New Women's Club Website is now On-Line!

We are proud to announce the creation of a website for the Fresno County Democratic Women's Club. Check it out at;

It is the creation of talented Webdesigner and Graphic Artist, Kerri Schiff. Kerri is a new resident of Fresno and a brand new volunteer at the Democrats In Action Office. Look forward to more really good content as the summer goes on.

Clovis Democratic Club's Annual Patriotic Picnic

On Thursday Evening, July 2nd 6 PM, the Clovis Democratic Club will hold it's annual Patriotic Picnic at Bicentennial Park in Clovis. The Club will furnish hot dogs and cold drinks.  All you have to do is bring a potluck side dish or dessert. 

The program will include:  Patriotic Speeches, Live Music by Uncle Ephus (Not just an Old Time String Band) , Singing, Prizes, Fun and Food. The Club invites other organizations to bring their own table to promote themselves in return for offering a Prize for the Raffle Drawing.

Bicentennial Park is located on Sunnyside Ave, just north of Sierra and a block south of Herndon. Be there!

For more info call Evelyn Haulman at 291-6814

Fresno's Stonewall Democratic Club and The Den will recreate the 1969 Police Raid on the Stonewall Inn located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. This event is generally regarded as pivotal in the rise of the Gay Liberation Movement. Those "arrested" at this fundraiser will be "bailed out" with help from the attendees. Proceeds will benefit the Stonewall Democratic Club.

MARSDEN LAUNCHES 19th DISTRICT CAMPAIGN Democrat Les Marsden of Mariposa officially launched his campaign for the 19th District Congressional District seat in a series of events held on June 10th and 11th. The District, encompassing parts of five counties and including Yosemite National Park has been represented (many say poorly) by seven-term Republican George Radanovich. Candidate Marsden will be speaking at the Clovis Democratic Club Picnic mentioned above. Let's get out and support Les as he kicks off his campaign for 2010!

 Meet in the Middle 4 Equality, a Huge Success!

When the Supreme Court of California upheld Prop 8, the ban on gay marriage, in a 6 to1 ruling, groups that had been planning a huge rally in Fresno jumped into action. On May 30th the Meet in the Middle 4 Equality March and Rally was held with a crowd estimated between 3500-5000 in attendance at the City Hall in Fresno. Media coverage of this even was broadcast worldwide.

The March began in Selma in the early morning, and by noon hot and tired marchers had covered the 17 miles to the Fresno City Hall to kick off the event to thunderous applause. A multitude of speakers, both celebrity and non-celebrity spoke of the need to work hard and fight for Marriage Equality in our state. 

Democrats In Action was pleased to receive an invitation to set a voter registration booth at MITM4E and quickly accepted. Our admiration and congratulations goes to the various groups, including the state and local Courage Campaign and MITM4E for pulling off such a well organized, important event. We salute you!

For more info on MITM go to: http://www.meetinthemiddle4equality.com/

Obama Nominates Sotomayor
to the Supreme Court

On Tuesday, May 26th, President Barack Obama nominated federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court Pending confirmation by the Senate, Sotomayor would be come the first Latino to sit on the Supreme Court. Nominated in 1991 by the first President Bush to a seat on the US District Court and promoted to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton in 1997, Sotomayor has an impressive resume and a compelling life story.

Republicans are bristling for a fight on any Obama pick for the nation's highest court. They are expected to lose this one.

Read more about Judge Sotomayor here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor 

A new Gallup Poll released Friday, found “51 percent of Americans calling themselves ‘pro-life’ on the issue of abortion and 42 percent ‘pro-choice.’ Such a finding is unexpected and raised eyebrows among polling experts.

They raised concerns that Gallup's respondants were evenly split between Republicans And Democrats (32% vs 32%), while the nation's electorate more accurately reflects something in the neighborhood of 38.7% Democrats and 32.6% iRepublican.

In the polling business such results are known as "outliers". In statistics, an outlier is an observation numerically distant from the rest of the data. They are usually the result of skewed methodology regarding how questions are asked and the makeup of the sample of respondents.

For more on this topic visit the most respected polling analysis site: fivethirtyeight.com

Do you Twit... er, Tweet? You can now follow us on Twitter! Find out whats going on at the Democrats In Action Office each and every day. http://twitter.com/fresnodemocrats

The annual California Democratic Party Convention was held last weekend in Sacramento. Delegates voted to endorse Propositions 1B, 1C and 1F and remain neutral on Props 1A, 1D and 1E.  Party rules required a 60% approval for an endorsement.

No surprises as former state Sen. John Burton was elected chair of the state Democratic Party. He will be replacing 13 year chairman Art Torres, a long time bay-area legislator. Burton, 76 years old, cruised to victory with 76 percent of vote.

Unfortunately our own Patsy Montgomery lost her bid to be elected to the post of Legislative and Policy Issues Chair to the Women's Caucus.  Patsy, selected only a week ago to the Change to Win Slate, was nonetheless proud of her participation on a slate that was culturally and geographically diverse.

 First Pup Revealed!

Despite the best efforts of the White House to keep it under wraps, the identity of the First Pup has been revealed. Given the name Bo by the Obama Girls. the 6-month-old Portuguese water dog was a gift from Sen. Edward Kennedy. The choice of first pet has been the subject of considerable media speculation since the election last November. Specific details began to emerge on Friday in stories by the Washington Post and TMZ. It is likely that Bo will make his first appearence in public on Tuesday in an event that might overshadow coverage of Tea Party demonstrations being held throughout the country the following day.

Help for Homeowners

The Obama Administration has released details regarding the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. Find out if you qualify for assistance by going to: http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/

Your lender must talk with you about loan modification according to the new law.  In some cases they can lower payments, or lower payments for 5 years. Some borrowers are getting principal reductions.  More programs to  help homeowners are being legislated this month in Washington. Nobody wants more foreclosures from upside down owners.

Remember: You don't have to pay anyone to get this help. Beware of scams!