Donkey Tails
 By Maury Goodman
  June 2007
 For the "Warrenville Today" Newspaper


Relevant Dates for the 2008 election candidates and petitions

The primary has been moved from March to early February in 2008.  The State Legislature passed the new primary date so that means that new dates were set for the start of Petition circulation and filing of those petitions.

 

Please be advised that dates for starting petition circulation and filing of those petitions are as follows:

 

1st Day to Circulate - Tuesday, Aug 7th

1st Day to File Petitions - Monday, Oct. 29th

Last Day to File Petitions - Monday, November 5th

 

If you have anyone to suggest as a candidate and would like for them to be contacted please, ASAP, contact Rob Bisceglie at rbisceglie@sbcglobal.net he and the committee will meet with prospective candidates.  Also, please keep in mind, the Precinct Committeemen also need to do petitions as well. 

 

Who is a serious candidate?

Who is to say.  Everyone can make their own judgment.  But sometimes things get ridiculous.  When there were 300 candidates on the ballot for the governor of California, I don’t think that did democracy any good.   People run for office for all kinds of reasons, to make statements, to boost their own ego, etc.  But if getting elected isn’t one of the reasons, I don’t think we should take them seriously.  When Ralph Nader ran in 2000, I heard him say his goal was to “build the party” referring to the Green party.  When he didn’t get the Green party nomination in 2004, he ran again anyway, in some states, as an independent.  I really don’t know why.  There are two candidates participating in the Democratic debates for president who I don’t think are running to get elected – Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich.  So unless things change, I’m not going to write about them before the primary, along with the other candidates.  But if you want to find out about them, http://kucinich.us/ and http://www.gravel2008.us/ are there to look at.

 

The unkindest cut of all

As a Cubs fan and a Sammy Sosa fan, I was hurt, truly hurt, when a sports announcer said that Sammy Sosa’s popularity was reaching “Kucinich-like” numbers.

 

Congress in the 14th Congressional District

There are now 5 candidates who have indicated interest in running for the 14th Congressional District seat of Dennis Hastert for the Democratic Party.  They are Aurora State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia, John Laesch, a Navy veteran who ran in 2006, Bill Foster, a former Fermilab physicist, 2006 state rep candidate Joe Serra, and lawyer Jotham Stein.  Here is where you can learn more:

http://www.golinda.org/ for Chapa LaVia

http://www.votestein.com/ for Jotham Stein

http://www.john06.com/ for John Laesch

http://www.foster08.com/ for Bill Foster

 

John Edwards Candidate for President in 2008

I write this on John Edwards’ birthday.  Here is text from his website

johnedwards.com:

 

America's leadership role in the world has grown out of our compassion and moral strength, as well as our unparalleled economic and military strength. We can be proud of our long history of using our strength to fight for the freedom of others, but our standing in the world has been badly tarnished. America can once again be looked up to and respected around the world. The first step is by immediately withdrawing 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq, with the complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months -- allowing the Iraqis to assume greater responsibility for rebuilding their own country. It also means working to restore our legitimacy by leading on the great challenges before us like the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the genocide in Darfur, extreme poverty, and living up to our ideals in the fight against terrorism.

 

The 47 million uninsured Americans often do not get the care they need. Each year, about 18,000 die as a result. Despite the problems of the uninsured and unnecessarily low quality care, our health care system is the most expensive in the world and insurance premiums have grown faster than wages for almost 50 years. John Edwards believes we need to reform our health care system to provide truly universal coverage - not mere access to insurance - and get better care at lower cost.

 

Every day, 37 million Americans wake in poverty. Our response to that reality says everything about the character of America. John Edwards has called for a national goal of eliminating poverty within 30 years, with policies rooted in the core American values of opportunity for everyone and responsibility from everyone. We can reach that goal by creating and rewarding work, strengthening families, helping workers save and get ahead, transforming our schools, expanding access to college, breaking up areas of concentrated poverty, reaching overlooked rural areas, and expecting people to help themselves by working whenever they are able.

 

Our nation's dependence on oil and other fossil fuels is contributing to global warming and jeopardizing our national security. To protect our future, John Edwards believes that Americans must be patriotic about something other than the war. We must act now by investing in clean, renewable energies like wind, solar, and biofuels to create a new energy economy, developing a new generation of efficient cars and trucks, and putting new energy-saving technologies to work in buildings, transportation, and industry.

 

Upcoming Events

Many events of interest to Warrenville and DuPage County Democrats can be found at http://www.dupagedemocrats.org/dupagenews.html  Send information about events that aren’t listed to webmaster@dupagedemocrats.org

 

Feedback

It is welcomed and appreciated maurygoodman@dupagedemocrats.org