A few months ago I made a case for current CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen to be Governor of CA.

Much interesting discussion came out of that, and a fair bit of support for Bowen.

The Draft Debra Bowen for Governor of CA website is now up at draftbowen.org - we'd like to get as many signups at the site as possible.  Also as part of that effort, please join the "Draft Debra Bowen for Governor" Facebook group.

Have you been wondering why even though Dems have had a majority for two years and will have an even bigger majority for the next two, it seems like the GOP holds all the chips in the senate?  Why it somehow now magically takes 60 votes to pass anything in a body that only actually needs a simple majority to pass bills?

And bigger still, can we actually pass any legislation without being obstructed?

There's a simple answer to this, and that's to bring back the REAL filibuster.

Two days ago I made a case for current CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen to be Governor of CA.

Much interesting discussion came out of that, and a fair bit of support for Bowen.  However, I noticed that many folks assumed that Bowen planned on running for the US Senate (to replace Feinstein, perhaps) and not for Governor.

This diary makes the case for Debra Bowen to run for Governor, not for a Senate seat.  As part of that effort, please join the "Draft Debra Bowen for Governor" Facebook group.

We're worried about the potential for massive unemployment, right?  Most estimates put it at 8% unemployment next year, with more dire predictions pegging it at up to 15%.

The problem of unemployment might be especially bad among young people, many of whom have no experience or past skills to market, just potential. Worse still, with unemployment comes crime.

That's why I propose as part of stimulus that the federal government make community college enrollment free for the next 2 years and subsidize state universities; in exchange we ask these schools to increase enrollments and create buzz in their local communities spurring students to go to college to get an AA or BS or MS degree.

How much will this cost?  Let's figure that out...

If you're like me, you've been thinking about the problems many states are facing; few are worse off than CA.  Huge budget shortfalls and political stagnation are crippling the state.  Arnold seems content to block reforms passed by the legislature and take money out of the University of California system budget any time he gets a chance (even though the UC is one of the most important vehicles for growth in the state).

With these sort of problems, a Governor with a 42% approval rating and 2 years to run out the clock, we need to start looking ahead soon, maybe within the next 6 months or so. We need a smart,  non-ideological, fact-oriented leader to take charge and get CA on track.

We need CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen as Governor.

She has an impeccable record on voting rights protection, consumer protections, and environmental protections.  And she knows where to turn for counsel when she needs it.  She gets things done.

None of the other potential Democratic contenders have what we need right now.

Republicans are jumping ship on the McCain campaign at an ever increasing pace.

Jed and I decided to document the process with the ever increasing list of ship jumpers.

DIGG it up here

Smear emails have flooded the Internet for over a year now.

I'd like to trace them: try to find their patterns and their origins. And I'd like to apply some recent techniques from computer science research on worm/virus propagation to do so.

What I need, though, is data. And that's why I'm turning to everyone here.

I need your help.  Please forward, in full, any chain emails that are anti-Obama or pro-Republican to:

smearbank@gmail.com

To make this analysis work, I need to collect several hundred such emails in the next couple of weeks.

The GOP wants uncertainty, they want FEAR. It's what they always thrive on. "Voters - be fearful and vote Republican" has been their approach for a long time now.

Today, instead of second-guessing Sen. Obama, trying to armchair quarterback, let's show Sen. Obama we have his back. Let's donate, knock on doors, make phone calls, and get out the vote more than we normally would.

Rec this if you have Sen. Obama's back too.

Donate a little: