Rebecca's Blog

Potential Michigan Issue for DNC Rules Committee

Rebecca Hussein Kurth — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:36:11 EDT

I believe the issue of seating the Florida and Michigan delegates is now the only hope that the Clinton campaign has in dragging out the nomination past June 3.

I sent an email to most of the members of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, which meets this Saturday (May 31st) to find a resolution to the issue of seating the Florida and Michigan delegations.

I've only had one reply so far (from an 'uncommitted' committee member), but it gives an insight into how the Committee may approach this issue and why MICHIGAN may be the biggest problem for the Obama campaign.

Basically the Committee member said that he will make a 'rules-driven decision', and he then went on to quote the relevant DNC rule (Rule 20 C.1.a) which says that states which schedule their primaries/caucuses too early will be sanctioned by losing 50% of their delegates. (Note: not 100% as was imposed on FL and MI a year ago.)

The rule also says that the superdelegates of the rogue states will be stripped of their votes completely, but this contradicts a 'higher' rule within the DNC's 'constitution' that says all state party members (ie. state party superdelegates) have the right to be seated (and vote) at the National Convention.

I think resolving Florida should be straight-forward according to this rules-driven thinking - Clinton got 50% of the vote, Obama 33% and Edwards 14%. Since Edwards has endorsed Obama, we can add their % together, so Florida's pledged delegates (185) would be split in half and then allocated 50% to Clinton and 47% to Obama. I believe that Clinton has previously received the endorsement of a majority of the FL superdelegates (whatever that number is), but the bottom line for FL is that none of this makes a difference to the current outcome of Obama winning the nomination.

However, applying the rule(s) to the Michigan situation is trickier, which the Committee member admitted, and I think this is where the real fight will be. Clinton got ~60% of the vote with ~40% going to Uncommitted. I've read that the Clinton camp is pushing for that 40% to remain uncommitted, ie. not allocated to Obama. That's where trouble lies for the Obama campaign, because if you do not give him any of the 'uncommitted' pledged delegates from MI, he may no longer have the majority of the pledged delegates when the last states vote on June 3 and FL and MI are added (with 50% of their delegates).

Addresses for DNC Bylaws Committee

Rebecca Hussein Kurth — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:57:19 EDT

Here are the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses (where known) for the members of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee:

Dr. Elaine Kamarck
160 Robbins Hill Rd
Brewster, MA 02631
617-495-9002

Hon. Alexis Herman
1333 H St. NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-833-8800

Hon. Martha Fuller Clark
152 Middle Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
603-271-6933
martha@mfclark4nh.com

Hon. Thomas Hynes
Chapman & Cutler LLP
111 West Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60603
312-845-3272
thynes@chapman.com

Hon. Yvonne Gates
27 Quiet Moon Lane
Las Vegas, NV 89135
702-455-0855

Mr. James Roosevelt
705 Mt. Auburn Street
Watertown, MA 02472
617-972-9564
james_roosevelt@tufts-health.com

Mr. Donald Fowler
PO Box 50627
Columbia, SC 29250
803-799-7550
don@fowlercommunications.com

Mr. Harold Ickes
The Ickes & Enright Group
1300 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
202-887-6726
hickes@ickesenright.com

Mr. Ben Johnson
Porter Novelli
501 Oneida Pl. NW
Washington, DC 20011
202-973-5899
ben.johnson@porternovelli.com

Mr. Eric Kleinfeld
Ryan, Phillips, Utrecht & MacKinnon
1133 Connecticut Ave. NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
202-778-400
eric@rpum.com

Mr. Gary Shay
6748 Hillpark Dr. #507
Los Angeles, CA 90068
818-502-7503
gss1@aol.com

Mr. Michael Steed
2001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20006
202-595-2960
rmadison@paladincapgroup.com

Mr. Allan Katz
106 East College
Suite 1200
Tallahassee, FL 32301
850-425-1605

Mr. Everett Ward
3112 Falconhurst Dr.
Wake Forest, NC 27587
919-733-2520
everettward06@aol.com

Mr. Mark Brewer
37414 Stonegate Cir.
Clinton Twp., MI 48036
517-371-5410
mbrewer@mi-democrats.com

Mr. Ralph Dawson
Fulbright & Jaworski LLP
666 5th Ave.
New York, NY 10103
212-318-3337
rcdawson@fulbright.com

Mr. Jaime Gonzalez, Jr.
817 E. Esperanza Ave.
McAllen, TX 78501
956-664-0100
no2855748@gmail.com

Mr. David McDonald
Preston Gates & Ellis LLP
222 SW Columbia Street
Suite 1400
Seattle, WA 98104
206-370-7957
david.mcdonald@klgates.com

Mr. Jerome Wiley Segovia
7304 Parkwood Ct.
Suite #201
Falls Church, VA 22042
703-879-8447
phwiley@yahoo.com

Mrs. Carol Fowler
P.O. Box 50627
Columbia, SC 29250
803-799-7550
carol@fowlercommunications.com

Ms. Hartina Flournay
1517 30th St. NW #C12
Washington, DC 20007
202-393-6334
tflourno@aft.org

Ms. Alice Huffman
1315 I St.
Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-498-1890

Ms. Mona Pasquil
P.O. Box 382
Walnut Grove, CA 95690
916-567-2945
monapasquil@hotmail.com

Ms. Mame Reiley
501 Slaters Ln., Apt. 1009
Alexandria, VA 22314
202-258-3961

Ms. Elizabeth Smith
American Federation of Teachers
555 New Jersey Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-879-4426

Ms. Janice Griffin
901N. Pollard St.
Suite 407
Arlington, VA 22203
703-248-1990
Janicegriffin08@aol.com

Ms. Sharon Stroschein
37302 143rd St.
Mansfield, SD 57460
605-226-3440

Ms. Sarah Swisher
102 2nd Ave.
Coralville, IA 52241
319-530-8364
seiusarah@msn.com

Ms. Donna Brazile
Brazile and Associates, LLC
PO Box 15369
Washington, DC NW 20003
202-628-8081
donna@brazileassociates.com

Ms. Alice Germond
Democratic National Committee
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003
202-863-7183
germonda@dnc.org

Email Addresses for DNC Bylaws Committee Members

Rebecca Hussein Kurth — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:29:02 EDT

As most of you know, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting on May 31st to try and resolve the issue of seating the Florida and Michigan delegates.

I think they need to hear our voices on this! I know that the HRC campaign website is urging their supporters to contact committee members on this matter.

You can contact the committee members below. Postal addresses and telephone numbers will be listed in a separate post.

Clinton supporters

Alexis Herman
James Roosevelt, james_roosevelt@tufts-health.c om
Hartina Flournay, tflourno@aft.org
Donald Fowler, don@fowlercommunications.com
Harold Ickes, hickes@ickesenright.com
Alice Huffman
Ben Johnson, ben.johnson@porternovelli.com
Elaine Kamarck,
Eric Kleinfeld, eric@rpum.com
Mona Pasquil, monapasquil@hotmail.com
Mame Reiley
Gary Shay, gss1@aol.com
Elizabeth Smith,
Michael Steed, rmadison@paladincapgroup.com

Obama supporters

Martha Fuller Clark, martha@mfclark4nh.com
Carol Fowler, carol@fowlercommunications.com
Janice Griffin, Janicegriffin08@aol.com
Thomas Hynes, thynes@chapman.com
Allan Katz
Sharon Stroschein
Sarah Swisher, seiusarah@msn.com
Everett Ward, everettward06@aol.com

Uncommitted

Donna Brazile, donna@brazileassociates.com
Mark Brewer, mbrewer@mi-democrats.com
Ralph Dawson, rcdawson@fulbright.com
Yvonne Gates
Alice Germond, germonda@dnc.org
Jaime Gonzalez, Jr., no2855748@gmail.com
David McDonald, david.mcdonald@klgates.com
Jerome Wiley Segovia, phwiley@yahoo.com

A more efficient approach might be to simply copy and paste all the email addresses (below) and send a single email, starting with "Dear DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee Member... "

james_roosevelt@tufts-healt h.com, tflourno@aft.org, don@fowlercommunications.com, hickes@ickesenright.com, ben.johnson@porternovelli.com, eric@rpum.com, monapasquil@hotmail.com, gss1@aol.com, rmadison@paladincapgroup.com, martha@mfclark4nh.com, carol@fowlercommunications.com , Janicegriffin08@aol.com, thynes@chapman.com, seiusarah@msn.com, everettward06@aol.com, donna@brazileassociates.com, mbrewer@mi-democrats.com, rcdawson@fulbright.com, germonda@dnc.org, no2855748@gmail.com, david.mcdonald@klgates.com, phwiley@yahoo.com

Telephone Codes for Indiana

Rebecca Hussein Kurth — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:03:27 EDT

The area code and prefix of telephone numbers enable you to identify the town in which the telephone is located. I’ve spent many hours on the internet down-loading this information for the major towns/cities in Indiana.

I’ve also down-loaded demographic data for Indiana (from the US Census in 2000) and analyzed it using the voting patterns in Pennsylvannia in order to estimate the percentage of the vote that would likely go to Obama in the major towns/cities in Indiana.

Finally, I organized all this information in a series of tables, which allows you to look-up the first part of a telephone number (e.g from the on-line phonebanking tool) and see what area you’re calling in Indiana and which candidate they are likely to favor (on average).

If you would like a copy of these tables, please email me at:

indiana4obama@googlemail.com

and I will send you the tables in an attachment.

MARCH MADNESS

Rebecca Hussein Kurth — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:17:08 EDT

MARCH MADNESS!

To all visitors, new and regular, to this blog… if you’re thinking about making a donation to Senator’s Obama’s campaign, please do it through one of the fundraiser links below… that way YOU SCORE TWICE: Barack Obama gets the BASKET and one of the good folks below gets an ASSIST!

Please reach for your wallet right now, click on a link below, and help our team win!

The Top Ten List:

1. Here’s a Mama For Obama. She needs $4491 more to reach her goal, now $4476-$4471-$4461-$4351-$4326-$4276-$4256-$4241-$4191-$4166-$4141-$4116-$4106-$4096-$4071-$4046-$3996-$3971-$3951-$3926-$3876-$3861-$3836-$3586-$3576 (or 143 donations of $25)

http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGxTf5

2. Here is Lisa From L.A. She needs $880 more…make that $870-$865-$855-$805-$795-$780-$770

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/LPHOPE

3. New To This has raised much of her $5,000 but still is lacking $1475-$1465-$1455-$1420-$1410-$1400-$1390

http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGGkj4

4. Brenda from Richmond is looking for another $450-$440-$435-$415-$390-$365-$345

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/BrendaC

5. Mike met Adam_Philadelphia at a Philly Sweeps event that he organzied. Over 100 people working for Barack on the streets of Philly. While he's helping out there, can we help him here? $910-$860-$850-$805-$705-$680- $655-$630-$605-$555-$500-$475-$390-$345

http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGxMyl

6. IManOBAMAmama has been VERY busy starting groups in PA and making calls. Can we help her make her goal while she’s busy on the ground? $980-$965-$915-890-$880-$830 to go.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/SabraT

7. Jill helped another Obama friend raise over $800. Now she needs help. Can we give her some? $1665-$1655-$1665-$1645 to go.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/JewsForBarackPart2

8. Denise wrote, “A year ago I would have never imagined I'd be spending a Saturday making calls soliciting support for a political candidate. For that matter blogging, sign waving, or reading every word a health care plan… Can anyone can help out?” Well? $900-$875-$850 to go.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGXbBx

9. Joe Ruwe lights up this blog every day. He always has words of encouragement. He’s looking for $905-$800-$775-$765-$740

http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGJ3BS

10. Willie B writes: “If one has done it so can you, if no one has done it that one can be you”. He’s looking for $1000-$855

http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/view/public/gGNZmL