A group of leaders from organizations in Massachusetts ( MA Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Irish Immigration Center, Association of Haitian Women and the Alliance to Develop Power) and New Hampshire (Granite State Organizing Project, NH Immigration Project and AFSC) are in Des Moines, Iowa today for the Heartland Presidential Forum, an event organized by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and the Center for Community Change. This is all part of the emerging Campaign for Community Values where communities, leaders and organizations across the country are banding together to fight for and with each other based on common values and relationships.
There are going to be over 5,000 people here from across the country (with about 3,000 from Iowa). Rather than pundits asking the questions, leaders from across America will personally ask questions from the stage based on the real social justice issues they face in their communities. Questions will range from immigration reform to environmental justice to health care. I got in late last night and have already met some amazing people doing amazing things from across the country.
Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Kucinich and Obama will be here for this real values debate. The Forum starts at 2:30 PM EST and you can watch the event on C-SPAN or webcast at the Movement Vision Lab.
Hey folks,
Looks like I’ll be jumping into this blog thing by doing a bit of posting from Des Moines along the way. Bear with me… First off, a bit more context on the event from Sally Kohn. The Heartland Pres Forum and the Campaign for Community Values has been a long time in the planning, and has ambitious plans to reshape national politics heading into the next Administration. More on that down the line, perhaps.
In terms of folks here, 32 states, 5,000 people, including 3,000 Iowa caucus goers. The weather here is terrible — ice, sleet and rain — so the roads are pretty bad. An opening march was cancelled so people are just filing into the hall to the tunes of a gospel choir.
On the way over, I talked with Jesus from Idaho. Regarding Hillary, “I don’t really trust her.” But, regarding Obama, “Just not sure what we’ll really get if he makes it.” All in all, Jesus feels it will come down to Hillary and Obama and is looking for the one best on immigration issues.
Onwards.
Ali
Just talked with Doug, a community leader with the Gamaliel Foundation who traveled to Des Moines from Kansas City. (Gamaliel’s Faith and Democracy campaign has hundreds of people in the hall from across the country.)
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p>Doug came up from Kansas City to understand who the candidates actually are and is very disappointed that none of the Republican party candidates attended. While the “media makes the campaign a horse race” he traveled to Iowa to show candidates that “we are in this together” and that all issues should be taken seriously.
I tuned in a little before 3pm. Is it already over? The organizers are all taking a lot of time congratulating themselves.
Yep, folks were pretty happy with themselves for a bit. But, call it “framing” the event and cut ’em a bit of slack… Link for webcast: http://www.tvoneonline.com/ccc…
They don’t even know how to pronounce his name.
…I’ve actually heard him in several venues over the last few weeks. He was on Ed Schultz’s radio talk show for three hours straight. And I’ve heard him speak in another venues. When he is one-on-one (as on Schultz’s show) he makes sense–these thirty second soundbites in what are ridiculously called “debates” are insane. When he was in those other venues, he speaks with passion–no waffling, and he is consistent, which is highly unusual for a politician. He would probably be my second choice to Richardson–or maybe vice versa.
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p>I do not trust the Dem front runners, and I would not vote for any of the Republican candidates.
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p>Actually, the only Republican who is consistent is Ron Paul. Paul’s problem is that he is consistently wrong on many issues.
He is the anti-neocon and anti-compassionate-conservative candidate. There are lot of people who are burnt out by the Bush years and Bush style conservatism. These people are very sympathetic to the Paul campaign although they may only publicly support one of the other candidates. It will be interesting to see how they actually vote.
At the NCLR conference over the summer Clinton was asked if she would work to pass immigration reform in the first 100 days of her first term. She avoided the question there, and she avoided the question here (she was here via satellite audio link).
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p>Rosie from Chicago was disappointed, “particularly because there are Democrats that are willing to take a strong position without being afraid of the racism.”
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p>Ron, an interfaith leader from Iowa felt that today “was really important that we have the opportunity to reframe the debate so issues aren’t a distraction from a real conversation.” Regarding Clinton, Ron offered “her response was more cautious and middle of the road than the reflections of other Democrats.”
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p>To be fair, Clinton correctly pointed out that Congress must get legislation to her desk for her to sign. Regardless, the hall now fairly filled with folks primarily from the midwest echoed with booing as she made her closing statement.
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p>Ali
earned by simply walking on the stage. And he seems to be keeping the crowd.
Over at the Movement Vision Lab they’ve posted a bunch of clips from the Forum.