OK, I've been really busy for the last month or so, which means that the time I can give to Calitics and campaigns is way down.  On the flip side, the amount of money I can give has gone up a bit.

So, readers, here's my proposal.  I will do a dollar for dollar match for every dollar given to Debra Bowen (CA-SOS), Charlie Brown (CA-04, running against John 15% Doolittle), and Jerry McNerney (CA-11, running aginst Richard "Paid-For" Pombo) through the Calitics ActBlue page between now and 5pm on Saturday, September 30, up to the following limits:

Debra Bowen:  $1,000
Charlie Brown:  $500
Jerry McNerney: $500

And while you're there, don't forget to throw ActBlue a tip.  I work with them (as a volunteer), and they provide a great service FOR FREE, so say thanks with a bit o' cash.

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(Original version posted at DailyKos on Saturday, September 16th)

The California Republican Assembly (CRA) has a website that seems to function as a virtual headquarters for precinct work:  http://www.CRAVictoryTeam.com

Here a politically active person can volunteer without having to wait for party leadership or county central committee help, which may or may not be coming.  A special feature of the site is the screen where a volunteer can register and get a list of 10 voters in their area to contact.  When they have been contacted, the volunteer can come back for 10 more, and keep coming back as often as one likes.  I suspect they have a list of voters from every county in the state and that the names are from the voter lists from each of California's 58 counties.  I am curious as to what other data has been matched with it.

LET'S STEAL THIS IDEA AND USE IT OURSELVES!

After my original post, it was pointed out that most of the major California GOPig statewide candidates have this technology embedded on their websites.  

I also suspect that:

1) the site looks up the name of a person requesting information and only forwards it if the requester is a GOPiger,

2) the site tracks the names and locations of the volunteers who request information and constructs a data base for future growth of the party, and

3) the CRA put together this web site to reach their base and GOTV because they are unhappy with Schwarzenegger.

Note that S+13's name is missing from their candidate/issues list.  That indicates how upset the California wingnuts are at him.  It seems that the California Republican Assembly expects a fair number of GOPigers to skip over his name on the ballot.  

Finally, note that the site has professional looking flyers, mailers, and post cards (with space for a personalized, handwritten note) on it.  A motivated volunteer can downkload the digital files and have them reproduced at a print shop in just the amount needed.  

As I said, LET'S STEAL THIS IDEA!

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(X-posted from GovernorPhil.Com)

Frank has a real winner of a post in his CA Progress Report today. Specifically progressive darling, verified voting activist and all around awesome lady State Sen. Debra Bowen, (our next Secretary of State) has proposed a bill that would bring some much needed reform to the proposition process. It would require disclosure whether signature collectors are volunteers or being paid and most importantly show who is paying for it.

Considering how Republicans, who can't get legislators elected in California based on their ideas, have utterly hijacked the proposition process. This is huge. Recently CA Republicans main strategy seems to be throw as much money as possible into paid signature collection for bogus bills designed to castrate Democratic support, and bring out touchy feely issues that will turn out the Conservative base.

SB 1598 passed the California Assembly this week on a strict party line vote of 43 to 28 with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans opposed. It has previously passed the Senate on a similar partisan vote and that body will vote on concurring in minor amendments made in the Assembly before it goes to the Governor.

This could be seriously bad news for Phil's opponent the recall Governor as well... read on for more.

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