The 2006 Election was truly historic. The American people elected a Democratic majority in Congress, making Nancy Pelosi the first-ever woman Speaker of the House.
But in California, progressives can do better. This past year saw our great success in reaching California’s voters with key information about candidates and issues important to us. With over 2 million hits during the primary and general election campaigns, our voter guide has now become a leading source of information for progressive voters on state issues. But there are still too many progressive voters not engaged in state politics at all, and Speak Out California has been working to reach them as we move forward in reforming health care, addressing climate change, cleaning up the political process and creating critical new infratructure in our state.
Defining and advancing what it truly means to be a progressive, and organizing as many people as possible around those principles, becomes critically important as we head into 2008. Republican candidates for President in the same vein as Schwarzenegger — claiming to be what they aren’t — will be competing for our state’s 55 electoral votes.
With the help of our strong relationships with progressive members of the Legislature, Speak Out California continues to keep progressives informed on important state issues that will be advanced during the course of the legislative session. And of course, we are watching the Governor very carefully to expose the wide gap between what he says and what he does in the second term of his governorship.
With lots of speculation about his political ambitions, we will insure that Californians know just exactly what he’s doing as opposed to positioning himself for a run at higher office with larger than life photo-ops and political proclamations.