The DNC Candidate For DNC Candidate Forum at 4pm Eastern (LIVE). Looks like the part with DNC Chair has finally begun!
USA Today in an article about the upcoming DNC elections:
Immediately after losing last fall’s presidential election, Democrats were shredded by critics inside and outside the party for failing to connect with working-class people, triggering a debate among pundits and strategists over who is to blame and how to win back blue-collar voters.
But instead of an ideological grudge match or blame game, the race to replace Jaime Harrison as Democratic National Committee chair is dominated by two Midwestern nice guys looking to leverage their relationships and home state records.
One leading candidate, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, has been endorsed by advocacy groups from the party’s left flank such as MoveOn and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and also by the centrist Third Way.
Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at the George Washington University Graduate School of Management, said the DNC leader race thus far reflects a shift toward pragmatism.
“The fact that the DNC race hasn’t devolved into ideological warfare suggests that party leaders are moving beyond the knee-jerk narratives of the post-election weeks and focusing on what they can control: improving the party’s infrastructure, refining its outreach, and crafting a winning strategy for 2026 and beyond,” he said.
More excerpts:
In the shadow of Trump’s return to Washington, Democrats are convening various forums in January to hear from eight candidates who hope to revive the party’s prospects.
It’s a familiar place for liberals, who were exiled from power when the GOP won control of both the presidency and Congress in 2004 and in 2016. What’s different this time, experts say, is Democrats must deal with a fractured media ecosystem, rising disinformation and an electoral realignment that calls for a more nuanced coalition.
Chief among the issues facing the party will be addressing an enthusiasm gap, particularly among younger voters and progressives, which saw the Democratic ticket draw roughly 6.2 million fewer votes compared to 2020.
“A strong chair who can coordinate resources and rally diverse factions of the party could be the difference between a Democratic resurgence and another cycle of missed opportunities,” Burgat said.
Wikler, 43, hasn’t shown his cards in terms of a DNC member vote count, but he has major muscle behind him, such as his close ties with billionaire Reid Hoffman, a LinkedIn co-founder, who has poured millions into the Wisconsin Democratic Party. He also received an endorsement this month from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is the highest-ranking Democrat to publicly support any contender.
In a statement, Schumer called attention to Wikler receiving support from the “full spectrum” of the party and said Wikler was critical in helping hold a Senate seat and flipped 14 state legislative seats.
“Ben has what Democrats need right now—proven results—and that’s why I’m backing Ben,” Schumer said in a Jan. 2 statement.
Those connections make Wikler a formidable candidate, but those same ties could be a liability if the chair race turns into a clash between establishment and more grassroots leaders, who have longstanding grievances about how the DNC operates and being too close to megadonors.
Ben Wikler: What Democrats need to learn from 2024.
Baud
Good on Burgat.
Usually people will slam Dems to get quoted.
WaterGirl
In the earlier round for Vice Chair, I was impressed by David Hogg and Adam Trish. Did anyone else watch any of the earlier parts?
WaterGirl
8 candidates, 2-minute opening statements.
First up, James Scoufus
Dr. Hathaway.
Jason Paul.
Maryanne Williamson – how did she get 40 members of the DNC to support her in order to be here?
Another Scott
Thanks for this.
Marianne! Ack!!
;-)
Going to rewind from the beginning and see what happens.
Thanks again.
Best wishes,
Scott.
WaterGirl
Ken Martin – permanent campaign
Martin O’Malley
Ben Wikler – fight for working people. Anderson Clayton endured Bed. every region of the south and nationwide.
Nate Snyder – need to listen better to our communities, should invest in rural communities and the south. Assumptions are old, need to change our tactics and redefine relationships with voters.
KatKapCC
@WaterGirl: Maybe she mesmerized them with crystals or whatever the heck she’s into.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Oh. I didn’t realize there were so many.
Baud
@KatKapCC:
If she has that power, maybe we should go with her.
WaterGirl
Are we all talking about the South because this is the Southern forum?
WaterGirl
Wikler: Consultants. Make no commitments to anyone who has been on a campaign payroll before. Do a full audit top to bottom to rethink our consultant networks.
WaterGirl
On Thursday evening there will be another one of these, only with content creators leading the forum and asking the questions.
You have to RSVP for the event.
If we want to loosen the hold of traditional media, it would be nice if everyone could register and watch their forum for the DNC Chair candidates.
It will be interesting to see what the questions are in that forum.
WeAreChorus registration page.
After you register, they throw you to a donation page, which I personally bailed on.
WaterGirl
I can’t listen to Williamson. Her being part of this is embarrassing.
I know I’m talking to myself, and it’s fine to go from person to person when it’s live, but I would like to see all the answers from each person grouped together. That way the folks we know are losers, like Williamson, can just be skipped.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Thanks for all the info, WG.
Today’s event also bypasses the media since it’s on YouTube. I’m not sure why the other event is requiring registration.
I unfortunately can’t watch due to other things going on.
WaterGirl
@Baud:
I’m sure the content creators group is trying to build up contact information.
What will be different about the event on Thursday is that the questions won’t be from party insiders. That’s why I think it will be super interesting.
Possibly disappointing, since no one will ask Williamson “WTF is wrong with you?”
Baud
@WaterGirl: Thanks. Makes sense.
I wish we could exclude Williamson, but you know the blowback would be worse than her presence here. People really hate when we impose top down discipline.
Another Scott
I’m listening, but probably a few minutes behind.
I’m hearing a lot of conventional wisdom. Everyone hates “consultants”. Everyone wants the party fighting everywhere. Everyone wants to listen more. It seems like everyone is being safe in their answers.
:-/
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
They’re not going to say that nearly half of the electorate is in a bubble that won’t listen to us, and that probably (bar some catastrophe) can’t be fixed by the DNC or the DNC chair. There’s no One Weird Trick.
The 2nd question seems better (how to chip away in red districts). I’ll keep listening.
Thanks again.
Best wishes,
Scott.
karen marie
Wake me when any of these people actually do anything constructive.
The DNC has historically been a useless, mostly invisible organization.
dc
Winkler has a track record of success in the face of enormous odds. He knows how to organize and get results.
Starfish (she/her)
@WaterGirl: I watched little pieces. I was familiar with James Zogby’s name, and I liked what he was saying about connecting with actual voters. I liked what he was building his platform on. Transparency and accountability.
I also watched the discussion of the civic engagement vice chair and voter participation. I thought Nikema Williams from Georgia did an excellent job there. I liked what Joyce Beatty had to say too. Reyna Walters Williams said something about needing to use AI, and I was like NOOOOOOOOO. Anyway, this got super nerdy in talking about the various platforms that they wanted to use to reach out on one question, and they were saying that you need to meet voters where they are and go on various podcasts. TV ads are clearly not working. We can’t boycott all the bad podcasters in the world. If they have a large audience, Democrats need to engage with it, but not all people may be right for all platforms. This made me think of how Buttigieg was the Fox news whisperer. There was also some man speaking in this section, and he was about platforms like Twitch and places that people organize around music. Even though a lot of people think of Twitch for video games, there are people who will do live DJ sessions there.
Starfish (she/her)
The way these folks are saying that these people need to focus on the south. Quintessa Hathaway. She is right.
Starfish (she/her)
I didn’t recognize Marianne Williamson in this talk, and I am proud of that.
Omnes Omnibus
@karen marie: I love that kind of positive energy! Excellent!
Another Scott
Other than Marianne, all of these folks seem to be thoughtful and able to make decent points.
I do also appreciate that many of them are looking ahead. While demographics is not destiny, populations do change and the electorate is different every election.
Wikler and Martin and Hathaway seem to be the strongest candidates to me. Wikler seems to have more specifics about what he wants to do with the DNC itself. I don’t know how much “mismanagement” is an actually an issue with the DNC, but audits and baseline budgets often make sense.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Starfish (she/her):
ChatGPT for DNC Chair!
Starfish (she/her)
@Baud: Can you imagine, you go to the website of any Democrat, and some chatbot asks you for money while pretending to be a sexy woman from Uzbekistan that you should fake your own death for?
Glory b
@karen marie: I think that’s because almost all people don’t understand what it does.
Hint, it’s not the “head” of the party.
Another Scott
OpenThread?
FloridaToday.com:
It’ll be interesting to see how successful Bezos’s “slow and steady” approach will ultimately be. Not as exciting as blowing up the launch pad and sending concrete dust and chunks for miles, but it might make more sense in the long run…
A little more at phys.org.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Glory b
@Starfish (she/her): i really like mayor Pete, but is there any evidence that he moved any voters?
Baud
@Starfish (she/her):
I’m pretty sure a a sexy woman from Uzbekistan has followed me on Blue sky.
TBone
Aileen Cannon STILL thinks she is in charge of… something. Apparently she still thinks she has jurisdiction over the U.S. Attorney General.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-orders-doj-respond-trump-defendants-allegations-smith/story?id=117585664
Round and round we go…
Starfish (she/her)
@Glory b: I think that you have a strong danger of letting the other party define you if you don’t show up to places.
Should Harris have gone on Rogan’s extended anti-vax dude bro hour? Probably not. Could she have sent Walz? Maybe.
Starfish (she/her)
@TBone: She does not know how to run an office.
TBone
@Starfish (she/her): she DOES know how to be frivolously and dangerously detrimental to the rule of law!
Starfish (she/her)
@TBone: This is a long and complex Supreme Court audition. Most years, the audition is not this long or elaborate, but this year…
TBone
@Starfish (she/her): I heard that women need not apply.
MAGA is truly hating on Amy Boney Carrot.
karen marie
@Omnes Omnibus: I didn’t realize this thread was restricted to mindless cheerleading. Note taken.
karen marie
@Glory b: You’re making my point. If few people know what the point of the DNC is, isn’t that a problem with the people leading the DNC? Seems to me it is.
TBone
@Another Scott: issat another one of those phallic symbol type rockets?
Never mind, I see that New Glenn has been streamlined.
Baud
@karen marie:
The point of the DNC is to have someone to blame to avoid facing how unpopular we are.
Beyond that, the DNC was never designed and not equipped to be anything but administrative support for the party and its candidates.
Another Scott
@TBone: Same outfit, but this is a new one, much bigger, and looks like an old-timey SF rocket.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Jackie
@TBone: Cannon is counting on the FFOTUS to convince Thomas or Alito to retire…. And making as many brownie points with him that she can.
Aussie Sheila
Off topic. But this is a good explanation of why the LA fires are so bad.https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-daily/why-the-la-wildfires-can-t-be-stopped/104805202?utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared
karen marie
@Baud: Then why are we here in this thread talking about the merits of people making promises the organization isn’t designed to keep?
Baud
@karen marie:
No one is forcing you to be here. Some people care about the inner workings of party operations. It’s important to them.
Harrison Wesley
@Another Scott: Never heard of Blue Origin. I assume it’s like BlueChew for Neanderthals or something.
karen marie
@Baud: Oh, okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were the Thread Police. Thank you for your service.
Glory b
@karen marie: The DNC organizes and holds the national convention every 4 years and assists the presidential and vice presidential campaigns.
It’s focus is organizational, it does not do policy.
It promotes, but does not create, the party platform.
Deputy chairs are generally inconsequential and ceremonial.
It is not the same as the RNC, which plays a much more central role.
It wasn’t until Bernie & his supporters started yelling that it had “stolen” the nomination from him that anyone paid it much attention.
We would all do well to not assume we know what the various committees do without looking it up
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
TBone
@Jackie: well she has the built in handicap of being female and will be standing at the back of the line. Amy Coney Barrett has soured MAGA on female jurisprudence because she didn’t side with Donvict in his last ditch sentencing effort.
Starfish (she/her)
@Baud: One of the candidates for something said that they are sending $15,000 to states to support the party, and that is not enough. They need to actually work on building out a party in some of these areas.
Baud
@karen marie: I’m not anyone’s police. I was answering your question about why we are here. You can stay for all I care, but it seems silly to me for you to stay if your asking why we’re here.
Another Scott
@Harrison Wesley:
Phys.org:
(Emphasis added.)
Seems kinda wasteful, like maybe it would be better to make heavy industry less polluting instead, but who knows…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
One of the unfortunate sequelae of the 2016 Democratic Primary is that people who want to complain about anything Democrats do or do not do gets blamed on “the DNC” by people who have no idea what the DNC actually does. Remember when Debbie Wasserman Schultz was the worst person in the world?
For example, you will see people saying that the DNC should not be involved in choosing the candidate. Then, after the election, they complain that the DNC should have picked some other candidate.
For anyone (not you) who still doesn’t know what the DNC is all about, I urge them to go to the DNC’s website. The “What We Do” second might help.
TBone
Who are these “insiders” is my question.
karen marie
@Glory b: I’m sorry, I must not have been clear. You’ve completely missed my point.
Another Scott
@TBone:
Prospect.org:
[ yawn ]
HTH!
Best wishes,
Scott.
KatKapCC
@Aussie Sheila: Not able to listen to a 17 minute audio right now, but when the headline says “can’t be stopped” do they mean these current fires, or just the concept of fire threats in general? I’d assume the latter because the former would not make sense, but even in the case of the latter, I don’t think anyone outside of the Executives of the We Hate Newsom Club thinks there’s any way whatsoever to get rid of the threat of fires entirely. Because that’s…not how weather or physics or reality works.
Harrison Wesley
@Another Scott: Fascinating, but as you note, not a very good use of resources.
Jackie
@TBone: True, but Cannon is by far his favorite judge… She has his back, and he’s very receptive to that.
Hopefully, Thomas and Alito will hang in until after 2029 and it becomes a moot point.
karen marie
@Baud: You have completely ignored what I’ve said and are instead telling me to shove off based on what looks to me to be your need to control the conversation.
This is what I said:
Baud
@karen marie: I didn’t realize you were an Internet psychologist. Too bad you’re not a good one.
I see your question. What promises do you think people are making that they can’t keep?
Melancholy Jaques
@TBone:
The term “insiders” is unduly negative; there are connotations of secrecy & corruption.
None of the names are secret. In fact most of the people who will decide this are themselves elected – either state party officials or elected office holders like governors, mayors, state legislators. There are additional people appointed to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion.
There has to be a list somewhere, but I do not have a clue where one might find it
1st ETA – OMG! @Another Scott: knows! I love this blog sometimes
2nd ETA – Well I will be damned. I guess the names were secret or at least “secret.” I thought that this was eliminated long ago. I stand corrected.
Glory b
@TBone: As I understand, most go to state party chairs and those they appoint, others go to the state parties to appoint (they are allocated by the size of the state), a couple go to Democrats Abroad.
There are probably others that I can’t recall, and I concede that I may not have this exactly right.
This is the system created by the meeting between the Bernie appointees and the rank and file party members after Clinton lost the electoral college. It was supposed to mollify them in that they basically directed how the selection was to be achieved.
Another Scott
@Jackie: Thomas and Alito are pretty much automatic votes for Donnie, so replacing them with Cannon doesn’t really buy him anything. Now if one of the 3 liberals left… :-(
I don’t think Donnie really cares about the SCOTUS any more – he got what he wanted from them. Sure, he’ll replace anyone who leaves with a nutjob, but it would probably be someone other than Cannon is my guess. He could still use a compliant judge in Florida.
With any luck, we won’t actually see it transpire!
My $0.02.
Best wishes,
Scott.
TBone
@Jackie: Donvict telephoned Alito directly, spoke to him the day before his sentencing. He didn’t bother speaking to the the icky lady parts haver. I too hope that this Karen of the Court does not ascend through the ranks of the unqualified like his current nominees!
karen marie
@Baud: There’s no point in responding to your “question,” because you will simply tell me I’m wrong.
Congratulations. You win.
Baud
@karen marie:
You were a worthy opponent.
KatKapCC
@TBone: “Donvict” :D love it
TBone
@Another Scott: thank you – when I saw “black box” I thought that meant it remains secret but we have a leaker!
TBone
@KatKapCC: simple and gets the point across no matter what egghead I’m speaking to IRL.
Glory b
@Melancholy Jaques: I don’t either.
The system is the reason (I think) that so many Bernie supporters were so bitter. They thought they had put together a committee that would conduct the primary in a way that would give Bernie the advantage. He had tons of money, Biden was almost broke, but beat him anyway.
Also why they hate Clyburn.
Baud
@TBone:
The only thing we have left is our disrespect for them.
TBone
@Another Scott: I concur.
TBone
@Baud: amen brotha.
Another Scott
@TBone: I wouldn’t be surprised if all that were “leaked” was a single particular spreadsheet with all the names and contact information in one place. It looked to me like an awful lot of names of members are easy to find on the DNC website (national officers, state officers, etc.). If they were trying to be a “secret” cabal, they were pretty bad at it.
Best wishes,
Scott.
TBone
@Another Scott: that’s how it appears to me too.
Kay
@TBone:
You can read the names here and why they’re there – state party chair, young democrats, elected, etc
https://prospect.org/politics/2025-01-10-opening-dncs-black-box/
There’s also something called The Green Papers with a lot of info that is collected and run by volunteers
Melancholy Jaques
From the article linked by @Another Scott: above:
This is not a good idea & should be changed going forward. I don’t see any reason to keep the names secret & there are benefits to transparency.
Baud
@Another Scott:
When I Googled, it seemed as if the members names were scattered across different state and regional websites.
Don’t know why there isn’t a central list though. It’s not a big deal to me, but it’s a fair criticism.
Kay
Green papers:
https://www.thegreenpapers.com/
TBone
@Baud: AnotherScott linked to prospect.org article that has a list. #55
And Kay at #76
Glory b
@Another Scott: Well, she’s young and they are old.
I give Republicans credit, they know how to play that game.
I read that Republicans have floated the idea of Thomas and Alito retiring so they could hold those seats another 30 or 40 years.
I’m sure Thomas won’t want to, he knows his position on the court is the only reason his rich buddies hang out with him.
In an interview, a journalist noted that Thomas called him ” an old and very dear family friend, ” and asked him if he’d be friends with Thomas if he wasn’t a justice.
His response? “I don’t know.”
I’m kind of in awe of someone so rich and powerful that he wouldn’t bother giving Thomas the dignity of a little white (see what I did there?) lie.
TBone
@Kay: I hope that site survives what’s coming, thank you!
Aussie Sheila
@KatKapCC:
Sorry about the link. Relevant bit starts at 11.00. He explained that the LA fires behaves differently to Australian fires because of the nature of the undergrowth, or ‘brush’ as it’s called in the US. In Oz, fires run up hills fast, and go down slow, where the firefighters wait for it. In Cali the fires go up and down fast. Plus the winds were so fierce in LA that the helicopters and planes couldn’t be utilised in the circumstances.
The LA fires were simply worse than even Oz fires. I don’t know that most people outside Cali comprehend just how devastating they are and how worse it will be unless we all get our boots on re global warming.
Oh, I also think the Insurance industry warrants a good deal of attention by Dems in the next year or so.
Kay
I’d like some specifics. My own preference would be full time organizers in GA and NC based upon county population. They have to live in the county and do some kind of organizing or social event weekly and only one of those events monthly can be a meeting – the rest have to be social or educational. Successful groups get expanded support – a dedicated space, additional.organizer, money for entertainmemt , etc.
Kay
@TBone:
The Green Papers? Its nice for lookups. A labor of love.
The members of the DNC are also superdelegates. You can probably run in Pennsylvania to be one.
Aussie Sheila
@Kay:
Full time organisers responsible for key districts/electorates are a must. Investment in same is vital, and continued investment should be based on metrics determined by the relevant State/County organisation.
Starfish (she/her)
@Aussie Sheila: The fires of the past few years in North America have been tough. Was it last year when Canada was on fire?
Aussie Sheila
@Starfish (she/her):
Don’t know about Canada, but it looks like the eastern seaboard of the North American continent is undergoing its own ‘dry winter’ event. Very, very bad. When these happen in Australia the fires start early and burn badly.
Right now our Summer on the eastern seaboard has been relatively wet. If the winter is dry, next summer will be hellish.
Starfish (she/her)
@Aussie Sheila: Here is a weather scientist who talks about the various fires of the west. He said there have been 10-15 deaths so far. It sounds like the winds are going to pick up later in the week, and that is not good.
Kay
@Aussie Sheila:
I’d like to do at least one in all 3000+ counties in the US but that’s 120 million dollars so I had to scale back a bit :)
Maybe GA, NC and add somewhere like Alabama just to fuck with Republicans. “Yes, Alabama is in play”
Aussie Sheila
@Kay:
I love it! The unbelievable amounts of money raised during election season should include money ‘banked’ for year round organising and paid organisers in the South where the population shifts are happening.
In Australia, regions where population growth is going backwards and economic activity is slowing are breeding grounds for right wing candidates and parties. The seeding ground for the One Nation Party in Oz was suburban and regional areas where deindustrialisation hit hardest after the neo liberal ‘reforms’ of the 1990s. The ONP was and is, the Oz version of trumpism.
Starfish (she/her)
@Starfish (she/her): Oh my gosh! He said that people flew their photo drones and harmed one of the super scoopers that dumps water on the fires so they can’t use it anymore.
Kathleen
@Glory b: They also hate face that a Black Kingmaker was instrumental in robbing Bernie of his rightful throne.
Aussie Sheila
@Starfish (she/her):
People are unbelievable in these kinds of situations. Another issue which understandably hasn’t been given much attention in the media is the role of people deliberately lighting/starting fires. We have had this here, and in one case the fire killed people plus the usual property damage etc;
He was caught and punished severely. Kids sometimes start fires as well, because they don’t realise/understand the consequences. Smoke alert lookouts need to be posted across every vulnerable area to deal with such situations, particularly in regional and rural areas.
We have a network of rural and regional volunteer bushfire brigades which are funded by government re equipment, uniforms and the like. They are indispensable here.
Sister Golden Bear
@Starfish (she/her): The Super Scooper is supposed to be out until Monday because of repairs. Unconfirmed reports that what was left of the drone was found, possibly inside the hole in the wing. So the drone pilot should be ready for a visit from the FBI.
The FAA issued no fly zones around the wildfires and it’s highly illegal to violate them. The FAA absolutely does not fuck around about this sort of thing, so the rogue drone pilot is facing up to a year in jail, $75K fine, paying for the repair costs, and will have their drone pilot license revoked (probably permanently). Plus they’ll be facing state charges as well.
Not to mention responsible drone pilots want to lynch whoever was involved. It was an incredibly stupid, irresponsible and dangerous thing to do, and it’s cause problems for the rest of us.
Starfish (she/her)
@Aussie Sheila: The weather scientist in CA said that the Australian and New Zealand firefighters are probably not coming to help because this is their own high fire season.
We had this lady who was burning a forest service employee burning a letter from her husband during a fire ban. She went to jail.
Helen Rae Charbonneau
Y’all (DNC) need to listen to Roland Martin on BULWARK. SERIOUSLY!
Aussie Sheila
@Starfish (she/her):
Yes, you are correct. I contacted a couple of pollies here I know and they said that because it’s bushfire season here and there is a federal election two to three months away, no one will risk sending equipment to Cali this time. I understand the reluctance, but I feel bad for Cali. They have assisted us in the past.
Sister Golden Bear
@KatKapCC: @Aussie Sheila:
Don’t have time to listen to a 17-minute audio either, and while I’m sure there’s differences between wildfires in LA and brushfires in Oz due to ecology, micro-climates and geography, what made the fires unstoppable on Wednesday were the hurricane force Santa Ana winds that hit 80-100 mph. During the 2017 Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa (max winds around 60 mph), the fire advanced at >200 feet per minute and was blowing embers up to a mile ahead of the main fire. Blowing embers are one of the major reasons buildings to catch fire during wildfire and it essentially becomes a chain reaction. As was mentioned it also grounded the aerial firefighting, which was another huge reason for the devastation.
During the calm winds today, extensive air drops allowed firefighters to stop the fires from advancing, as well as do some backfires to create dead zones in front of the fire lines. Unfortunately, the winds are supposed to pick up again tonight, and much of the late afternoon efforts focused on laying down a line of (pink) fire retardant at a defensible spot ahead of where the fire is expected to shift.
Aussie Sheila
@Sister Golden Bear:
Yes, blowing embers are a major cause of fires jumping ahead of containment lines and the like. And yes, the winds made the LA fires terrible, but they also hampered helicopters and aeroplanes from flying directly over them to drop water bombs. That is what made it so difficult to contain among other things of course.
Melancholy Jaques
@Helen Rae Charbonneau:
What did Roland Martin have to say?
Glory b
@Kathleen: Oh, absolutely!
Glory b
@Melancholy Jaques: I think this is it, a panel discussion with Michael Steele, Tim Miller, Karen Hunter and Martin.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VoJY4nGsFsY
Starfish (she/her)
@Sister Golden Bear: Was that one borrowed from Canada? Canada should send a giant bill to Donald Trump.
Kosh III
@WaterGirl:Nate Snyder – need to listen better to our communities, should invest in rural communities and the south.
Absofgragginlutelydammit YES. Focus on 50 states for a change and not the coasts and “battleground” states.
Gloria DryGarden
@Aussie Sheila: in addition, the electricity was off in some neighborhoods, so there wasn’t enough water PRESSURE. And some people resist clearing the vegetation around their homes. And, normally rains come in winter, in So Cal, but it’s dry for 6 months every year, and after a wetter rainy season, more brush grows bigger. And, in the steep hillsides and canyons, clearing the brush enough would involve rappelling down cliff sides.
And the building codes for better fire resistance in building materials is recent, coming long after the neighborhoods were build.
My read is all the factors came together with the months longer than usual drought season, and the Santa Ana winds, and this disaster was not very preventable.
One article I read said this current fire disaster is to fire, what a blizzard is to snow, or a hurricane, to rain.
It’s the winds.
Gloria DryGarden
@Kay: I love this. Coalition and relationship building, year round.
It sounds like, from reading the comments, there might be an information gathering function of the dnc as well, ie listening to rural communities and other places whose needs and concerns haven’t been…
responded to? Included? I think sometimes democratic policy does include people, but the communication wasn’t clear. Or the branding, I guess. I’m thinking of active listening, so people know their concerns are being taken into account.