Young Voters for Warner

Breaking News!

2005-11-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

Breaking News! Just over the wire, Warner granted clemency to he who would have been the 1,000th person to be executed in the United States since 1976. That's right, Robin Lovitt will not be executed.
Now let's wait and see the size of this political firestorm.
I am relieved because the star witness said that there was an 80% chance that the person he saw was Lovitt. 20% chance? That's too much of a chance because you can't take back an execution. A clerk also threw out the murder weapon that had unidentified DNA on it that didn't match Lovitt, or the victim. Too much of a chance of an innocent man dying.

Kilgore with his "Culture of Life" must be happy, although a little confused because Warner's decision doesn't match the Democrat's "Culture of Death."

Peace,
Carlos

The Chris Matthews Show

2005-11-27T07:06:00.000-08:00

After waking from my post-thanksgiving hibernation, and being a political nut, I naturally tuned into the Chris Matthews Show. Numbers look good. Three of the four guests on the show said that Warner is the strongest Presidential candidate to oppose Hillary in the primaries. I hope everyone had a happy, good, enjoyable, Thanksgiving.
Peace,
Carlos

Warner Numbers at DailyKos

2005-11-22T16:31:00.002-08:00

Check out DailyKos and their little poll. It seems like Warner's numbers are looking better after the Kaine victory. He's beating Hillary by a lot!

"The big winner in this poll is obviously Warner, who has gotten a huge 10-point boost out of Kaine's victory in Virginia..."

Things are looking good!
Peace,
Carlos

Will Democrats make '08 another '92 or another '88?

2005-11-20T19:20:00.000-08:00

The 2008 Presidential election brings up an interesting dilemma.

Will the Democratic Party learn from its past mistakes?

The last time there was a Presidential election directly following a two term Republican Presidency was 1988, when VP George Bush took on very liberal Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.

Dukakis got hammered.

Granted, Ronald Reagan had been a very popular President and Americans weren't prepared to jump the ship on Republican ideology just yet. A more fair comparison to what '08 has in store would probably be 1992.

By '92, President Bush's approval ratings had sagged (sound familiar?), and Democrats nominated a centrist Southern Governor named Bill Clinton. The rest is history.

So the question is: Will Democrats make '08 another '92 or another '88?

Will they nominate another, but much more polarizing Clinton?

Will they nominate a certain Senator with his name tied to bipartisanship in the form of the BCRA (McCain-Feingold) , but his record more liberal than any other in the Senate today? As much as the base (myself included) loves Senator Feingold, this Democrat hopes not.

Or will Democrats again pick a centrist, DLC Governor from a southern state?

Compromise within the Democratic Party served America well 13 years ago. It'll serve America well 3 years from now.

In politics it isn't ALL about pleasing the base. Sometimes, its about what's right for the nation as a whole.The Republican Party has lost sight of that fact completely. In an era of growing polarization, when "energizing the base" is all the rage, it seems that Democrats have stumbled as well.

This does nothing but let the other 60% of America down, for the real silent majority are those who don't hold an allegiance to either the right or the left.

The Democratic Party currently has a legitimate claim to the ideological center. They have numerous candidates who don't pander to only the liberal side of the spectrum. Can the Republicans really claim the same on their end?

They couldn't in '92 and they still can't today.

Warner Visits New Hampshire

2005-11-20T17:59:00.002-08:00

This last Friday, His Excellency (did you know that’s that official title of the Governor of Virginia?) Governor Mark Warner gave a speech at the New Hampshire Senate Democrat Caucus Luncheon. New Hampshire is a very important state on the road to the White House since it holds the first presidential primary. This, plus the end of his term in 60 days, plus his new PAC equals Governor Warner running for President in 08. He seemed confident and joked often during his speech. One that drew much laughter was prompted by the sound of a cell phone in the audience. He joked “When you hear an annoying sound like that, I hear ca-ching ca-ching.” He informed the guests at the luncheon that he is the co-founder of Nextel and that they should all go outside and call someone after his speech is done. During his 30 minute speech, he talked without any notes.

He touched on all the major topics: education, healthcare, security, energy, and the environment. He talked about how integrity and competence are missing from Washington, and about how there is need for bipartisanship and inclusiveness. Of course he talked about the past election and the dirty slandering campaign ads created by “The Opponent,” never once mentioning the name of that loser.
Warner said that the Democratic Party has won when it has said that it is the party of the future. This is surprisingly easy to do considering that the Republicans are conservative, which, according to dictionary.com means “Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.” But no one has done it recently! It’s quite easy!

1) Call yourself a progressive, liberal candidate! Don’t hide from your liberal point of view. If a Democrat said in an ad that their Republican opponent was too conservative to be Governor, they would think it as a compliment and they would go thank the campaign manager for airing that ad. In this past election, Kilgore was just spewing about how Kaine was too liberal to be Governor. It’s not a bad thing! Don’t hide from yourself.

2) Have plans and solutions when you talk to people. Have an idea, a goal, a plan to get a group of people together to talk about possibly doing something! Anything! Anything that is not negative, or an attack, or just brainless skirting of the question is progress and thinking about the future. And it gets all of us closer to that goal.

3) Another thing Warner said is that the candidate should consider all ideas, even those from other points of view. If it’s a good idea, that gets the job done, and works, it doesn’t matter who it came from. You never want to discard an idea just because the person who suggested it doesn’t belong to the same party as you.

His Excellency looked relaxed and confident. He engaged the audience and answered questions after the speech. I see a presidential candidate in the making. And a very good one at that!
If you didn’t catch this speech on Sunday, you can get it from C-span.
Peace,
Carlos, 11th District Rep

This is REALLY awesome.

2005-11-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I received an email from a student at the College Of Charleston who's interested in starting a Young Voters for Warner chapter in South Carolina!

One day and we're already spreading!

More info on this development as our friends in SC (who has the first primary in the South, by the way) get going and maybe get a blog started.

Stay tuned...

Some of what we'll do...

2005-11-15T19:20:00.000-08:00

As it stands now, Young Voters for Warner has a whopping two members. This number will increase as we begin our operations.

To sign up to be a member of Young Voters for Warner, email youngvotersforwarner@yahoo.com with your name, email address, and AIM screenname (if applicable). To get involved in a leadership position, keep reading.

Here are my ideas for this organization, feel free to comment with any additional suggestions:

To begin with, Young Voters for Warner should be headed up by a board with one representative from each Congressional District in the state of Virginia. So far, our two members are also board members of the organization. The board structure, as I envision it, will be as follows.

Each district representative will not only represent their personal district, but also serve some other role in the organization. These can be determined later when we have some members and throw around some ideas.

1st District Rep.: Vacant
2nd District Rep.: Vacant
3rd District Rep.: Vacant
4th District Rep.: Vacant
5th District Rep.: Vacant
6th District Rep.: Vacant
7th District Rep.: Ben Kyber, Chairman
8th District Rep.: Vacant
9th District Rep.: Neal Osborne
10th District Rep.: Vacant
11th District Rep.: Carlos Quintela (Update: 10:06 PM 11/17)
If you are interested in becoming the representaive for your district, your duties will include:
-Attending Young Democrats events or other gatherings when possible and recruiting new members.
- Promoting the candidacy of Mark Warner in your community in any way possible.
-Occasionally blogging on this blog about a subject related to encouraging the candidacy of Gov. Mark Warner for President.

To volunteer for this duty, please email me at youngvotersforwarner@yahoo.com with your name, email, a short explaination of why you want to be a district rep for Young Voters for Warner, and what you think you might be able to contribute to the organization as a whole. Please consider volunteering to do this, without adequate leadership, we won't be able to recruit members effectively.

In order to get Mark Warner's name out there on a national level, we have to strengthen his base in our home state. Eventually, I hope this organization will eventually spread to other states. By the 2008 primary, my vision is to have a nationwide grassroots campaign for Mark Warner. So get started!

Welcome!

2005-11-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the official Young Voters for Warner blog!

As you can probably tell, I'm VERY excited about this organization. I think that if we can do our part to help nominate Mark Warner for President in 2008, we can accomplish the overall goal of returning the national Democratic Party to the sensible center we occupied during the Clinton years.

Progressivism and centrism are not mutually exclusive. We can advance the moral and social causes of the Democratic Party as it exists today without overtly partisan rhetoric. Why do we need the rhetoric when we have the results. Mark Warner has produced the results to back up the rhetoric. We can show America that the Democratic Party welcomes ALL people to the table. It's not about the left and right. It's about what's right for America.

As Mark Warner has spent the past four years moving Virginia forward, he would continue to do so for America as a whole. It is crucial that we help to advance his stature, we have a long road and a lot of big, famous names to overcome. Check out the site for Forward Together PAC and let's get moving (forward, that is.)

-Benjamin Paul Kyber
Chairman and 7th Congressional District Coordinator, Young Voters for Warner