11th CD Race and the Immigration Debate.

When the first Immigration Rally was held in Stockton, it was led by Angel Picon of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) followed closely by Pete McCloskey. There were various estimates of how many turned out. The organizers felt it was around 2,500 to 3,000 but the official number as reported in the Stockton Record was around 1,500. Still, it was said to be the largest demonstration in Stockton history.

Yesterday's rally in Stockton was covered in the Stockton Record today. The headlines read 10,000 walk as one. I have a friend who was there and who reported the following. On our part,

Here in San Joaquin:
Again, we were not ready.

We thought we were.
- We had plenty of water bottles, at plenty of locations,
- 1000 forms for students to take to school........

The water went in the first minute as the marchers, marching from San joaquin fairgrounds arrived at Weber's point, the show grounds between downtown and the Port of Stockton.

Then our thousand forms went in another few minutes.
Two more minutes and our 1000, 2 sheet, copies of Sus Derechos Legales handout was all gone.

We just had telephone numbers of ACLU and Rural Legal Assistance to give out after that.

There were more than 25,000 people. No one had ever seen so much people in Stockton at ANY event. They were mostly Mexicans, but also many races and ethnicities.

Again, a discrepancy in numbers. but I think that it is clear that this movement will affect the 11th CD race. The animosity over Pombo's vote on H.R. 4437 is deep. The question is only one of how many of those who agitate will really vote. Pombo and his Machiavellian campaign manger, Wayne Johnson, are counting on the fact that the number will be small. We must make it a large.