Ferrer Gets Aggressive At A Ferrer Fundraiser

Mixing It For Ferrer

Ferrer ripped it apart today. I have been to a few of his events, and he has been a little on the diffident side. But today I saw a whole different incarnation. Perhaps he has always been that way. I only now saw him. This was the first time I have seen him at a podium. Or maybe he is switching gears. Because even Howard Dean, who was sharing the stage, looked a little taken aback, in a positive way. Or maybe because Dean was the one who introduced him, he got some Dean effect. We all know the doctor likes to get straight to the point.

But Ferrer really got it going. What a speech! Since he does not have the Bloomberg money, he needs to compensate with choice words. Assertiveness, aggresiveness are good qualities to have when you are trying to represent the underdogs, "the little guys," like some people put it, but a phrase I dislike. To me the so-called "little guys" are like a potential rich harvest of votes. It is a cornfield, a paddyfield.

I mean, this guy Bloomberg. Considering he is spending $100 million on this race, you would think he is running for President of North America. I could run for president with half that money. If I had that kind of money to throw away, I would not be running for Mayor, I would become a venture capitalist.

He said enough one liners today that if he were to only rehash them during his two debates, he really could shake things up. Ferrer does have it. This is a man raring for a fight. He gave me the impression he can't wait for the two debates.

And Gifford Miller spoke real good on why he supports Ferrer. Miller is doing all he can for Democratic unity. That is commendable. I actually bumped into him during the course of the evening. He gave me a pleasant smile and a greeting and moved on. I often think, it is not easy being a politician. You have to make a whole bunch of people think they are important. Not that I was trying to feel important. I mean, the guy was/is City Council Speaker. That is big. That is one of those things about moving to New York City. You suddenly get to meet all these big shots. Howard Dean is the biggest shot, and I have already met him three times now and counting.

Like this guy Bill Perkins. I saw him at the Bill Clinton event, (Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch) and he looked like someone important and pleasant, but of course I had no idea who he was. First time I was seeing him. Then his name shows up as one of the guys who will show up for the DFNYC Mixer. So I google his name, and I see his face, and I am like, wait a minute, I remember this guy from the Clinton event. And so he is standing right behind me today, and Ferrer is on stage and he goes, "And I have Bill Perkins with me." It was one of those goose bump moments.

Howard Dean gave a great speech himself. Every time I have met him I have wondered, will he run in 2008? I listened to his speech and I felt he will. What Newt Gingrich was for the Repubicans in 1994, Howard Dean can become for the Democrats in 2006. He is the only Democrat with a national name recognition who could help the Dems take back the Congress. You define the office you hold, you reinvent it if you have to. He has the option to fundamentally reinvent the office of DNC Chair.

Dean put a major emphasis on the voting machines issue. That is an issue I don't know a whole lot about, but I can just feel it that it is a civil rights issue in many communities.

Here is an example. Calvin Coolidge got elected president, went to the White House, and the guy basically dozed off. That was his idea of a small government. Coolidge is Reagan's hero. And Reagan is W's hero. Now you know why W goes for long vacations. He is not going for fun. He is for small government. Bill Clinton literally refused to sleep for his final few days in office: he was at the other end. And so Dean does not have to be like any DNC Chair before him.

Needed: a 10 point program.

And there was this Congressperson lady, apparently a childhood friend of Ferrer. First time I was hearing her name and seeing her face. There are so many people in Congress from the city, you would think they are members of the City Council. But I got to shake her hand, although I did not know how to address her. What do you say? Ms. Congressperson? But then she must have forgotten my face more promptly than I forgot her name.

If America were a democracy, New York City on its own would have had three Senators. Right now it is two for the entire state.

When Howard Dean thanked people and groups before he spoke, DFNYC was the first in line.

I left a voice mail over the weekend asking Lewis, the DFNYC Finance Director a.k.a moneyman, if I had to dress up, or it was okay to dress casual. He emailed me saying it was okay to wear casual, as long as you looked clean! And so I was the only person at the event in jeans. Larry Ellison wears a suit like a uniform in the casual attire Silicon Valley, and some people think that is his idea of giving the crowd the finger. But then I might try my brown suit for the event tomorrow.

I saw Lewis Cohen and Andrew Kling have long conversations with Howard Dean. And of course Heather is from Vermont itself. I was impressed. I went to the event today hoping to strike a conversation with Dean, but it did not happen. I think I am still in the star struck phase. Where would I start? Hello, Governor, I am with DFNYC. But then so are a few hundred other people. He is from Vermont, but he probably knows more about DFNYC than I do. And today I felt like I am at a chill phase with the DFNYC movers and shakers. I lost count of which blog entry offended which member, or which part of which blog entry. If a blog entry offends you, you make use of the comments section to the entry: that is what they are there for. I know it is temporary, but this is the first time they got to meet me after some emails and phone calls. To me screen time, phone time, and face time, it is all one continuum, but for a whole lot of people, there is a dichotomy, there is face time and there is everything else. Go figure.

Could I have said my name? Governor, my name is Paramendra. Para what? That is an interesting name. I don't expect him to go, where you from? He talks casually about "white people" or "racist white people" like I talk casually about "sexist Indian men." We are both progressives deep into our bones.

But what I wanted to say to him was this. "I know you can't talk about it until at least January 2007. But if I could give you two pieces of advice, those would be, one, read as many presidential biographies as you can, birth to death, especially of presidents you admire, a half dozen of them. There is no school you go to to become president. And meeting and reading about presidents is not exactly it either." If Howard Dean were to become president, he will have to realize less than 50 individuals have gone through the experience, and most of them are dead. But reading biographies really gives you perspective. Two, make as many friends as you can inside the Democratic Party and old media. We are going to screw them both all over again, but this time we are going to do it with a smile on our face.

I know of at least one person at the DFA headquarters who reads this blog. If I end up saying something significant, she will probably pass on the message.

That second point, what do I mean? The Democratic Party before and after Howard Dean is president is going to be two different entities. The party stands to be reinvented. And 2008 will be the first new media election, like 1960 was the first TV election. 2004 was still a TV election.

We need to have Dean as a two term president so Bill Clinton has someone to hang out with. That guy has been spending too much time with Bush Sr.

On the way back, I met some mildly heavy rain. My hair got wet. I am trying to grow my hair for winter. And I also want to go back to be able to comb it.

I took a bunch of pictures. Since I had a camera dangling around my neck, I got a lot of requests from people who wanted their pictures taken with Howard Dean. I complied to each such request. I would take a picture, and either they would give me their business card, saying please email it to me, or I would give them my card. One guy earnestly offered to pay me. He thought I was a professional. In terms of photo quality that I am, but I have never made any money through photography. I should have said, today is my day off, just give the money to the Ferrer campaign. 20/20 hindsight.

And Mason treated me like I was his personal photographer for most of the evening. He is cool like that.

A DFNYC lady pointed out to me this black man who she said had run for Governor against Pataki and lost. He was supposedly the most senior black politician in the state. I had never heard of him, and I still don't know his name, but I sure got my picture taken with him. Revenge is wild justice. I did not have my camera with me when I got to meet Jesse Jackson. (Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard)

I even recorded two small video clips of Howard Dean speaking. My digital camera has that feature. And I am glad it does. All videos of me speaking a foreign language you will find at Google Video were taken with this camera.

And there was Jimmy. I met him for the first time at a DFNYC After MeetUp. He got my attention because he is running for the State Senate from Long Island somewhere in 2006. I like to get to know people who run for public office. I usually like to ask about the mechanics of the process. And there he was today telling Howard Dean his girlfriend has a huge crush on him. "She has a huge photo of you." He got Dean to write her a personal note. Dean looked amused. How do you know Dean got amused? He throws out a blunt smile.

It was a fundraiser. I donated $50.

"There goes my laundry budget for six months," I told Lewis.

"Now I know to stay away from you." Is that a reference to body odor?

At another point he told someone, "Watch out for this guy!"

It sounded like, watch out for this guy, he might elbow you. He also introduced me to the person behind The Daily Gotham blog. By now I have figured out Gotham is New York City's private name, like my family calls me Pappu, they don't call me Paramendra. Once a friend of mine came over to our house and asked for Paramendra, and my grandfather waved him away.

The event ended just when I was warming up. I did not get to have any real long conversation.

Somewhere along the way I approached this guy in the crowd. "I know you are not, but you look awfully like Joe Trippi. Are you?" He was not.

Trippi is a great guy, a visionary, but terribly inefficient.

I got myself a coke at the open bar.

At the end of the day I was feeling real good about Ferrer. And I was also giving some thought to as to what a 10 point program might look like.

1. Balance the budget.
2. Have an exit strategy for Iraq.
   
3. Proactively spread democracy to win the War on Terror.
   
4. Tax cuts for the middle class.
5. Raise taxes on the top 1%.
   
6. No pension for George W.
   
7. Enhance quality of public education.
8. Health care reform: introduce market forces into the sector so it gets into a position to take a lead on adopting information technology. Universal insurance coverage for all children.
   
9. Focus on universal wireless broadband like they built the interstate highways a few decades back.
   
10. Campaign finance reform, electoral reform.
    

This is the first draft, mind you, and needs some serious rewriting. I like the broad message of it, but the words don't read like poetry as yet.

86 photos.

Mixing It For Ferrer

On the 25th, the DFNYC Mixer is for Ferrer. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senator Eric Schneiderman, State Assemblyman Scott Stringer, and Councilman Bill Perkins are going to show up, as is Howard Dean's brother Jim Dean.

Where: Stir, 1363 First Ave. (btwn 73rd & 74th)
When: Tuesday, October 25, 7-10 PM

A day before that Howard Dean is hosting a fundraiser for Fernando Ferrer.

Where: Session 73, 1359 First Ave. @ 73rd Street
When: Monday, October 24, 6:30-8:30 PM

I just wanted to familiarize myself with the names a little.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler: "Congressman Jerrold Nadler represents New York’s Eighth Congressional district. The Eighth, one of the most diverse districts in the nation, includes Manhattan’s West Side below 89th Street, Lower Manhattan, and areas of Brooklyn including Borough Park, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Sea Gate, Bay Ridge, and Bensonhurst...... He was re-elected to his seventh full term in 2004 with a resounding 80 percent of the vote....... the September 11th terrorist attacks on his district ...... a prominent member of the House Judiciary Committee ...... a third-term representative in 1998, he rose to national prominence as a vigorous defender of the Constitution during the Presidential impeachment hearings........ There is nothing more fundamental to being an American than the assurance against unwarranted government interference in one’s personal affairs, and the guarantee of due process under the law....... the first to challenge the Republicans’ “doom and gloom” solvency forecast....... ratings of 100 percent from such groups as the League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, the Human Rights Campaign, Children’s Defense Fund, and the American Federation of Teachers....... an intimate knowledge of every neighborhood and community feature, and tireless advocacy at all levels of government........ even securing free cellular phones for the Shomrim ...... “I don’t believe that New Yorkers work hard and pay taxes so they can line Mr. Trump's pockets,” Nadler said ....... the often-complex world of government services...... The district includes one of the nation’s largest communities of new immigrants—especially from the former Soviet Union........ one of the largest and most diverse Jewish communities in any congressional district, nationwide........ a principal supporter of federal hate crimes legislation....... worked extensively on Black-Jewish relations...... the 2003 Legislator of the Year Award from the International Association of Firefighters....... Nadler launched his public service career in the late 1960s while a student at Columbia University....... credited with authoring much of New York State’s body of law on domestic violence and child support enforcement...... the only male to be honored as Assemblymember of the Year by the National Organization for Women...... from CNN's Crossfire and Larry King Live to PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lerher to NBC’s Meet the Press......

State Senator Eric Schneiderman: .... a B.A. in English and Asian Studies at Amherst College..... two years as a Deputy Sheriff ...... graduating with honors from Harvard Law School ...... an anti-crime advocate for his entire career...... eviction proceedings against crack dens and drug dealers..... elected to the New York State Senate in 1998...... In 1999, he led the campaign to block the National Rifle Association's "Eddie Eagle" program from becoming a part of New York's elementary school curriculum....... In 2002, the Senate’s leadership redrew Eric’s district to eliminate most of his base and then undertook an unprecedented campaign to throw Republican support behind his opponent in a Democratic primary...... won re-election with over 67% of the vote....... has continued his work as a public interest lawyer throughout his years in office...... challenging the unlawful practices of the Metropolitan Transit Authority .... exposing fraud in the MTA’s bookkeeping...... his only title was “#1 Target of the Senate Republicans.” ..... the incompetence and gridlock that sustain Albany’s status quo......

State Assemblyman Scott Stringer: .... in his sixth term representing Manhattan's Upper West Side and Clinton...... Scott highlighted how Governor Pataki's budget plan amounted to a tax increase of nearly $2,000 for most New York City households ..... his bill to allow battered women work release when their crimes were committed under abusive duress became law in 2002..... documented the shocking lack of textbooks in City schools...... renewed the public's focus on the "ad-ization" of residential neighborhoods throughout Manhattan...... led the fight against Light Emitting Diode (LED) or ultra-bright, digital advertiser, screens that have begun to proliferate the cityscape....... Introduced legislation to prevent cell phone companies from charging customers a full minute's rate for fractions of time as small as one second ...... and John F. Kennedy High School..... In 2001, Scott was a candidate for New York City Public Advocate... Scott represents the 67th Assembly District, the highest voter turnout district in the City.

Councilman Bill Perkins: ..... started his political work as a tenant leader at Schomburg Plaza in Harlem ..... served as the Chair of the Council's Select Committee on Pest Control, which, for the first time, created a comprehensive strategy to solve the city's growing rat problem....... has opposed racial, ethnic and religious profiling .... lead sponsor of landmark legislation to protect the rights of the gay, lesbian and transgender community...... graduate of the Collegiate School and Brown University...... the NAACP New York Branch Executive Board...Represents: Central Harlem; parts of Morningside Heights, Upper West Side, East Harlem

• The Official Site of James Dean
• Fernando Ferrer
• Howard Dean - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• The New York Times > Howard Dean
• Wired 12.01: How the Internet Invented Howard Dean
• The Unlikely Rise of Howard Dean

Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch

Bill Clinton Has Left The Building

Finally I not only got to see Bill Clinton, I also got to shake his hand, and have a brief conversation with him. Now I want to see Amitabh Bachchan.

Yesterday late at night I got an email from Castro, not Fidel, the other one. The email gave me specifics of Bill Clinton's appearance with Fernando Ferrer. Where, when, that sort of thing.

I got out of bed late. After the morning essentials, I walked over to the train station. By the time I got off the train I was running a few minutes late. I started running. But I was an hour early, it ended up.

I took a few pictures and then became part of the ropeline. Bill Clinton works the ropeline like noone else. To him each person truly is unique, and each moment is unique, and he considers himself to be the master of the spoken word segment of it. How do you know Bill Clinton is breathing? His mouth is open. How do you know he is thinking? His mouth is open. I think he keeps his mouth in an open position because he never knows when he might speak yet another word. And this man wants to meet everybody, literally everybody. He thrives on the ropeline act. He empathizes with people who come to see him. He knows how much it means to them that they get to shake his hand. And he complies.

It was in 1996. He was on the campaign trail. I read in the news. He worked the ropeline at one event. When he got done, he felt like he had not shaken enough hands. So he went back to the beginning and worked the same ropeline all over again.

The ropeline is this man's icecream.

When Bill Clinton was in kindergarten, his friends would say, "Let's go watch Billie Clinton think!"

JFK had a different approach. He hated shaking hands. It is said none of his friends, buddies amounted to anything. When he went into the White House as a President-elect, that was his first time. He had been that insignificant in the Senate. In the Senate his colleagues put him on an insignificant committee. When he first entered the Congress, he took one look at the well, and said, looks like a bunch of worms. He was interested in the presidency, and that is all he cared about. But then he was also up against the WASP glass ceiling. He had to invent his path to the top. The trodden path was not going to work for him.

So Bill Clinton gets out of his car. And he comes down the ropeline. He is doing the unique person, unique moment thing. And finally it is my turn.

"Mr. President, you are Elvis," I say, his hand in mine.

"Thank you, thank you," he says. Then he realizes I am not done talking. He looks down to the ground.

"I have been to Arkansas several times. I have also passed through Hope."

At that point he has not yet left me quite, but he is not yet with the next person.

That is when Fernando Ferrer grabs my hand.

I have attended so many of this man's events by now. Hopefully I get to strike a conversation the next time I get to see him. I am already lined up to see him two more times. Howard Dean is doing a fundraiser for him, and the evening after Dean's brother is showing up with Ferrer at the DFNYC Mixer.

Then I move on, kind of following Clinton and Ferrer, from a distance.

I find myself standing next to this cute, black woman perhaps in her late 20s. She is with her girlfriends.

"Just look at him. He is so cute. Gorgeous. Just look at his face."

And I am thinking, I got a line I can quote in my blog entry.

"He is so cute even the men wanna shake his hand," she adds.

And I burst out laughing. I got outed. She joined me. We were both howling.

Then there was this part when the two of them spoke.

"In 1991, when my mother and my wife were the only people who thought I could get elected president, Freddie Ferrer endorsed me. When I became president, I sent $100 million over to the Bronx because I knew Freddie had the leadership to make good use of it," Clinton said. He said some more.

This part of the event became controversial later.

There were all these white boys with TV cameras who were outright hostile to the Ferrer team. They wanted to know why the microphones were turned off. "If Ferrer can not manage an event, how can he manage a city?" And there was this use of the children metaphor. Children. Women and children. Women, children, blacks and Hispanics. I am all too familiar with that racist children metaphor. "Why were children holding the microphones?"

One Ferrer person was getting pounded by a hostile TV reporter after Clinton had already left. The cameraperson was a woman, white woman. She took the camera off her shoulders. I think the hostility was too much also for her. It was a tribal white boy, white woman, minority male triangle. I was watching from the sidelines.

I should have intervened. "Excuse me, I happen to have a Ph.D. in race relations. I think you are being a racist jerk. This is not only unprofessional, it also goes against the spirit of this great city."

Another Ferrer person complained the media largely boycotted the Ferrer press conferences. Most except the Spanish media.

I think there are a few things coming into play.

One, Bloomberg has double digit leads in the polls. Part of the pounding Ferrer is getting is just for being the underdog.

Two, Ferrer's couter offensive has not been aggressive enough.

Three, racism is an issue, sure. I smell these things. The white boys in the media can get so predictable at times.

Four, the Democratic Party is not united behind Ferrer. A lot of white Democrats think as long as they send Democrats to Congress, it is okay the city does not go to a Democrat.

One was openly mocking how maybe the Ferrer campaign had thought the Clinton event would be their turnaround. But instead they, the media, were going to focus on the microphone issue.

Later I met a reporter - white - who played the Clinton speech to me on tape. His microphone apparently had worked.

This one New York Times reporter who was getting interviewed by a TV reporter took a break from the interview and asked me, "Are you with the Times?"

"No, I am with the DFNYC."

He looked puzzled. He probably thought I was with some TV station. DFNYC? WNYC?

Going by skin color, Ferrer looks white to me.

This is a little confusing.

Social progress is a tricky issue. Race, class, gender, all of them.

Bill Clinton has been at the receiving end of some regionalism himself. He will tell of something called the Arkansas bias.

Do I think that race is the number one issue in the Ferrer-Bloomberg tussle? No way. Do I think it is an issue? Sure.

For me it has been an experience in demystification with Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton claimed he wanted to demystify the presidency through his autobiography.

Bill Clinton is in a league of his own.

At the train station on my way back I met an elderly Hispanic lady who asked me if I had been to the event. She knew the answer. When you are her, it is touching that a president cares about you. Presidents are not known to much care about people like her. They are distant objects busy doing their own important things. But Bill Clinton shows up in your neighborhood.

I chose to get off the President Street station on the 2 train in Brooklyn, even though it is quite a walk from there to my place. This has been a special day. I also had two slices of pizza at two different joints. To celebrate this great day. And I had paan in my neighborhood. Paan is considered auspicious.

148 Photos.

In The News

• Clinton Backs Democrat for N.Y. Mayor
• Bill Clinton backs Ferrer, but event is plagued with problems Newsday, NY
• Ferrer's Big Day With Bill Clinton Backfires 7Online.com
• Clintons Give Ferrer a Hand While Staying at Arm's Length New York Times
• Bill stumps for ol' buddy 'Wilfredo' today New York Daily News
• Clinton steps up to campaign for Ferrer Independent Online, South Africa
• Clinton Backs Democrat for NY Mayor Herald News Daily, ND

Bill Clinton Has Left The Building

Date:	Wed, 19 Oct 2005 22:28:05 -0400
From:	"Dorcas Castro"
Subject:	Clinton Meeting The People Of New York With Fernando Ferrer!
To:	paramendra@yahoo.com

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow .....

Please join us on Thursday, October 20th at 1:00pm on the Triangle Corner of 170th Street & Charlotte in Seabury

Bronx, NY

President Clinton will be meeting the people of the

City of New York on their own turf, rallying for Fernando Ferrer,

the next Mayor !

Bring your enthusiasm, hopes & desire for change!

take the #2 or #5 train to 174th Street & Southern Blvd. Walk 3 blocks South to Jennings turn right to Charlotte.

Hope to see you there!

Dorcas Castro

Volunteer Coordinator

New Yorkers For Ferrer

14 East 38th Street 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10016

212-684-2005 ext. 147

Please donate your time & volunteer for us!

100 Hours Of Video Online Will Elect Ferrer

Polls show Bloomberg has a 27 point lead. That is inaccurate. He had a 14 point lead before he pulled his dishonest security stunt. (Bloomberg: No Mr. Security) I would say there is a 10 point error. I know enough about polling techniques to point out the inaccuracies, deliberate and otherwise. That still gives Bloomberg a five point lead or so.

Bloomberg has blanketed the media. He thinks the New York City media is like a house in the Bermuda where he goes for weekends - he is too good to enjoy NYC during weekends: it can be bought. And considering how the local media has been boycotting Ferrer events, makes you think he just might be right. Whatever happened to Thomas Jefferson's idea of a free press?

Ferrer has been doing a ton of events, Bloomberg hardly any. But the public thinks Ferrer has been hiding. New Yorkers don't have the time to show up for events. They are busy working. They are the ultimate worker bees.

The Ferrer campaign needs to video record all Ferrer events, hours and hours of them, and put them online at the campaign website. That is inexpensive, and the campaign's best shot at bridging the exposure gap. Hours and hours. Five hours of video a day or more. Show the crowds, the enthusiasm.

Ferrer is beyond qualified. He was Bronx Borough President from 1987 to 2001. That is not like being president, that is practically being the King of Bronx. Ferrer implemented urban renewal in the Bronx in ways that it became the talk of the planet, literally. Mayors all over the world wanted to know how he was doing it.

I have yet to meet a single Indian entrepreneur who has read a Bloomberg biography or thinks of him as an inspiration.

Ferrer is right on the policy, and he is right on the leadership.

But then a campaign has its own realities, and those have to be faced.

Do a ton of events, and video blog all of them. Bypass old media. If they were fair, they would have been showing the events on the evening news. But they are not. Maybe they are like those handful of white Democrats who are for Bloom.

100 hours of video online will elect Ferrer. That is to be the launch pad.

And the real clincher will be the two debates. Ferrer has to win both of them.

Jay Leno is the top comedian in the country and he rehearses all his lines. Nothing wrong with rehearsing lines. There has to be thorough preparation. Many mock debates. Ferrer should face all possible Bloomberg jibes in the rehearsals. And he should be ready with solid one liner rebuttals. And he should be willing to go on the attack, keep Bloomberg on the defensive.

Do events. Video blog events.

Hold many mock debates.

Might as well start with the event with Bill Clinton tomorrow. If the event lasts four hours, the video should be four plus hours. Make it possible for people to participate even if they can not attend.

Uh, I finally get to see Bill Clinton tomorrow. (Amitabh Bachchan, Bill Clinton, Amitabh In Town)

Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard
No Taxation Without Representation
Bloomberg
The Bloomberg Machine
Ferrer Can

Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard

There was supposed to be some kind of a DFNYC event where you get together and call a bunch of people, but instead I got an email saying the Ferrer campaign would rather DFNYC people showed up at the campaign headquarters to help any way they can.

So I showed up a little after noon. Not far from Times Square. That must be the campaign headquarters district in town, because I think Siegel had his headquarters somewhere around there as well. I was just going to soak the atmosphere, and try and throw in a few ideas.

I got to meet last name Castro. "Where I come from, people talk of Castro like he were Bob Marley. Any relation?"

Jesse Jackson was in town, and Castro was on her way to attend an event with him. How lucky of me! Too bad I did not have my camera with me. But, oh well.

Every town worth its salt in the South has some street named after Martin Luther King. They despise you while you are around, and they worship you after you are gone. And there was this street in Harlem. Only later in the day I learned Bill Clinton's office was on the same street.

If he were not black, or if this country were not racist, Jesse Jackson would have been president somewhere along the way. That man understands the contours of race relations like a physicist and quantum physics. He has the instinct for the political process, for power. He has fought so many battles by now, on his face rests the cool of a statesman.

Sharpton has unique hair. I mean, I have seen it on TV and in pictures and stuff, but when you walk right behind him for a little while, you really notice it.

The first meetup for Howard Dean I attended was in Bloomington, Indiana, in October 2003. It was a home setting, over a dozen Deaniacs in attendance. Bloomington is a progressive town, but it is the Midwest. Everyone was white. We were there to watch a Democratic presidential debate. I got this clear impression people were laughing harder to Al Sharpton's jokes because I was in the room. So I guess Al Sharpton and I are not that unrelated after all.

For much of the walk, march, rally, whatever you will call it, I was distributing Ferrer campaign literature. Towards the end I got to shake the Sharpton hand, and the Jackson hand. Jackson looks you in the eyes, and then he locks you. Suddenly the rest of the world goes away for a small frame of time. Suddenly all the background noise is gone, he is so looking at you. I was not nervous. But I was too happy, this was too big a moment. This was my moment to say a significant one liner. I said hello. All I could say.

You should see the crowd react to Jesse. In Harlem. I saw women who were literally delirious and shaking. Jumping up and down on their feet. These people were not going for handshakes. Nah. Not their style. They wanted full-blown hugs, hugs that last a while. Young men, old men, schoolchildren. This is not your run of the mill politician. This man is in a league of his own, a Senior Statesman of the Democratic Party for life. This man has a gift.

Whoever is the first black to make it to the White House, perhaps Obama, he or she will be standing on the shoulder of this particular giant.

The black woman president of Manhattan was also there. I got to shake her hand as well. Virginia.

I hope this really boosts Ferrer among the blacks. It is the strange psychology of the powerless that a lot of blacks in Harlem seem to be behind Bloomberg.

Jackson and Sharpton spoke. Jackson mentioned Ferrer had helped in his 1984 and 1988 bids for the White House. And Sharpton said Bloomberg was "Guliani with good manners." That is not a compliment. These black leaders, they speak poetry. They have a slightly different grip on the English language. There is this rhythm. This sway. Sometimes words rhyme, if not the metaphors do. They speak different. Maybe it is the cocktail of the undercurrent of black culture and an European language. Something is going on.

Sharpton mentioned some figures. 50% of blacks unemployed, 40% of Hispanics. That was heartbreaking to hear. They should be calling the National Guard on this one, maybe the Fire Department. That is not a campaign detail, that is a crisis. Really made me think. What's going on? Either democracy and the market are not working, or they have not been introduced. I would like to believe it is the latter. The chronic unemployment is a tragedy. But it is also policy level fascination. Unemployment should be more in the 10% or a 5% range. And I do believe it can be done. You introduce democracy and the market, that is what. A functioning democracy would be where each voter feels direct ownership of the top office and the city budget. Currently there is a disconnect. Market would be about micro credit. Credit without collateral, credit at lower rates than usual.

Black America continues to be so very neglected. Martin Luther King started the work. He sure did not come anywhere close to finishing it. I mean, one should be able to imagine a high tech boom in Harlem.

"Keep hope alive."

After the event I dropped by again at the Ferrer headquarters. I was there for a few hours. Got to stuff quite a few envelopes.

But I was trying to suggest an idea: I did talk to quite a few people.

Bloomberg has blanketed the airwaves with his ads because he has tons of money. He is the one sitting at home, Ferrer has been out doing a ton of events. But the image out there is the opposite. Use a few camcorders, record all the events, and put them up at your website.

The idea did not make much headway in the maze of bureaucracy.

"We do take pictures and post them."

"All our five or six TV ads are at the site."

"I have been here only a week."

"All our events are listed at the site."

Political consultants with years of experience are very good at the details they have mastered. But a paradigm shift is something else. Experience and expertise are great stuff, but new, good ideas stand in a class of their own. Ferrer is not as behind as the polls would have you believe, but he is behind, and that asks for something inexpensive and drastic. Or at least that is where I stand.

Towards the end of the Jesse Jackson event, one elderly volunteer kept emphasizing upon me the point that it was okay to take Bloomberg's money if he gives it to you to work on his campaign, just take the money and don't do the work. And he did that in a polite way. Granted it was a largely black and Hispanic crowd, but did I look that out of place? Are a lot of Indians Republicans? I know the most famous one is: Congressman Bobby from Louisiana.

First he started talking to Castro in Spanish. He did not want me to understand. Then Castro eased him into English. And that is when he gave me his advice.

Before I left he pulled out a letter of endorsement he had composed, in English and Spanish.

"I wrote it myself," he said with pride glistening in his eyes.

"Where did Bloomberg make his money? It must be drug money." He was not trying to sound clever. He totally meant it.

Pass me some loyalty stripes I can spray on myself.

Bobby, you are giving an entire subcontinent a bad name, man. Switch, please.

No Taxation Without Representation

Non-citizens should be allowed to vote. To not allow is to disrespect the very essence of New York City. Suddenly I am a single issue person against Bloomberg: I feel so strongly about this issue. This reminds me of Boston and the American revolution.

DFNYC endorsing Gifford Miller was a mistake. Anthony Weiner is a whiner. And I don't even know the guy, directly or indirectly.

Campaign 2005: Much At Stake For Immigrants (2005-09-01)

For the first 150 years after the founding of the nation, non-citizens voted and held public office: alderman, coroner, school board member. Yet the policy fell casualty to the anti-immigrant backlash of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

While many European countries have been allowing legal immigrants to vote for public offices for many decades, only a few municipalities in Maryland and Massachusetts allow non-citizens to vote for local affairs. Non-citizens in Chicago vote in school board election. New York had the same practice from the 1970s until 2002 when the school boards were disbanded.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on his weekly radio program on WABC-AM in April of 2004 that he opposed giving legal immigrants who are not United States citizens the right to vote in New York City elections.

The mayor said that while he sympathized with the plight of immigrants, particularly those who pay taxes, he still believed that "the essence of citizenship is the right to vote, and you should go about becoming a citizen before you get the right to vote."

Gifford Miller and Anthony Weiner have said they agree. Fernando Ferrer and Virginia Fields say they disagree, that non-citizens should be able to vote in local elections.