McNerney Super Weekend Tomorrow

Last weekend, a Daily Kos member named Cecil Vortex posted a diary about his experience walking precincts in CA-11.

The Dublin McNerney HQ is a 30-minute drive from where I live near Oakland. (Specifically, it's at 6250 Village Parkway, right off 580.)

The folks there were friendly and well organized. They were also flexible -- I showed up long after the start time listed on their site and it didn't really matter. I was there with a pal, but they told me for future reference that had I shown up solo, they would have paired me up with someone.

They gave us a list of about 380 Democrats and unaffiliated voters in San Ramon (the vast majority were Ds). The instructions and maps were straightforward -- I'm pretty inexperienced in this and they kept it simple enough for a newbie like me to handle.

San Ramon is about 5 minutes from the Dublin office. It was beautiful there today -- nicer than back in Oakland. Sunny with a light breeze and a real treat to walk in.

We covered about 200 of the voters on our list. Almost everyone had flags outside. Almost everyone had a dog. Not everyone was pro-McNerney, but just about everyone who was home was friendly.

Most folks were either neutral or anti-Pombo. Many were strongly anti-Pombo (we heard "that crook" pretty frequently). A lot of folks who were happy enough to vote against Pombo hadn't heard of McNerney, so it felt like we were actually doing some good just by getting his name out there.

Well, tomorrow, Saturday, September 16, there is going to be a HUGE McNerney canvassing effort all over CA-11. Please come and join in — do your part to get Jerry McNerney’s name out to the voters.

First of all, Defenders of Wildlife/Pombo In Their Pocket:

Defenders will be doing canvassing in both the Tri-Valley area and in Stockton. Check out Matt O’s earlier post for all the details. Defenders will have seven (!) buses running from all over the Bay Area (Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Morgan Hill, Palo Alto and Santa Cruz) into CA-11, as well as BART shuttle service from the Pleasanton BART station. Lunch will be provided.

Additionally, We The People is organizing separate events:

San Joaquin County Kick-Off
Saturday, September 16, 2006
11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
John Morearty, Activist, Founder of the Peace and Justice, Network of San Joaquin
American Legion Park on Bedford and Baker Streets
Stockton, CA
Free Food and Beverages
Canvassing, phone banking, and camaraderie
Contact: Anthony Sisneroz (asisneroz@wtpi.org or (916) 834-6597). RSVP recommended.

Tri-Valley Kick-Off
Sunday, September 16, 2006
11:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Special Guest and Speaker, Pleasanton Mayor Jennifer Hosterman
Dolan Park on Padre Way
Dublin, CA
Free Food and Beverages
Canvassing, phone banking, and camaraderie

**Free Transportation from Morgan Hill at 9:45 AM. Please contact aborelli@wtpi.org to reserve your space.**

Contact: Adam Borelli (aborelli@wtpi.org or (925) 577-6635). RSVP recommended.

As if that’s not enough, Project BlueBridge and Take Back Red California will be joining host Delta Democratic Club in Brentwood:

Brentwood Latino Voter Registration and Precinct Walking for Jerry McNerney, Saturday September 16th:

Project BlueBridge has a carpool leaving from North Berkeley at 8:30 or meet at 10am at Brentwood City Park Corner of Oak and 2nd St., downtown Brentwood. After precinct walking, there will be a picnic from 1-2:30 pm in the park with Jerry McNerney. Lunch provided. Spanish speakers especially needed! Contact Kari Hamerschlag at kariham@earthlink.net 510-295-4781 for carpool information.

You can also check in directly with the McNerney campaign. They will be walking precincts throughout the district on both Saturday and Sunday, including walks in Tracy and Morgan Hill.

And if you can’t walk precincts, you can always help with phone banking.

There will be phone banking at the Dublin headquarters all day Saturday. There’s also Oakland Phone Banking for Jerry, Monday, September 18th and Wednesday, the 20th, 5:00-9:00 pm (Come any time for as long as you can!) Phone banking is almost as much fun as canvassing! Stop by after work and enjoy pizza and drinks served at 6!
Location: SEIU Local 535, 447 29th St., between Broadway and Telegraph in Oakland
PLEASE RSVP: eden@jerrymcnerney.org or call Eden at 510-499-4862

DFA is also running a South Bay Phone Bank for Jerry McNerney, September 20th and every Wednesday, 6-9PM at 2302 Zanker Rd, San Jose. You can come for an hour or three, but please do come to help Jerry out.
RSVP to raphaelktam@gmail.com.

Finally, if you can’t volunteer but want to support Jerry McNerney, there’s the after-party on Saturday evening:

FUNDRAISING GALA FOR JERRY McNERNEY
Saturday, Sept 16, 2006, 4:00-7:00 p.m. – Berkeley:

Join with Barbara Lee, Wilma Chan and Loni Hancock and enjoy gourmet food, great wine and rocking music. Meet Jerry, the man who will hand Pombo his pink slip, and give what you can to help him on his mission.

PLEASE RSVP: Kathleen Kahn (510) 524-9270 kathykahn@sbcglobal.net

And if you’re not in the area and feeling blue because you can't join in the festivities, never fear! You can always help Jerry McNerney defeat Richard Pombo by donating to SayNoToPombo’s ActBlue page.

[UPDATE:] Click here to see the two new McNerney mail pieces that will be sent out in CA-11. Your donation through ActBlue will help get these pieces distributed throughout the district.

Tags: CA-11, Jerry McNerney, Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, Pombo In Their Pocket, We The People, Project BlueBridge, Take Back Red California, DFA, Richard Pombo