Democrats rally the faithful for 2010 elections

Fallout from years of Republican-controlled state government gave Democrats plenty of fuel to fire up the faithful this weekend at the Democratic State Committee Meeting in Phoenix.

Speaker after speaker hammered Republican governor Jan Brewer and Legislative ideologues with the facts. Arizona’s economy is one of the worst in the nation. They have locked Legislative Democrats out of the budget process, refuse to listen to Democratic budget ideas, and failed to come up with concrete, fair solutions to the state’s financial crisis. Arizona is fighting for the bottom in about every measurable statistic–except unemployment and home foreclosures.

“Leadership is not a spectator sport,” declared Gubernatorial Candidate Terry Goddard. “Real leadership would be to include Democrats in the budget process.” Goddard vowed to bring everyone together to solve the state’s problems–unlike Brewer who has worked only with fellow Republicans.

Goddard went on to say that Arizona “is on a sprint to the bottom, and it’s time to stop the free fall.”

Arizona is at the precipice. State Republicans have ignored their fiscal responsibilities, given repeated tax cuts to the rich, mortgaged our future, and shortchanged our children and grandchildren. Reminding Democrats that education funding is one of our core values, Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate Jason Williams led the audience in a chant from Dr. Seuss: “A person’s a person no matter how small.”

The Arizona Democratic Party is fielding strong candidates at all levels in 2010– from Attorney General Goddard for governor to dozens of legislative hopefuls. Jobs, education, the economy, solar energy, and immigration reform were recurrent themes through several speeches.

Personally, I was very impressed with all of the candidates, their ideas, their integrity, and their energy. For detailed information about the candidates and their ideas for our future, check out the link lists that I have posted.

The 2010 elections are crucial to our state and the country. I encourage everyone to volunteer, donate, and VOTE! It’s time to take back our state.

This article originally appeared in my Progressive Examiner column. Click this link to see the slide show from this event.