Democracy For Missouri — Taking Back America... one election at a time.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07112008/watch.html
This is a great Moyers interview of leading Conservatives. The Republican Party has left their principles in the dust.

This is a great local website in Central Missouri which has as its audacious goal, taking back the White House this Nobvember.
http://www.midmobama.com/
Check it out...get involved!

Stephen Webber is impressive as a dedicated strong campaigner with a knowledge and grasp of the issues facing the 23rd District and Missouri. He will serve the District well and be a strong advocate for education and health care, and will carry on the work of Jeff Harris healing the State after four years of the folly guided by Matt Blunt.

On May 23rd Cande Iveson and Stephen Webber met with the public in a well attended Democracy for Missouri sponsored candidate forum at the Carpenters Hall. Both of these candidates are good progressive Democrats. Stephen Webber won the endorsement vote taken at the next full membership meeting garnering 62% of the vote which was conducted using an Instant Runoff process with "No endorsement", Cande Iveson, and Stephen Webber on the ballot.

Webber is the second local candidate to receive Democracy for Missouri's endorsement. Last month, Sean Spence, running for 25th District Representative received this endorsement.

This November...vote for the Clean energy Initiative!
The Missouri Clean Energy intitiative will make it so that 15% of Missouri's major electricity comes from clean sources by the year 2020.
Check out the website:
http://www.MissouriCleanEnergy.org

Returning to Chicago just after winning the Democratic Primary, Obama has thoughts and inspirations for his supporters:

Truly a wonderful expression of his grassroots campaign.

The candidate Forum held at the Carpenter's Hall on May 21st was very well attended and another success for DfMO. These are two great Progressive Candidates and the decision will be difficult for Democrats living in the 23rd District. Cande Iveson and Stephen Webber had never previously faced each other in a debate/forum setting. those present and the candidates themselves greatly appreciated the opportunity for a side by side comparison. Here is what Jason Rosenbaum of the Columbia Tribune had to say:
http://www.showmenews.com/2008/May/20080522News009.asp
See the Image Gallery" for more pics.

With many DFA members serving as Delegates to the State Convention and with a very popular booth in the vendor area, DFA Missouri was well represented at the Missouri Democratic Party Convention held in Columbia on May 10th.
Here is the convention reported by yours truly on the Boone County Democrats site:
http://www.boonecountydems.net/node/1064

Staffing the DFA Missouri table, Loree Monroe greets delegates Greg Ahrens and Kathleen Weinschenk. Kathleen was instrumental in the court case which overtuned Missouri's voter ID law last year and has testified against the Republican's latest even more draconian version of the law. Our booth featured lots of DFA gear but more importantly sales of "Why my Mommy is a Democrat". These great children's books attracted a lot of interest and allowed us to promote the DFA Training coming up in Kansas City in June. More pics in the Image Gallery

Many DFA members were already elected Delegates to the State Convention and several were able to move up from Alternate to Delegate to fill the spots of Delegates who did not show up. In politics, showing up is half the battle (and fun!).

In a well attended and highly charged meeting last night, Sean Spence won the endorsement of Columbia DFA in the race to fill Judy Baker's 25th District seat. There are three very excellent Democrats with progressive bona fides running, so the choice was difficult.
The voting was conducted by President Wayne Brekhus using IRV ballots, and after 3 minute speeches by Bob Pund, Mary Still and Sean,(and a bit of explanation on how instant runoff voting works), the balloting of the 47 present went most smoothly.

Our own Lily Tinker Fortel is currently out in Iran on a peace mission with Fellowship of Reconciliation...reaching out to ordinary Iranians in the name of peace. She is blogging her adventure here:
http://www.midmopeaceworks.org/lilyiniran.php
We are so proud and pleased that an active member of Columbia DFA is demonstrating such committment to Peace. Thank you Lily from all of us. We wish you and your mission well! We look forward to seeing back home in time to campaign with us to take back our Country, this summer.

Earth Day this year was beautiful and DFA was there!

More pics and story here!

A large crowd filled the Library Friends Room for the first of a series of candidate forums.

There are a lot of great Democrats running for offices up and down the ticket, making the Primary choice difficult.
More pics are in the Gallery. Thanks to Peg for these photos.
Rosenbaum the Tribune has a great article on the forum with a good analysis of the candidate positions:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/apr/20080410news009.asp
DfMO will be holding endorsement votes in general DFA meetings after each debate.
Wednesday May 7th at 7:00 PM, at the Union hall at 601 N Garth we will vote on the three great candidates for 25th District...Sean Spence, Mary Still and Bob Pund. Come on down! Help decide if we endorse anyone and who that might be.

I wrote this originally for the online version of the Missourian.

As I See it…
The Obama Delegate selection process, the trail to Denver and Victory in November

I am honored, humbled and blessed to have been elected one of two delegates for Barack Obama from the 9th Congressional District. How Delegates are elected and the Primary/caucus/convention process is a bit obscure and I will go into that later, but I will say that I very much look forward to our State Democratic Convention here in Columbia on May 10th , and to the National Democratic Convention in Denver August 25th thru 28th. In Denver, I will proudly cast the vote given me by 9th Congressional District Democrats, for Barack Obama.

My father, Karl Monroe was the Editor of the Collinsville (IL) Herald for over 40 years and wrote a column "As I See It" twice a week, for that paper. I was especially thrilled therefore when a reporter from the Missourian asked if I might write a piece for MyMissourian.com on the Obama delegate process as I have experienced it.

As I see it, there is a lot to the political process in Missouri, and nationally which, despite all the civics classes and news reports, remain a mystery to most of us. (More below the fold)

As reported in the Missourian,
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/04/01/sociology-professor-lands-10000-kemper-award/
Our own Democracy for Missouri President, Wayne Brekhus has been recognized by the University for his excellence instructing and inspiring students at MU.
This award is very well deserved. Sometimes recognition does indeed fall to those who are deserving.
Congratulations Wayne!

Latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120657171729866843.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news&loc=interstitialskip
Concludes that Hillary Clinton support among women fading, Clinton and Barack Obama now tied at 45% Nationally and Obama moving up from a decline after the Pastor controversy. It has Clinton being beaten by McCain and Obama beating McCain. All by small margins.
This is good news for Barack Obama, but polls assessing November contests at this point are ...um...pointless, in my opinion.

The three great Democratic Candidates who are running for State Rep in the 25th District in Columbia, Bob Pund, Mary Still and Sean Spence will present their case for State Representative and answer questions of the public in a DFA Forum in the Friends Room of the Daniel Boone Regional Library (Garth and Broadway in Columbia) at 6:30PM April 9th. Lets turn out and pick the very best of three excellent choices.

Over 1200 turned out on Sunday in Columbia to call for Peace in Iraq. It was the largest Peace March in Columbia since the days of Vietnam. Today...the actual anniversary of the illegal "pre-emptive" attack on Iraq, dozens of folks turned out again to protest on street corners in Columbia.

Here is a gallery of photos on the Democracy for Missouri website:
http://democracyformo.com/d/v/DfMotakingbackourcountryDemocratsunited_/1000+strong/
The Columbia Tribune has a nice article with audio/visual slideshow of the Sunday event:
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2008/mar/20080317news001.asp
Democracy for Missouri is a member organization of the Columbia Peace Coalition which sponsored both events.