SOLANO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE 

 

From Dan Healy,
        the SCDCC Chairman: 

 
  November 5, 2008

 CONGRATULATIONS to our army of volunteers for an outstanding performance in organizing, registering voters and getting out the vote yesterday!

As a result of our efforts and millions like us, BARACK OBAMA has been elected President of the United States. We now have an opportunity to retake this country and start providing the leadership we need in health care, international relations, economic reform, government competence, environmental protection and many other important issues. The fact that people were dancing in the streets of Kenya last night tells us not just that we have elected a unique world symbol as our President but also gives us hope that once again we can lead the world in speaking for liberty, justice and freedom rather than war, torture, greed and oppression.

Here in Solano County, we did some amazing things. We added over 8,000 new Democratic voters. We mobilized hundreds of volunteers to phone bank, walk precincts, and get out the vote. (Last Saturday, in pouring rain, we had over 140 people walking precincts in Northern Solano.)

While the numbers are not all in, it looks like we had more voters, and a higher percentage of voters, than at any previous election in memory.

Yesterday we ran an incredible county-wide protect the vote operation. We had volunteers checking each polling place multiple times daily. We responded to numerous problems throughout the day, solving most of them, and making sure people's rights were protected. We did so in the face of incredible developments - most significantly rampant shortages of ballots - throughout the county. I had the ear of the county all day because we were prepared, informed, and polite yet assertive, as we tried to protect Democracy all day and night.

So to everyone who lent a hand to this unprecedented effort, on behalf of the Democratic Party I THANK AND SALUTE YOU!

As President-elect Obama stated last night in his incredible speech, this is not the end of things, but is instead the beginning. There is an enormous amount of work to be done.

We also need to recognize the areas where we need to seek improvement. Solano County did not distinguish itself yesterday when it was the only Bay Area county to support Proposition 8, nor have we yet conquered the fear in Northern Solano which continues to generate support for right wingers for office. We need to figure out a way to bridge the current acrimonious divide between labor and our citizenry. We need to convince a reluctant population that universal health care is indeed necessary, that environmental protection and economic growth are not conflicting concepts, and that we can indeed have a country that can move beyond racial, gender and sexual preference bigotry.

We also need to keep up the fight for voter integrity. The dark side of what we saw yesterday was a government unprepared for Democracy. In the days ahead we will be continuing to monitor the situation and advocate for our candidates. No one at this point should assume that any of the close races are over. I believe there are many thousands (perhaps over 10,000) ballots still uncounted. So please stay tuned, and stay involved.

So thank you for everything you have accomplished. Please enjoy and savor what we have accomplished. Get some rest. And then get ready to continue the fight.

Stay tuned by regularly checking www.solanodems.com.



"The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."

--Senator Ted Kennedy



"So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.

So it was for the Greatest Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity.

So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom's cause.

So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that's better, and kinder, and more just.

And so it must be for us.

America, this is our moment. This is our time.

Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long.

I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations.

But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people.

Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals."

--From a speech by President-elect Obama



Sign Up to Get Active!

“Get Active” by using the form on this page. A Central Committee member will contact you to put you in touch with other Democratic activists. We look forward to meeting you!