Let’s Go Win This Thing

In the season finale of West Wing, when the Democratic Nominee for president is finally decided and giving his acceptance speech, Alan Alda’s character, the Republican Nominee Arnie Vinnick, stands up and exclaims “Ok, let’s go win this thing.”

We’re certainly not supporting Republican candidates, but the Democratic Nominees for City Comptroller and Public Advocate have finally been decided. John Liu narrowly defeated David Yassky for the NYC Comptroller nomination 56% to 44% and Bill DeBlasio trounced Mark Green for the Public Advocate nomination 63% to 37%. Only about 200k New Yorkers voted in the runoff.

So what now? All of these long and hard fought campaigns deserve praise. They contributed to the democratic process by providing options and helped shape the debates in their own ways. Young people from across this city, and many of them MYD members, joined or volunteered for candidates. I know that, when one pours their heart and soul into an effort like this, that the impulse is to just give up if they lose. But, I implore you to remain active and keep pushing.

The election is not over, and we still need to get as many Democrats on the ballot as possible. Our work is not over, and in many ways, it is just beginning. Over the next four weeks, MYD will be making aggressive pushes to win back City Hall and influence other local races. In fact, we have a phone bank at the Bill Thompson for Mayor campaign offices on Monday and Wednesday next week from 6pm – 9pm (99 Madison Ave). If you have time, please come by.

Let’s go win this thing.

Take 2: It’s Runoff Day.

Today is primary runoff day for Democratic candidates who are seeking the offices of public advocate and city controller.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The candidates for public advocate are Mark Green and City Councilman Bill de Blasio. For controller, the rivals are Councilmen John Liu and David Yassky.

If you’re not sure where or how to vote, you can go to the Board of Elections Web site at www.vote.nyc.ny.us and find the poll site locator, or call (866) VOTE-NYC – that’s (866) 868-3692.

Sam Hudis, Founder of Hunter College High School YDs, 18

Sam’s Democratic adventure began one night last February, when he was feeling bored and partisan.

He clicked on Democrats.org.

Which took him to the Young Democrats of America.

He learned his high school did not have a chapter.

So, he started one.

Pretty soon, he’d made MYD’s acquaintance through Scott Murphy’s NY20 campaign.

Unlike some of the “older” folks in MYD (read: 25 and up), Sam grew up under the reign of George W. Bush and has little recollection of previous presidents. W was nearly enough to turn a young man off politics for good. Luckily, a certain community organizer from Chicago came along:

I was extremely cynical about politics until President Obama won the Iowa Caucus on January 3rd, 2008. He seemed to stand for everything I believed in and wanted in a President, and for that reason I had assumed that he had no chance whatsoever. I was proven wrong that night, and ever since then I’ve taken a very close interest in politics.

Sam served as a delegate for New York at the YDA Convention in Chicago in August, and describes his experience there as his favorite with MYD thus far: “It was great to get to meet people my age from all around the country who were as interested in politics as I am.” Here he is with one of MYD’s awards:

And yes, you read that correctly–he’s 18. (Awesome, right?) But that’s not keeping Sam from thinking about the big issues:

I am a Democrat because I believe in equality and in fairness. My main interest is in wealth disparity issues. Right now, this issue is one of the main components of the problems with healthcare, and one of the reasons we need reform. In a country as powerfull and wealthy as ours, it is inexcusable that the quality of treatment a sick person gets is tied to the size of their wallet.

Was Obama-Mania Too Trendy To Last?

Remember LiveStrong bracelets?  You know, those rubber yellow things from 2004?  If you didn’t have one, you were relegated to the class of the horribly-uncool.  Add the bonus of actually being a good cause to the cool factor, and you had a vastly successful charity campaign.  But now, do you ever see someone with a LiveStrong bracelet anymore?  Rarely.

Is Obama-mania like a trendy charity?

Sure we all had our buttons, lawn-signs (well, not in NYC, but you get my point), posters, t-shirts…the list goes on.  But where are they now?  More importantly, what happened to the intangibles like our thirst for change and motivation to turn America around?  Have they gone the way of the charity-rubber-bracelet trend?  The Times suggests, indeed, they may have.

…that fervor has died down — noticeably. And while young people remain the president’s most loyal supporters in opinion polls, a lot of people are wondering why that age group isn’t doing more to build upon their newfound reputation as political influencers.

Good question.  Why aren’t we doing more to help President Obama’s initiatives gain popular support?  Of all the hypotheses put forth by the Times, the most persuasive is that young people have a hard time translating how the big-picture issues like health care (something we as a cohort use very little of) directly impacts our lives or will  be impacted by our involvement.  I think we understood clearly how much the campaign needed our help to get to the White House but have not grasped how much that help is still needed.

Well, there will be no excuses after you’ve read this because MYD makes it really easy to have an impact! Here are a couple things you can do right now to help Obama and the progressive agenda move forward:

Call Senator Schumer and thank him for supporting the Public Option, and ask him to stand strong in his position — Finance Committee is voting on legislation TOMORROW!

Watch and share MoveOn’s video about Dawn, who was denied coverage from CIGNA to treat her brain tumor.

Submit a 30-second video to tell your personal story about why we need Healthcare Reform on the OFA website. Deadline is Oct 18.

Donate $10 to support an ad campaign in Maine to support ME. The opposition is pulling out all the stops and trying to pass something like Prop 8 — don’t let them do it!

Join New York Equality, a coalition brought together by MYD to fight for marriage equality right here in NY. We’re in a holding pattern until it is brought to the floor of the NY State Senate, but we’ll get you plugged in as soon as that happens.

There are always things to do, and most of them are super simple and only take a few minutes. So dust off that Obama pin and get clicking and calling, young’us–the country needs us!

Young Gets It Done Has 131 RSVPs on Facebook. Are You One Of Them?

Young Gets It Done.

This Wednesday.

Be there.

Locale: The Griffin.
Price: $10 for MYD members, $15 for non-members
Addy: 50 Gansevoort Street
Date: Wednesday, September 30th  – 7PM to 10PM

Pay your dues to become a member right now at this link!

RSVP via the Facebook event here. And remember: invite your friends!

Tck Tck Tck

Avaaz calls for a global “wake-up call” for climate change as Copenhagen looms:

Photo of the Week: Back-up Plan

The Empire State Building unveiled its new $12.5 million Art Deco lobby this week, designed by architect Frank Prial.

We had originally planned to feature the Building’s display of green Thursday night, for the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz (and much to the delight of Iranian activists opposing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to our fair city this week). However, the powers that be at ESB lost their nerve, and last night’s color was decidedly red.

(Photo by Katie Sokoler/Gothamist)

Investigating ACORN

Seems like calling for an independent prosecutor is all the rage these days.   First torture allegations and now ACORN?  Charles Lipson of the Chicago Tribune says it’s time for Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an investigation and appoint an independent prosecutor to examine the operations of ACORN.

Recently, ACORN employees were caught on tape giving business advice to an aspiring sex trade entrepreneur by telling him to market his business as “performance artists” and how to avoid taxes.  Perhaps they’ve taken the mission of community action too far?  Lipson reasons:

Independent prosecutors should not be appointed lightly. But in this case, there are good reasons why Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and other political appointees in the Justice Department should step aside. First, although no allegations have yet touched the Obama campaign, ACORN did have significant ties to the campaign and other progressive causes. Published reports show that ACORN and its subsidiaries received some $800,000 from the Obama campaign to get out the vote. Second, ACORN is intimately tied to the Service Employees International Union, one of President Barack Obama’s most powerful and vocal supporters.

Are the ties to the Obama campaign enough to warrant a special prosecutor?  Does this mean the administration has to recuse itself in every case involving an entity which helped out during the campaign?  Either way, we’ll certainly be watching to see how this unfolds.

I <3 Gail Collins

Gail Collins wants to be Lieutenant Gov. I think she’d be an excellent candidate.

I am totally up for an exciting new challenge, but preferably one that does not involve mouthing “Wild Thing” while attempting to ballroom dance. And it would have to be something that would not force me to quit my current job, which I really like. So lieutenant governor would be perfect. Nothing ever gets done in Albany, and I could just sit in my shiny leather chair and work on my laptop all day.

New York has lost an uncommon number of elected officials over the last few years. So they’re probably starting to run out of people to plug up the holes. And I have good qualities that set me apart from many other possible contenders. For instance, I am not currently under indictment. And I have been very active in New York politics, in the sense that I have voted in all the elections, including that one for public advocate the other week in which only about 10 people took part.

Young Gets It Done: Fundraiser Next Week!

Dan Squadron. Jessica Lappin. Justin Krebs. Living Liberally. Lt. Dan Choi. Micah Kellner.

All of these leaders are being honored at the MYD “Young Gets It Done” event coming up on September 30th. All of these people are shining examples of what it means to be a young leader making a difference in the world. (We’re honoring Living Liberally and founder Justin Krebs together, btw.) Details for this cocktail reception right here:

Locale: The Griffin. For those not in the know–like me–apparently this is a “hot” club in that bastion of overpriced coolness, the Meatpacking District. In a city where such labels can change as frequently as Pedro Espada Jr gives excuses for thwarting campaign finance law, you should definitely take advantage of the opportunity to get in at the bargain rate of…
Price: $10 for MYD members, $15 for non-members
Addy: 50 Gansevoort Street
Date: Wednesday, September 30th  – 7PM to 10PM

The event is chaired by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Assemblyman Jonathan Bing. We’re in the midst of putting together a host committee, so if you’re interested in helping/organizing, get in touch with Alex, our Finance Director: finance [at] goMYD [dot] com.

This is a swanky affair, but as usual, MYD has you covered with the affordable tix. So pay your dues to become a member right now at this link!

RSVP via the Facebook event here. And remember: invite your friends!

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