Economic stimulus check, Obama wins and Ana Canales Speaks out

Spend your economic stimulus check from the US government

The US House and US Senate have pasted a $170 billion economic stimulus bill which will now go to President Bush to sign into law. Both Congressman Tom Udall and Senator Jeff Bingaman voted for the bill. The bill will provide $300 checks to individuals earning over $3,000, $600 for married couples and give them another $300 per dependent child. The best thing individuals and families could do with this money is to go out and spend it. It does not help the economy to hold on to the money.

Obama wins all three states

Barack Obama won in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington this weekend.

Bernalillo County Chairwoman Ana Canales Speaks out on caucus

The chairwoman for the Bernalillo County Democratic Party and one of the New Mexico caucus chiefs Ana Canales spent many hours working hard to organize and support a caucus that she did not favor in the first place. Ana was rewarded for all of her hard work with angry e-mails and telephone calls from voters venting about the result of the February 5 election. Now Ana just wants to move back to the June Primary. I can't say that I blame her for the feelings. I hope all of our party leaders in the state look carefully at what the problems were during this caucus before any final decisions are made about when the party should vote for President. We should for now let Ana know that we support her and appreciate all of the hard work and long hours she put into this years caucus. New Mexico Democratic State Chairman Colon was not the only one to have to face angry voters the day after the caucus. Still the angry e-mails and telephone calls were not unreasonable considering some of the problems that voters faced during the caucus.

What it would take to run a better democratic caucus

The party leaders like Chairman Colon must admit to the mistakes for underestimating voter turnout and too few ballots, too few caucus sites, no early voting sites and no clear set of rules for voting. Now the leaders of our party must take the feedback they received from angry voters and find ways to improve on the process or they must decide to move our election back to the June primary date so the state can run the election. The election will cost the party large amounts of money if we wish to keep it on February 5. Training for caucus site workers should start earlier and require testing of volunteers. Site Judges should be picked carefully and be trained as well as tested in all of the laws and requirements for state and party voting. Caucus site coordinators should be given a clear set of duties and responsibilities. A clear and concise set of voting rule and requirements for party elections should be developed and posted on the state website so that voters would understand their rights and duties before the election. Materials should be supplied to each caucus site's coordinator and everything but the ballots should be received before the day of the voting. Someone with experience should be consulted when deciding on how many ballots to order and how many sites to open. Early voting sites should be a statewide requirement. These are just a few of the details that must be worked out if the party still wants to run its own election. It is not unreasonable to think that someone should be paid a full time salary to run the party caucus. As Chairwoman Canales correctly pointed out it is a lot of responsibilities and work to place on the shoulders of a volunteer.