Brexit All Over

Theresa May is feuding with EU over the terms of Brexit. They want Britain to pay what it owes. Only after the trade deal is done says Terri.

No dice say the EUY 27. Standoff.

Thursday England's elections called for the charming Tory Terri. Apparently, most of the country agrees with her, as she holds popularity in the polls, even though Brexit was a squeaker, and lots of people have said, oh that's what it means. Hmmm. But Labour is unpopular and the delightfully mis-named Lib Dems are headed up by a gay-bashing Christian wanker. What to do?

Meanwhile, across the Channel, the French prepare for their polls on the 7th. No talk over here what they might be thinking, except today's Times says Macron leads in the French polls.

everyone is afraid of the Russians, except the Russian tourists who abound in the  theatre district, where we are staying in a 6th floor walk up, because the lift keeps breaking down. No, I won't be back anytime soon to this establishment anyway.

I have heard no talk about politics in any of the pubs or restaurants, or museum cafes, or queues anywhere.

The Moliere we saw had more current political palaver than in all of London that we've witnessed. But of course, we are the American tourists, who have the Drumpf as our leader, so we have nothing to say, except don't blame us, and save yourselves!

more later.

Campaign Francais

If you've been watching the news lately, you know that things in France are heating up, campaign wise. Marine LePen, the ultra right Trumpist candidate is squaring off against the centrist (but also right-leaning from what I understand) Emmanuel Macron on May 7th in a Presidential run-off. And I will be there.

Hopefully, blogging from there. Stay tuned. It ought to be a lively battle will Europe still be Europe if Le Pen wins or even if she doesn't? Partisans are everywhere.

Going Nuclear

It's not a nuclear war, yet. But it is the "nuclear option" deployed by Mitch McConnell and the republican Senate. This means taking away the 60 % majority needed to confirm a Supreme Court justice. I'm surprised at how easy it was. Two votes, and that's it. Hello Neil Gorsuch. Goodbye Constitution. Or so it looks.

Hang in there Notorious RBG!

Being a Democrat is tough these days. Not only because of these kinds of machinations by the Republicans and worse by the Orange One. But the divisiveness among my own Party is embarrassing. Time to get over the last election. Time stop petty bickering and time to strategize. For reals. It's only a little more than a year until June 2018 and the midterm primaries when we have a crack at the entire House of Representatives. Can we not fight about how pure someone is? And just try to get some more Democrats elected? Or will we always be the circular firing squad that can't shoot straight.

At least the Republicans seem to be even crazier, but a scary dangerous kind of crazy. One that might go nuclear for real.

Thinking of Running? Start Local

Anyone thinking of running for a State or National office (Assembly, State Senate, Congress) needs to think what seats will likely be opening up in their district in the next few years. If you've never run for office before, starting with a higher office can be daunting unless you've got some experience under your belt. So start small. Think of Barbara Boxer, first a local school board activist, then a County Supervisor, next on to Congress and then U.S. Senator. She got some chops under her belt on the local level before making that big leap.

And along the way came the skills and the contacts necessary for running a major campaign. Of course, we all know stories of people who come out of nowhere and have a big upset in a congressional or Senate race. But those are the exceptions rather than the rule. A corrupt incumbent, a very disgruntled voter base and, more often than not, a candidate who's already developed connections and savvy that can be translated into a poltiical campaign.

Think Al Franken, well known comedian and on air personality, won with no political experience for U.S. Senate; or Ro Khanna in California, young entrepreneur beat a long time Democratic incumbent in the Primary, on his second try.  (And don't get me started on Donald Trump!)

For most of us, the road is longer and harder. Got an opening on a local school board or City Council? Think about going for that one. If you don't win the first time, consider running again. You will have gained a base and made contacts that will help you the next time, if they believe you are serious, hardworking and represent their values.

Consider applying for a position on a Commission or Board in your town or County. There are often openings and these help pave the way for a political run. Again, it's all about making connections, as well as having knowledge and passion, to get the job done.

And here's the best tip of all, start early. For whatever seat you are running for, get started well before the filing deadline by gathering friends and colleagues to help and make monetary pledges to the campaign. Ask others who've run for their advice. Check financial filing reports (which should all be online with your local elections office or the Secretary of State), to see how much people typically spend running for the seat you are interested in.

Do your homework, whether it's getting up to speed on the issues (attending lots of meets of the board you want to join is a must!), raising money, and just knowing how the political game is played, will put you in a good position to make a strong showing in your race.

And because you must eat, here's a brain food recipe to keep you sharp:

Spinach, Goat Cheese & Chorizo Omelette

 

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: Omelette

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 4 ounces chorizo sausage
• ½ Tbsp butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 Tbsp water
• 2 ounces crumbled fresh goat cheese
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• sliced avocado (optional)
• ¼ cup salsa verde (optional)

Instructions

1. Remove chorizo from the casing and fry in a medium saute pan until fully cooked.
2. Meanwhile beat the eggs and water in a small bowl.*
3. Take the chorizo out of the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Wipe the pan of the remaining grease with a clean paper towel.
4. Melt the butter in the same pan over low heat. Add the beaten eggs to the pan, then put the Chorizo, spinach, and crumbled goat cheese on half the egg mixture. Cook on low heat for 3 minutes until slightly firm, then fold the empty side over the side with the filling on it. Cover the pan with foil or a pot cover and leave on low heat for another few minutes until the eggs are cooked through. If your bottom is browning too quickly, turn the stove off and leave the pan covered for up to 10 minutes and the residual heat should "bake" it until the center is fully cooked.
5. Serve with avocado slices and salsa verde. So good you won't even miss the toast or hash browns!

 

Poem for These Times

And now for a little culture:

When I Hear Trump

When Trump says “carnage” I think “martial law”

When he says “millions of illegal votes cast” I think “mass deportations”

When his spokesperson says “alternative facts” I think “propaganda, lies, Nazi Germany”

When he says “My crowd is bigger than your crowd” I think  “schoolyard bully”

When he cuts off funding for abortions for poor women I think coat hangers, back alleys, barefoot  and pregnant.

When he says “Let’s build the wall” I hear Ronald Reagan saying “Tear down that wall!”

When he says build that pipeline I see bodies lined up end to end, border to border.

When I hear people say “Let’s give him a chance” I think of frogs slowly simmering in rising water, until the time of their devouring 

Women (and men) marching together

Call it a rally against the Orange scourge, or against tyranny, or misogyny or racism or for women's rights, human rights, the environment. Everyone had their own cause, and they all go together.

I wore my resistance button from 1969.

The omega for the ohm, the symbol of electrical resistance that symbolized the Resistance in those days, to the War in Vietnam, to the war at home. I did not wear a pink pussy hat. But there were plenty of those in evidence.

Here are some pictures. Were you there?

Our Marin Women's PAC group

  Share.

What to eat on a march in the rain: energy bars, chocolate with berries, nuts, and apres march? A quick stop at the pub for some pinot noir and potstickers. Yum!

Find an Issue and Run on it

Campaigns are about issues. Not about personalities. At least most of them. Even this nasty last Presidential race. Issues. Mr. Orange hair with the foul mouth and grabby little hands won because he tapped into the core of middle America's pain. What he does with it is another question altogether.

Even on the local level, candidates and their consultants need to look for the issues that differentiate them from the competition and that tap into what the people care about. One of my first campaigns was won on the single issue of whether or not to bring a new pipeline from the Russian River in Sonoma County to Marin County (California) to increase the water supply.

My candidate was an environmentalist, a fervent one.He wanted to protect the fish upstream, whose habitat would be damaged if not decimated by removing more water. Other environmentalists agreed with him. But there's more to it than that.

Building the pipeline would be costly. Our job was to take those realities - pipeline kills fish and costs taxpayers money, and craft them into a message that both environmentalists and more conservative taxpayers could get behind.

Our opponent had all the endorsements of the establishment. She had the money. She had TV ads. She was for the pipeline.

Logically, she would have been able to leverage that support into votes and win handily. But our client had a solution to the problem, need for more water, that didn't cost a dime and didn't kill a fish - Conservation.

It turned out to be an easy sell, once people heard the message, and realized it did not involve any great sacrifice, just a few adjustments to water usage on a personal level, and stopping waste on an institutional level. Getting this message out took both good mail, attractive, dynamic (if small) postcards sent to a carefully selected universe of frequent voters, and old fashioned shoe leather and telephone calls.

The week before the election our team was calling into a very conservative part of the district. I was talking to older Republican men, when I had a revelation. I turned to the candidate and said "We're going to win!"

We won. Big. Because we had the right issue, the right message and the right delivery. How you say what you have to say and who you say it to are key.

A lesson our Democratic Party needs to learn before the next midterm election if we want to take back the Congress.