Today I spent part of my Sunday going to an event at a private home in Venice, CA held for Marcy Winograd. The place was fairly packed, with nearly a hundred people filling the modest residence.  All the chairs were filled, people spilled over to adjoining rooms and stood in the hallways and I ended up kneeling on the carpet.  It was quite an experience.

Who is Marcy Winograd and why is she important? Marcy is a progressive Democrat who is running in the Democrat primary to replace Jane Harman as the Representative from California’s 36th District.  Yes, that Jane Harmon.

Harmon as we know, is a big gun Dem, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, and a hawk.  What kind of person would take on the seemingly quixotic task of going after an entrenched member of the DC elite, who has tremendous name recognition and is bound to be well funded? Maybe our own version of Ned Lamont.  Read on…

The crowd, a diverse and well informed group, mostly in their forties and fifties, with a generous helping of seniors and even some twenty-somethings, was not exactly what I had expected although I wasn’t sure just what I had expected – perhaps younger and more “radical.” Since I’m in my sixties myself I was really pleased with what I saw.  And Marcy herself was really impressive.  Articulate, attractive, a poised and impassioned speaker, totally at ease and in command, thoroughly conversant with the issues, she came across as no dreamer, but a hard hitting, clear-eyed progressive realist.  I got the impression that this was as charismatic and appealing a candidate as you could get, and judging by the response from the group my enthusiasm was shared.

Winograd hit Harmon hard for her stances on the war and her weak, Bush enabling response to the NSA wiretap scandal.  She pointed out with deserved disdain that Harmon recently told "Meet the Press" that she deplores the New York Times for informing the American people that the Bush Administration ignored the law, instead of criticizing Bush for breaking the law.  The crowd applauded.  Not content with merely opposing Harmon she proposed a sound agenda of her own including sensible proposals about education, a subject on which she is expert, having been a teacher for 17 years.

No newcomer, Winograd has been active in progressive causes since she worked with Cesar Chavez as a UFW organizer and a legal assistant to Daniel Ellsberg during his Pentagon Papers trial.  Having been near the center of Nixon’s perfidy she well understands the crisis we now face.  She’s been immersed in the anti-war movement, organized the Los Angeles Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America and garnered a “Democrat of the Year “ award from the L.A. County Democratic Party.  She’s gotten the endorsements of the Western Region of the United Auto Workers, many local Democratic club presidents, leaders of the ADA, the LA Teacher’s Union and such diverse notables as Ron Kovic, Tom Hayden, Tim Goodrich, Gore Vidal, Ed Asner, Stanley Sheinbaum, Lila Garrett and Daniel Ellsberg.


This significance of candidates like Marcy can not be overstated.  The enthusiasm and response from the attendees gave me a renewed hope for the future of the grass roots and for our party.  When Winograd ended her talk with a stirring comment how this was not just about this policy, or position, or even about the war, but about protecting the Constitution she got a rousing ovation.  It seems that people are beginning to get it, and in increasing numbers.

I know we’ve been disappointed with the showings of Ciro in Texas and some were upset that Cigalis did not get more support in IL 06, but it’s races like this that can eventually make the establishment sit up and take notice.  Given what I saw today, Marcy Winograd is one of our best hopes to help crash the gates of a party that has let us all down far too much. More than that she’s a true progressive voice of the kind we need in Washington.  Think of her as a Barbara Boxer in training.  She deserves our support.

Find out more about Marcy here: http://winogradforcongress.com

We’d be foolish to think that this isn’t an uphill battle, but if not now, when? If not us, who?