DFNYC linkup this Wednesday at Muddy Cup

Staten Island
7:00pm
Muddy Cup, 388 Van Duzer Street [Google Map]
hosted by Al Dykes

DFNYC phone banking for Harrison

via DFNYC email;

Steve Harrison is a progressive Democrat running for Congress in NY's 13th Congressional District, formerly held by Republican Vito Fossella. (Fossella resigned after a drunk driving arrest which lead to the discovery of an extra-marital affair and child with another woman.)

Democracy for NYC has endorsed Steve Harrison and DFNYCer David Hernandez is working with Harrison's campaign. The following volunteer phone banks have been set up in Staten Island and Brooklyn:

Staten Island Phone Bank
1738 Victory Blvd./ Manor Road
12-9pm Mon- Sat.
Contact Al Dykes or David Hernandez, 718 720 8683

Brooklyn Phone Bank
544 Bay Ridge Pkwy/ Bet. 5&6 Avenue
Contact Greg Collett to rsvp and for specific hours, 718 745 2539

If you are hearing this from me first chances are because you have yet to join DFNYC's email list. Go do it. They are a great organization and will be active all fall in races up and down the ballot.

DFNYC endorses Harrison

via DFNYC email;

Democracy for NYC recently held a forum and endorsement vote in the Democratic Primary in NYC's 13th Congressional district, currently represented by incumbent Republican Vito Fossella. Steve Harrison has won our endorsement with an unprecedented 100% of the vote!

We look forward to working with Steve Harrison to defeat Vito Fossella in the 2008 elections. To learn more about Steve, check out his website:
http://www.steveharrisonforcongress.com

DFNYC voting members, those who have been to three events in the past year, were eligible to vote. Ballots could be downloaded at our website and mailed in, or turned in at events, between April 15th and April 29th.

On Tuesday, April 15, Democracy for NYC, Stonewall Democratic Club, Three Parks Independent Democratic Club, Village Reform Democratic Club and Truth 13 held a candidate forum for the Democratic primary in the 13th Congressional District: Both candidates were invited. Steve Harrison attended the forum. Councilmember Recchia did not attend.

Harrison has previously been endorsed by;
* Democratic Organization of Richmond County
* Staten Island Democratic Association
* American Heritage Democratic Club
* Progressive Democrats of America
* Democratic Advancement PAC

DFNYC opening endorsement voting

Tonight was the candidate forum hosted by DFNYC, Stonewall Democratic Club, Three Parks Independent Democratic Club, Village Reform Democratic Club and Truth 13. The featured guests were to be Steve Harrison and Domenic Recchia. As of late this afternoon only Harrison had confirmed his attendance.

Tonight is also the opening of the endorsement voting for DFNYC in this race. Unlike many of the political clubs in the city voting members of DFNYC have attendance requirements to become a voting member, so this is not something that can easily be stacked. Harrison seems to be well received so far by members of the organization who have held events and fundraisers for him. Most of this support comes from his participation and progressive and grassroot outreach that is coming on strong this election. I have a hard time seeing how he does not easily win this endorsement and add it to his list. Here was my analysis of a DFNYC endorsement following Harrison's PDA endorsement;

PDA could bring invaluable volunteers into this race and if I had the option of having the volunteer advantage or the fund raising advantage I would gladly take the volunteers. You can buy ads and literature all you want, but if you don't have a ground game distributing those, talking to voters and getting them to the polls they are useless. If Democracy for America (DFA) follows suit and gets involved in this race on Harrison's behalf, which would not surprise me given DFNYC's involvement, I would think Harrison would quickly have the advantage in this race. I would also give him a sizable and experienced volunteer advantage. DFNYC enthusiastically campaigned for Barbaro in 2004 so they do have some history with this district and wanting to take out Fossella.

Check out dfnyc.org for voting information. Also this is another reason to join their mailing list if you have not done so alredy. You can signup at that link as well.

DFNYC candidate forum April 15

via DFNYC email;

Join Democracy for NYC, Stonewall Democratic Club, Three Parks Independent Democratic Club and Village Reform Democratic Club for a candidate forum in the Democratic primary in the 13th Congressional District:

When: April 15, 2008, 6:30pm

Where: Lafayette Grill and Bar, 54 Franklin Street [Google Map]

Candidates:
Steven Harrison (invited, confirmed), Councilmember Dominic Recchia (invited, not yet confirmed)

Subway: Take the N,R,Q,6, C and A trains to Canal Street or the 1 train to Franklin Street.

The 13th District is currently represented by Republican Vito Fossella. As New York City’s only Republican member of Congress, Fossella has been a rubber-stamp for the Bush-Cheney White House.

The District covers Staten Island and part of southwest Brooklyn. This forum is being held in Manhattan to make it possible for many people to attend. Please contact us if you know of any candidate forums in the 13th CD, as we would be happy to help promote: info@dfnyc.org.

DFNYC Candidate Forum

via email;

Forum - Democrats Running Against Vito Fossella in CD 13, April 14 or 15

We are in the process of putting together a forum with other groups with Steven Harrison and Councilmember Dominic Recchia, the Democratic candidates running against incumbent Republican Congressman Vito Fossella in the 13th district (Staten Island and Brooklyn). The event will likely take place either Monday, April 14, or Tuesday April 15th, but details and date are tentative. Please stay tuned to upcoming news letters and the events section of our website:

http://dfnyc.org > Events > Events Calendar

If you aren't on DFNYC's email list you should join. Also they have a monthly meeting in Sheepshead Bay, unfortunately it was tonight. Join the email to get alerts on next month's and the upcoming candidate forum.

More on the PDA endorsement

PDA's recent endorsement of Steve Harrison is quite significant given their recent success in MD-04 primary. PDA joined with DFA and several unions including SEIU to help Donna Edwards defeat an incumbent nine term Democrat in the primary. In a national email to their membership Donna thanks PDA for their role in the election;

I want to thank the hardworking PDA activists across the country who helped with the predictive phone bank and contributed to my campaign, as well as, those people throughout the district who worked as human billboards, distributed campaign literature, made phone calls, and performed other forms of voter outreach.

PDA could bring invaluable volunteers into this race and if I had the option of having the volunteer advantage or the fund raising advantage I would gladly take the volunteers. You can buy ads and literature all you want, but if you don't have a ground game distributing those, talking to voters and getting them to the polls they are useless. If Democracy for America (DFA) follows suit and gets involved in this race on Harrison's behalf, which would not surprise me given DFNYC's involvement, I would think Harrison would quickly have the advantage in this race. I would also give him a sizable and experienced volunteer advantage. DFNYC enthusiastically campaigned for Barbaro in 2004 so they do have some history with this district and wanting to take out Fossella.

One question I will have to follow up on is whether some of the elected officials who are backing Recchia can turn out their volunteers and GOTV on his behalf.

I am trying to find details on how much money PDA brought into the MD-04 race, but the FEC page is acting up.

Democracy for America

Busy week for me so posts are light.

Previously we asked you to go vote for Steve Harrison on Democracy for America's (DFA) Grassroot All Star Contest. Tonight I have two follow up suggestions;

1) If you haven't already join DFA's email list. This is a great organization that helps candidates run for office, organizes grassroot activists and is an all around favorite organization of mine (that counts right?)

Join DFA's email list

2) Join Democracy for NYC. DFNYC is the local chapter of DFA. They have previously held a meet and greet with Steve. The group does endorse local candidates (by asking their email list to vote) and has a large following of local activists who regularly canvass and phone bank passionately for candidates they believe in. Join their email list and stay up to date with their activities and check out a link up if there is one near you.

Join DFNYC's email list

note: Domenic Recchia does not appear to have applied or been nominated for the Grassroots All Star Contest and it is not clear if DFNYC will hold an event with him once he officially starts running.

January 17th Fund Raiser for Steve Harrison

via Daily Gotham;

DFNYC's Merle McEldowney invites you to an event in support of Stephen Harrison, Candidate for US Congress.

January 17, 2008 – 6 to 9 PM
2166 Broadway 16F
(between 76 & 77 streets)

On Thursday, January 17th, from 6:00 pm - 9:00 Merle is having a party in my home to support and honor Steve Harrison, candidate for the US Congress in the 13th District. From her invitation:

I feel strongly about this race. Steve is a person who reflects all that I want to see in a representative. His values are consistently well thought out, and come from a fundamentally humane base. I think you will like him as much as I do.

As the Congressional representative for the 13th District, Steve will work to bring integrity and reform to Washington and get the representation that district deserves. In last year's race Steve nearly defeated Fossella in the district's closest election in decades. The New York Times, major unions, and our top Democratic leaders endorsed Steve.

Despite the relatively conservative leanings of his district, Steve ha has a clear shot of winning -- if we all stand together, Currently the district is represented by the last remaining Republican in the New York congressional delegation, Vito Fossella.

The suggested donation is $100. But you will be welcome for whatever you feel comfortable giving. Every contribution is a vote of confidence in Steve's Candidacy. That said, after hearing Steve speak you may feel moved by the spirit and Warren Buffet -- and we won't stop you from giving more.

If you cannot make the party, but would like to support Steve, please visit his web site at steveharrisonforcongress.com or enclose a check on the form provided.

So come to my house on the 17th, share some refreshments, some mulled cider made with Rum from the Dominican Republic.

I look forward to catching up with each of you personally.

Frank Barbaro endorses Stephen Harrison

Yesterday, 2004 Democratic candidate Frank Barbaro endorsed Stephen Harrison in his campaign to take on Rep. Vito Fossella.

This could be a very interesting development in two areas. First it reinforces the activist and progressive trending towards Harrison. In 2004 Barbaro was the favorite candidate of many new political activists coming out of several presidential campaigns. He had the backing of groups like DFNYC and if I recall NDM among others who turned out large amounts of volunteers to phone bank, canvass and poll watch. Barbaro's campaign was actually my first introduction to politics in the district.

The second area is fund raising. Barbaro was almost the dream candidate for this district in terms of fund raising. He pulled in $425,000, keeping Fossella to just a little over a 2:1 financial advantage. When ever we talk about the DCCC getting behind a candidate you hear that they want to see candidate who can raise $250,000+. If Barbaro was in the race today he certainly would have the DCCC very excited by what he pulled in. If Frank can use his connections and fund raising prowess to Harrison's advantage we could see a nice healthy influx of cash. The question is what if any financial impact Frank will have.

Overall great news for Harrison as he probably will capture the few headlines and talk for this race prior to the fourth quarter FEC filings, our first glimpse at what Recchia has been able to amass.

DFNYC event with Steve Harrison

So this is a little late as the event announcement came out this afternoon, but DFNYC the local chapter of Democracy for America had a meet and greet with Steve Harrison tonight, which could be good initial signs for Harrison in terms of volunteer support. From the invite;

Democracy for NYC is having a Meet and Greet with a Democratic Congressional candidate running in one of the last red districts in New York City.

Come out this evening and meet Steve Harrison, who is running against Vito Fossella in the 13th CD, encompassing areas in Brooklyn and Staten Island. This is a good opportunity to meet and interact with the candidate in an intimate environment.