Month: November 2012

Where do all the Obama For America volunteers go now?

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Posted by AzBluMeanie:

The Obama For America (OFA) campaign organization is one of the most successful in political history. But OFA operated largely independent from the established Democratic Party structure (this is not to say that OFA was not the controling force behind the coordinated campaign effort).

Some of you may recall that OFA refused to make its volunteer information available to state Democratic Party organizations after the 2008 election (it was "proprietary" information). State Democratic Party organizations were looking forward to integrating these enthusiastic young Obama volunteers into their state and local Democratic Party organizations as a way of reinvigorating these organizations with "new blood" and the next generation of Democratic Party leaders. To a large extent, this did not occur after 2008. OFA continued to operate independent from the established Democratic Party structure.

Now that Barack Obama has successfully run for his last election, the question on everyone's mind is "Where do all the Obama For America volunteers go now?" I really want to know the answer to this question. I would like to hear from you.

These OFA volunteers represent new blood and the next generation of leaders of the Democratic Party. But many of these OFA volunteers expressed disinterest in, even hostility towards Democratic Party organizations at the state and local level. They are not interested in serving as elected precinct committee persons, or state committee persons, nor in Democratic Party caucuses, clubs and district organizations — at least anecdotally from what I have observed here in Arizona.

News flash: organizations get changed from within by your active participation. You are never going to change them by casting stones from the outside.

I for one would like to integrate these OFA volunteers into the Arizona and local Democratic Party organizations. These organizations need new blood to reinvigorate them. Many Democratic organizations are graying and dying, to be perfectly honest. They are led by dedicated volunteers who have been doing this work for many years, and they have earned some well deserved time off. These organizations need to reinvent themselves to remain relevant and to attract new membership.

To paraphrase President John Kennedy, it is time that "the torch is passed to a new generation of Americans," a new generation of leadership of the Democratic Party. I for one would like to see a Democratic Party that is younger and more diverse than the current leadership of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Time to learn about the health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Elections have consequences, and the most important consequence of the 2012 election is that the Affordable Care Act (aka "ObamaCare") is the law of the land and will now be fully implemented.

The Obama administration will allow states additional time to plan
health insurance exchanges, and
to set up the marketplaces at the heart of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For hurried states, Obama administration extends health law deadlines:

States now have an extra month to send the federal government
“blueprints” for how they will have the health exchange up and running
by 2014, according to a letter Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius sent to governors Friday.
They must still inform the Obama administration whether they plan to
set up an exchange by the original deadline of Nov. 16. Planning
documents must follow by Dec. 14.

Many states have already decided they will not build the insurance marketplaces, leaving the task to the federal government.

The governors of Florida, Virginia and Kansas announced Thursday they
would take this route. As many as 17 states are expected to have the
federal government run their exchanges, according to an analysis from
consulting firm Avalere Health.

* * *

Sebelius wrote to governors that the agency had “heard from many
states that additional time would allow you to submit a more
comprehensive, complete Blueprint application for your Exchange.”

“We are committed to providing you with the flexibility, resources,
and technical assistance necessary to help you achieve successful
implementation of your state’s Exchange,” she wrote.

States also have the option of pursuing a “partnership” exchange.
Under that model, the state and federal governments would each take
partial responsibility for running parts of the insurance marketplace.

States pursuing that model must notify the federal government in just over three months, by Feb. 15.

The Obama administration must certify that all states planning to
administer their own exchanges have made sufficient progress by Jan. 1.
Next October, the marketplaces will need to launch for open-enrollment
periods.

* * *

“If states don’t make this decision in the next 15 to 30 days, it’s
going to be really hard to catch up,” said Sam Gibbs, senior vice
president of sales at eHealthInsurance, which is helping states build
insurance exchanges. “That’s why Sebelius is saying, ‘You can give me
your plans later, but I still need to know which direction you’re
going.’ ”

The extended deadlines will not affect the overall implementation
timeline: Health insurance exchanges are still slated to launch at the
start of 2014.

Another way to look at Obama’s election demographics

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by David Safier The story is, Obama lost the white vote and cleaned up on the African American, Latino and Asian vote. True enough. But E.J. Dionne gives a different perspective on the demographic numbers. [T]he exit poll also shows that 32 percent of Obama’s voters were white women and 24 percent of them were … Read more

Tucson’s K-6 Fitness Day

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by David Safier School fitness guru Steve Gall was at it again last Thursday with a Tucson K-6 Fitness Day. He told me over 22,000 Tucson area — TUSD, Sunnyside, Vail, Sahuarita, Catalina Foothills and Tanque Verde districts participated — did at least 30 minutes of organized physical activity to celebrate. Mayor Rothschild was scheduled … Read more

Democratic House Leadership — Time For a Change

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Posted by Bob Lord There's been a lot written about Republican bloodletting post-election, but precious little about what will happen when the Democratic caucuses reconvene.  There's an opportunity here for the Dems, if they're willing to make changes. In a sense, it's not entirely fair. The failure of the House Dems to pick up more … Read more