Dover, DE 19901, or to the ‘leadership’ at General Assembly. Of course the leadership are those who don’t take calls, such as Thurman (I never met a desk drawer veto I didn’t like) Adams. I suggest that you remind Mr. Larson that while he supposedly serves at the pleasure of the ‘leadership’, the leadership supposedly serves at the pleasure of the public. You can also write to the Wilmington News Journal or other area paper, or call into WDEL and share your views. You can also contact your state Senator and Representative, and encourage them to (loudly) encourage their ‘leadership’ to represent your view, and to compel Larson to vote to approve the wind contract.

Presidential Forum in Newark—I am helping to organize a forum for each presidential candidate who will be on the ballot in Delaware to be represented, at the Unitarian church in Newark (www.uufn.org), on Saturday the 26^th (Democrats from 10 to noon, Republicans from 1 to 3pm). Please see the attached flyer, please plan to attend, and please tell your friends (and enemies). We have Rick and Brian from WDEL doing the moderating. We need a full audience to make this a screaming success. How else will your friends determine who to vote for on February 5^th? For the flyer, go to http://www.uufn.org/temp/080126%20Primary%20Candidate%20Forum%20Flyer.pdf

Paul S Baumbach

Progressive Update--01/06/2009--Finally off the Fence

Sorry for the back-to-back postings—events are hopping! A big election year is underway.

How the view up here?

I’m tired of being on the fence; I’ve had enough. Uncle! I have assiduously remained uncommitted regarding the candidates for President, and for Delaware Governor. I had what I thought were good reasons for remaining perched on the fence. I’ll share some of these reasons briefly, but would like to take more time on why I’m off the fence.

Governor—There are several Democrats running for Delaware Governor this year. I know two of them pretty well, John Carney and Jack Markell. Both have worked very hard for Delaware, and I like both candidates very much. I wanted to hold off on selecting a candidate to back for one primary reason—strategically, I dislike it when good Democratic money is used to beat a good Democrat. I have generally preferred Jack Markell, however I don’t like the idea of spending money ‘against’ John Carney.

That concern was trumped last week. Our esteemed General Assembly in Dover had the gall to halt the wind power project, in a typical unannounced, closed-door meeting, the hallmark of all that is wrong in Dover. This move is exactly the reason that we desperately need to OOGA, Open Our General Assembly, by removing the exemption that our General Assembly has from FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act. Their gutless move is exactly the reason that the public must insist that General Assembly needs to pass Senate Bill 4.

Enter Jack Markell. On Friday Markell issued a press release in which he calls the legislators to task. He takes a very un-Dover stance, stating that the public has the right to know what is going on behind closed doors that will impact our wallets. Markell and Carney are generally on the right side (in my opinion) of most important issues. However on Friday, Jack Markell made clear that he is a real leader, who puts what is right ahead of politics (and risking offending the ‘good ole boys’ in Dover). Jack Markell pulled me off the fence on Friday, and I thank him.

I will be sending a check to his campaign this week, and I encourage each of you to go to www.markell.org to learn more. I still like John Carney, and respect the heck out of him. However, Jack Markell is my choice for Delaware’s next governor.

President—I have been developing a 2008 New Years resolution for a few months. I want to be a delegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. That has affected my backing of presidential candidates, and caused me to remain on the fence for longer than I’d like. (A second reason is that as my church’s Social Justice chair, I organize presidential primary forums, and it is easier if I am viewed as unbiased.)

I really like the field of Democrats running for President. As a matter of fact, I like my least favorite Democratic candidate more than I like my most favorite Republican candidate. It amazes me that the Republican candidates are uniformly in their dream state, ignoring the fact that the Bush tax cuts have produced an incredible budget deficit, that Bush’s immoral war has caused dramatic harm to our country and the people of Iraq, that the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Bay are diametrically opposed to the Constitution and our Founding Fathers’ principles.

Only two men (and two women) will be selected as delegates from suburban New Castle County, in which I live, to go to the national convention. This has put pressure on me to declare my support for a candidate who would earn enough delegates in Delaware to give me a chance of being selcted. The pressure was sharply reduced on Thursday, as Delaware’s own Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, and as Barack Obama won in Iowa.

With Biden out of the race, my first-choice front-runner is likely to get at least one-third of the vote in Delaware, and therefore I am able to ‘come out of the closet’, and publicly declare my support for Barack Obama (www.barackobama.com).

Most of the Democratic candidates have good positions on health care, the Occupation of Iraq, tax policy, etc. If you are interested in which candidates share most of your views, go to http://www.change.org/presidential_matchmaker I warn you that it does not put any ‘weights’ on the questions. Biden’s opposition to a woman’s right to choose, on which I differ from Biden, is rated as importantly as Hillary’s support for Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws, on which I disagree with Clinton, but which I don’t consider as important as being pro-choice.

I find the site in useful in doing what the media is failing at miserably—seeing how the candidates’ positions differ. I examined the positions of the leading three Republican candidates. It shows those who are anti-choice (McCain, Romney), those who prefer coal over alternative energy (Guiliani, Romney), those who support discrimination based on sexual orientation (Romney), those who wish to piratize Social Security (McCain, Romney), those who desire to cut taxes further on the rich (Giuliani, McCain, Romney), and those who support the Patriot Act (Giuliani, McCain, Romney). The media instead focuses on pressing issues like ‘what did you dream about last night?’, and ‘what is your pet peeve?’ With a media like we have, it is hardly surprising that we’re suffering through eight years of Bush.

Again, I feel that every Democratic candidate is far superior to each and every Republican candidate. I think that they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I recognize that several candidates are ‘better’ than Obama on some issues, for instance the war (Kucinich seems better), and experience (Richardson seems better). I’m fine with that. I’m not a singe-issue voter; I’m looking for the total package, and I think that Obama is it.

We’ve all been told that Obama can’t be President. They said that we can’t elect an African American. They said that we can’t elect such a young man. They said that Obama doesn’t attract Republican voters. Well, Iowa showed us 1) that while valid, these concerns are not serious, and 2) that those who spread these concerns are more often than not opponents, masquerading as analysts.

Of the three leading candidates, I feel that Obama is the most truthful when speaking his mind. This is very important to me. I feel that Obama gets ‘the vision thing’, that he can picture how to make the world better, and he can describe it to others. It amazes me that Hillary complains about the ‘false hopes’ that Obama shares. We can not achieve great things if we aim low. Hillary Clinton doesn’t get this. Obama aims high, and that is what we need. I want our country to be led by a President who aims high.

Barack Obama is in many respects a polar opposite to John Kerry. He has vision, and he can inspire. Check out his speech from Thursday night at http://www.barackobama.com/2008/01/03/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_39.php

Obama inspires me. I hope that I am able to be an Obama delegate at the convention that nominates him in Denver in August. Later this month I will share with you the delegate process, and what lays ahead of me in this quest.

In the meantime, count me in Barack Obama’s camp. I’m signing up on their website, and I’ll be donating.

I’m off the fence, and quite happy about aiming high, and thinking optimistically about our state and our country. Thank you, Jack Markell and Barack Obama.

Paul S Baumbach

Send me an email if you would like to be removed from this email list.

You can find this and all past emails at my blog site: http://paulprogressive.blogspot.com

Progressive Update--01/04/2008

Three quick items

OOGA—Open Our General Assembly—Please join a push to open up Delaware’s legislature to FOIA, the Freedom of Information Act. Find out how to make your points to your legislators and newspapers at http://www.progressivedemsdel.com/meetings/FOIA_LTE_TALKING_POINTS.php

More importantly, drive to Dover this Tuesday, the 8^th, to let our state Senators that five years in a desk drawer is too much, and that Senate Bill 4 deserves a vote. Let Rebecca Young know if you will be going, by emailing her at young.rh@comcast.net She has a limited number of OOGA T-shirts, and she will have buttons. WDEL will be broadcasting all afternoon from Legislative Hall. There will be a carpool from New Castle, leaving at 12:30pm. If you can make it, PLEASE DO!!!

Wind Power in Delaware—Proving how much we need to OOGA, the General Assembly leadership, in a closed-door session, forced Russell Larson, their Controller General to defy the public (who support bringing wind power to Delaware by 20:1) and to ignore the experts at the Delaware Public Service Commission which studied the Bluewater Wind proposal for a year and found it to be in the state’s best interests. Larson put wind power on hold. Of the four government arms to decide on the next form of energy for our state, only one is closed to the public, the General Assembly’s Controller General, Russell Larson.

What can you do? Let your representative and senator know that you are fed up with ‘business as usual’ in Dover, in closed-door sessions, and in the General Assembly leadership ignoring the voters and caving to corporate interests. Let them know that you want them to stand up and insist that Russell Larson support the Bluewater Wind contract already approved by the Public Service Commission, without further disgraceful delay.

Presidential Primary Forum—One state down, forty-nine and DC to go. Delaware’s primary is February 5^th. My church (directions at www.uufn.org) is sponsoring two forums on Saturday January 26^th. All Democratic candidates are invited to send a representative to the morning forum, from 10am to noon, and all Republican candidates are invited to the afternoon forum from 1-3pm. Please reserve the date and time, and come and find out which candidate you will be voting for on February 5^th, and tell a friend.

Paul S Baumbach

Send me an email if you would like to be removed from this email list.

You can find this and all past emails at my blog site: http://paulprogressive.blogspot.com