What am I doing for 2014?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

Someone asked on an earlier thread here something to the effect of what are you doing for 2014 electi

I'll tell you, but first, a little back story.

I retired from the Sheet Metal Workers local 104 in Oct. of 2010. We have a small condo in downtown San Jose, California. As a long time union member, I have a decent pension. We decided to move to Tucson for a year to help the wife's in-laws take care of mom who was turning 90 that year and is increasingly becoming a handful.

It was not without some trepidation that I came to Arizona. All I really knew about the state was Sheriff Joe and Jan Brewer. Not a good start. We found a house to rent in a fairly affluent area on the West side of town and frankly, I was blown away at the real estate prices here. The four bedroom, three car garage home with a pool and views forever cost us considerably less than our 1,100 s.f. Condo in S.J. We rented our condo to one of the grand kids who was attending S.J. state as he could walk to school from the condo. A good start. When we got here, the neighbors across the street were holding a garage sale so we went over to introduce ourselves. The first thing the husband at the garage sale said is, "Thank God, now the neighbor hood will be all white". Apparently our land lords who were moving to N.C. For a job transfer didn't pass the racial purity test. Not a good start. We loved the cultural diversity of S.J.

A few weeks later, Gabby Giffords was shot and I'm thinking, what the fuck have we gotten ourselves into? As soon as our lease is up we are outa here! Unfortunately, we were stuck here for a year and I realized that in order to stay sane, we would have to find some like minded people to survive this. The internet is your friend. I found that Progressive Democrats for America was hosting a talk by Jim Hightower and Rep Raul Grijalva in downtown Tucson. I knew who Hightower was but had never heard of Raul. We went. hightower was great as expected. Then Raul spoke and I'm thinking "Holy shit! This guy makes Zoe Lofgren sound like a moderate and if this guy can get elected, Tucson is not nearly the tea bag infested puss sore I thought".

Then I found Drinking Liberally Tucson. At the first meeting we attended we introduced ourselves and were asked if we belonged to Drinking Liberally in San Jose? We explained to them that, in San Jose, if you went out drinking anywhere, you were at Drinking Liberally. We had finally found that we were not alone. And we stayed. On our second year here we finally found Sunflower Democrats and Friends which is our local Democratic club and of which, I am now the President.

So, what are we doing for the midterms? First, I am in the process of becoming a precinct captain for Legislative District 11 in Arizona. I will be working for Jo Holt's campaign to unseat Al Melvin. I will also have access to the names and addresses of every registered Democrat in our area code and I and my club will knock on every one of their doors and let them know that # 1. They are not alone! Our district is considered red by the Democratic party in Az. And I sure as fuck thought we were alone when we moved here but I am tenacious and many people are not. We will be letting them know they are not alone, asking them to join our club, offering rides to the polls and urging them to G.O.T.V.

There are five Democratic clubs in the Tucson LD11 district. In May, all five clubs will be hosting a pot luck fundraiser for the Democratic candidates in Arizona. We have invited every Dem candidate in Az. To come talk to us. We expect about 300 attendees. Proceeds will be donated to the L.D. 11 Dems to help elect Democrats in Az. We are going to turn Arizona fucking Blue!

So what are you doing?
1

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[TreasonousBastard]

1. Good for you! Around here we have...

Tim Bishop in NY1 again up for the fight of his life. Republicans think he's an easy one to pick off (last time we had to wait weeks for a recount and he almost lost) and already threw millions this way.

He's got a damn good team set up, but soon enough we're going to take to the streets with those lists. Here on Long Island we have only one Republican in the house, but the teabaggers are fighting hard so we're working on county-wide solidarity.

[jbrooks9]

2. There goes the neighborhood

We just bought a house in Sunflower and I am VERY glad to find your post. Look forward to attending a meeting. We should be moved in by the second week of April. We thought we were going to be alone.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Cool! You are not even close to being alone!

If you pm me with your email address I will put you on the Sunflower Dems and Frends newsletter list. You are about to make more progressive friends than you could imagine!

[gopiscrap]

4. Welcome to DU