FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 24, 2008
Orange County, CA
Progressive Democrats in GOP Strongholds
PDA Communications Director Laura Bonham said, "We have volunteers working in several traditionally Republican areas. We're supporting strong congressional candidates from California to Virginia and from New York to Florida. We're mobilizing progressive activists for Obama / Biden in those states as well as in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Indiana and even Arizona."
PDA Executive Director Tim Carpenter said, "I'll be touring Ohio this week with Healthcare NOT Warfare co-chair Donna Smith and the California Nurses Association. Then I'll travel to Phoenix for an exciting 'Arizona Divorces McCain' Rally on November 1st with the California Nurses, Code Pink, retired Colonel and former State Department official Ann Wright and others. With a week and a half to go, we're more excited than ever. We hope this will be our year."
PDA-endorsed, Healthcare NOT Warfare Candidate Debbie Cook's challenge to Dana Rohrabacher in California's 46th District is one of the key contests PDA is targeting. PDA, the Orange County Labor Council, and the Teamsters are joining together for two days of events and a week of volunteer efforts supporting Cook who is currently the Mayor of Huntington Beach, CA. Cook is making the strongest challenge Republican Dana Rohrabacher has seen in his long career. PDA launched the Healthcare NOT Warfare campaign last January to focus progressive activism on these key issues.
Tim Carpenter said, "PDA endorsed Debbie Cook in the heat of the summer last July, and she is turning up the heat on global-warming denier Dana Rohrabacher. Cook is a leader on issues important to Orange County. Rohrabacher represents the divisive, short-sighted, highly ideological politics of the past--immigrant bashing and other tired old rhetoric. He blindly supported the failed Bush / Cheney policies. Voters in Orange County want better. They want change, and they're supporting Debbie Cook."
Carpenter said, "We're proud of Debbie Cook. She took it to her opponent in the debate at Orange Coast College Tuesday afternoon. We helped lift her from a long shot--because of the Republican registration advantage and Rohrabacher's big money backing--to highly competitive. We were on the ground working for her early, and now we're seeing other organizations putting her on their radar. We're excited about helping Debbie Cook win. We've been in Orange County in force. Last week, I visited two area high schools, while Laura Bonham and PDA California State Coordinator Bill Honigman registered voters at the University of California Irvine Campus. We can tell we're having a big impact here."
Bonham added, "Debbie Cook is within striking distance of an eight-term incumbent because her opponent is just wrong on the issues. Rohrabacher claims people have nothing to do with global warming, and insists we do nothing about this crisis. As Mayor, Debbie Cook led her city in supporting the U.S. Mayor's Agreement on Global Warming. She's also a leader on healthcare. She knows we need a cost-efficient, patient-centered, privately-administered, publicly-funded system that covers all Americans: a single payer healthcare system as proposed by Rep. John Conyers. The local Orange County Democratic headquarters was abuzz with progressive Democrats as news of the fantastic efforts at voter registration is tipping in favor of Democrats in one of the most Republican areas in the country."
Saturday, October 25th, PDA and labor volunteers will canvass for Debbie Cook after meeting in Costa Mesa. Sunday, November 2nd at 11:30 a.m. PDA and the Teamsters will hold a "Get Out the Vote Countdown to Victory Rally" at the Machinist Union District Lodge 725, 5402 Bolsa Ave,. Huntington Beach. After the rally, PDA and labor volunteers will canvass for Cook again. The Rally will feature Debbie Cook; Teamsters Labor Leader, Patrick Kelly; Healthcare NOT Warfare Campaign Co-Chair, Norman Solomon; Michael Lighty, California Nurses Association; David Clennon, Actor / Activist (Syrianna and thirtysomething); and PDA Executive Director, Tim Carpenter.
For more information on the Debbie Cook / Dana Rohrabacher contest, please click here.
Progressive Democrats of America is a grassroots PAC that works both inside the Democratic Party and outside in movements for peace and justice. Our goal: Elect a permanent, progressive majority in 2008. PDA's advisory board includes seven members of Congress and activist leaders such as Tom Hayden, Medea Benjamin, Thom Hartmann, Jim Hightower, and Rev. Lennox Yearwood. For more information on PDA, please click here: http://pdamerica.org.
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