Monthly Archives: October 2009

(Community Matters)

I spent most of my time at this afternoon’s ceremony with Episcopal Bishop Bruce Caldwell, the Bishop of Wyoming. Matthew Shepard had been an acolyte at his church. Bishop Caldwell officiated at Matthew’s funeral, after the young man was murdered by torture and left tied to a barbed wire fence.

My thanks to Judy & Dennis Shepard who worked as hard as anyone else to see the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act passed.

(Community Matters) Great speakers at our meetings yesterday including Gov Kaine. I’ll share a few of my notes from his presentation.

Gov Tim Kaine (DNC Chair): speaking about Organizing for America (OFA): 2.1 million Americans have taken direct action; 1.4 million have signed statements in support; we’ve collected 231k personal, healthcare stories; we’ve hosted 18k local events in every congressional district. Last week, supporters made over 300,000 calls to members of congress in support of healthcare reform. “We use OFA to create that grassroots muscle to get things done.”

(Community Matters) I haven’t taken too many pics on this trip. Will do so from the White House during tomorrow’s ceremony for the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes legislation signing.

I like that they’ve hung the ribbon during breast cancer awareness month

Kirk Rudy

Kirk’s been named one of three national deputy finance chairs for the DNC. He’s become one of my best friends during the presidential campaign – Amy and I have been really close for even longer. Together with Alexa Wesner, Adrienne Donato, Tom Meredith & Steve Adler from Austin, he leads our team in fundraising for the President. We’ve been very successful in Texas thanks to a large group of friends who helped elect Barack Obama and who now are helping him transform politics and our nation.

Mt. Vernon dining room

Private dinner (not in this dining room 🙂 ) for national finance committee & national advisory members at Mt. Vernon on Sunday night. I was blown away by the beauty of George Washington’s estate. Didn’t realize he’d been such a successful entrepreneur.

(Community Matters) Let’s keep Senator John McCain’s advice within the context of his record:

You know that old Beach Boy song Bomb Iran. Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.

But I believe, Katie, that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators.

There’s not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shiahs. So I think they can probably get along.

And, don’t even get me started on former VP Cheney

(Community Matters) Just booked a ticket – airfare $450; taxes $411.06. Astounding.

(Community Matters) I’m staying over in DC for a couple of extra days. Received an invitation to attend the White House ceremony with President Obama celebrating signing of the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Act.

(Community Matters) Juan, Teresa and Michael returned to DC late morning – from visiting their daughter Vicki at Harvard for parents’ weekend. Visited with them, then with Kirk Rudy to lunch, a tour of area around the mall, and the national portrait gallery.

With National Finance Committee members to Mt. Vernon – wow. Quite moving. George Washington had quite a spread. He started out with 2,000 acres, expanded to 8,000 – though not so terribly big in those times, his neighbors, the Fairfaxs, had a 1 million English King land grant.

Hung with our Austin group (Kirk, Alexa Wesner, Glen & Linda Neeland), Guy Selden, Adrienne Donato, Andy Tobias, Peter Reinhardt, Tony Martinez and Paul Horning.

(Community Matters) An HHS official is telling me the swine flu is a very serious threat, especially to 18 – 23 year olds. You MUST get a vaccine, and if you develop flu symptoms please go immediately to the doctor. This flu shuts down the body functions and young people are dieing. Universities are setting up quarantine dorms. Some schools likely not to reopen immediately after holidays.

(Community Matters) Real Clear Politics – poll of pollls showing growing discontent among independents against existing politics.

“Independents have flipped negative,” warns Bevan. “That’s not a good thing for any party.”

“What do these phenomena have in common? In two words: disillusionment and disgust,” says Lara Brown, Villanova University political science professor.

Voters wonder what happened to candidates they elected to clean up Washington, stop partisan bickering and remove Wall Street titans who retained fat bonuses only because taxpayers bailed out their companies.

A CNN poll last week suggests most no longer agree with Obama “on the issues that matter most to them.”

Other polls suggest Americans feel Republicans are merely “obstructionists.”

(Community Matters)

(Community Matters) I’m off to Washington DC for national finance committee meetings, including a party at Mount Vernon tomorrow night.

(Community Matters)

Had a fantastic birthday celebration with Luke and his parents (in from NYC) over dinner at Fonda San Miguel last night. Regret won’t be here to celebrate with the bigger bunch tonight, though loved the intimacy of our dinner and hearing all the wonderful stories.