Birmingham Blues

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Don’t forget the Over the Mountain Democrats VP debate-watching party tomorrow night (October 2), 7PM at Matthew’s Bar & Grill.  Admission is a voluntary contribution to the Obama campaign, suggested amount $25 — but if you attended last week’s debate party, you get in free!

John McCain may not show up for tomorrow night’s debate, but the Over the Mountain Democrats will be there.  At least in spirit.  Or maybe spirits.  Join the OTM Dems at Rojo for cold beer and big screen viewing of the debate whatever-you-call-it-when-only-one-candidate-bothers-to-show-up-to-talk-to-the-American-people.  Admission is a $50 check to the Obama campaign; RSVP here.

If you cough up the bucks and go to Rojo tomorrow night, you’ll get in free for next week’s Biden-Palin debate party at Matthew’s Bar & Grill.  That’s assuming McCain’s handlers allow Palin to appear.

Thursday, July 24, is Over the Mountain Democrats family night at the Birmingham Barons, and tickets are FREE. Parking and concessions are extra, but I hear it’s a Thirsty Thursday, which means dollar beer. Woohoo!

You don’t have to be a member of OTM Dems to attend. All you have to do is click here, reserve your tickets, and come to the Hoover Met at 6:30 PM on the 24th.  See you there!

The hoopla of Super Tuesday is long past, but Alabama has another primary coming up on June 3. Want to know more about the candidates running for local and state-wide office? Here’s your chance to find out.

Over the Mountain Democrats* is sponsoring a candidate forum tonight at 6:30 at the Homewood Library Auditorium featuring Vivian Davis Figures, candidate for US Senate, Debra Bell Paseur, candidate for the Alabama Supreme Court (Judge Paseur has a conflict and won’t be able to attend), and other Democratic candidates running in the upcoming primary. This event is free and open to the public.

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* along with Birmingham Young Democrats, Shelby County Democrats, Magic City Democrats, Greater Birmingham DFA-PDA, National Jewish Democratic Council (Birmingham chapter), Hoover High School & Mountain Brook High School Young Democrats

Last night, an overflow crowd of around 400 people packed the auditorium at the Botanical Gardens for the health care forum sponsored by Over the Mountain Democrats. Clearly the crisis in cost and quality resonates with the public. The panel featured keynote speaker Dr. Wally Retan, Terry Kellogg of Blue Cross, Dr. Max Michael, and Congressman Artur Davis (D-7th District).

Dr. Retan pointed out that national expenditures on health care in the US (including direct care, research, structures, and equipment) have risen from $28 billion in 1960 to $2,016 billion in 2005 and a projected $2,879 billion by 2010. In more personal terms, a family of four spent on average $14,500 for health care/coverage in 2007, while pretax median income stood at $60,298. He also noted that spending more than twice as much as any other developed country has still left us with higher infant and maternal mortality rates and lower life expectancy than many of them.

The other speakers all agreed that we have a crisis on our hands, but there was no agreement on how best to address it.

• Dr. Retan advocated universal, single-payer coverage that provides irrevocable, comprehensive birth-to-death care for everyone regardless of employment status or pre-existing condition.
• Terry Kellogg, sounding a lot like an insurance executive, primarily advocated review processes to ensure that new treatments/technologies are effective and to prevent over-utilization. He said one of the easiest ways to cut cost and improve outcomes is to prevent hospital-acquired infections, and he gave some pretty scary statistics to support his point.
• Dr. Michael opined that it would be foolish to spend $120 to $150 million to bring everyone into a broken system, but he didn’t give any specifics as to how to fix the current system or what would constitute a better one. He basically said that most people like things the way they are now, and he metaphorically threw up his hands.
• Congressman Davis got applause by pointing out that anyone accused of a crime, regardless of guilt or innocence, is provided with an attorney, and those who get sick should receive medical care. He didn’t advocate any sea change in the system; he talked about mandating employer coverage for larger businesses, subsidizing small businesses to do the same, and expanding government programs that cover the uninsured.

There was some good discussion, and I certainly left feeling more informed on the subject. The purpose of the forum was not to push a specific solution but to educate potential voters, and once again the OTM Dems succeeded — putting together a an excellent panel, asking good questions, providing information, and leaving audience members to make their own decisions about how meaningful reform should be structured and implemented. And, as usual, Barry Ragsdale provided effective and witty moderation.

Kudos, OTM Dems. Well done!

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ADDENDUM: Joe at Bessemer Opinions has posted his account of last night’s forum.

Ever wonder what Democrats in the Birmingham area are up to? Fresh off sigificant electoral victories in 2006, local organizations kept up their hard work this year, and Over the Mountain Democrats were right there with them. Here’s a list of accomplishments for 2007 (full disclosure — yeah, I’m a member):

• Ministers’ Caucus hosts Bishop William D. Willimon of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church in March.
• A Town Hall Mtg with Congressman Artur Davis, 7^th District in April
• A Town Hall Mtg with Senator and Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd in June
• Among the luminaries OTMDems helped to welcome to Birmingham during 2007 were Former President Bill Clinton, Party Chairman Howard Dean, Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, and General Wesley Clark.
• Hosted Mark Potok, Executive Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in July
• Hosted John Archibald, columnist for the Birmingham News in September
• Hosted the Alabama premiere at Samford University of “Golden Rule Politics: Reclaiming the Rightful Role of Faith in Politics” and panel discussion including University of Alabama Law Professor Susan Pace Hamill, U.S. Congressman Artur Davis, and Rev. James Evans in October
• Hosted Public Forum on Alabama State Constitutional Reform in October with Keynote Speaker Former Governor Albert Brewer and panelists Lenora Pate (Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform), Lynn Douglas (Alabama Arise), Rep. Paul DeMarco, and Gary Palmer (Alabama Policy Institute).
• Organized showing of “It’s A Thick Book” documentary film with the Hoover and Mountain Brook High Schools Young Democrat Clubs at their respective schools in October.
• A weekly informal lunch gathering at Magnolia Café (every Friday at 11:30 am — come join us!)

Way to go! This is further proof, if any was needed, that Democrats are alive and kicking in Alabama.

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Are you a member of another local group of Democrats? Send me your list, and I’ll post it.

Sen. Chris Dodd spoke to a near-capacity crowd at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens last night.  The Birmingham News put the crowd size at around 200; my count was closer to 300.  The Senator’s plane was late, which actually turned out to be a good thing, as people who were negotiating a major traffic tie-up (yep, another truck lost its load — this time junk cars — on I-65) had more time to get there.

In attendance were some Democratic Party luminaries, lots of regular folks, at least one Republican (likely a few more, but I only met the one), and fellow bloggers Joe of Bessemer Opinions and Trent of Aladems and Sack Sessions.

Sen. Dodd opened with a few words on the importance of winning back the White House and holding on to the Congress, but he spent most of his time talking about issues, focusing on what kind of world we will leave to our children.  He comes from a family of teachers and spoke strongly about the importance of education, not only so we can be competitive economically but also because understanding and maintaining our system of government requires an educated populace.  He noted that our healthcare expenditures equal 16% of gross domestic product while yielding some lousy results: 42nd in infant mortality, 45th in life expectancy, 47 million uninsured.

He has a detailed plan for energy independence and environmental protection, and you can read it here.

Of course, he addressed the war in Iraq, reinforcing what we already know: there is no military solution to the conflict.  We’re mired in the middle of a civil war in a country that hasn’t even decided if it wants to be a nation-state.  He had high praise for our military, and his words drew cheers from the crowd.  He wants the US to begin re-deployment of forces over the next eight to nine months but also to offer other means of aid to the Iraqi people.  There’s “not an army big enough or a treasury deep enough” to bring about a military victory.  It’s time for a change of mission, and he believes that the majority of the American people, regardless of political affiliation, agree.

He strongly advocates diplomacy with all the players in the region, not, as he said, because he likes all the leaders or wants to have dinner with them, but because “great nation-states ought not to be afraid of diplomacy”.  He pointed out that Reagan reviled the Soviet Union and Nixon reviled China but both were willing to sit down with the leaders of those nations and achieve diplomatic breakthroughs.  The US can still provide leadership to the rest of the world if we’ll just do it.

I came away from Sen. Dodd’s speech feeling uplifted.  His message is positive — no denial of the challenges we face, but a great optimism that we can meet them.  There was no nasty partisanship, no cheap shots at other candidates.  He did say that he intends to be the nominee, and he told us if he wins in ‘08, we’re all invited to spend the night at the White House.  I have it on tape, and if he gets there, I’m planning to hold him to his promise.

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Congratulations to the Over the Mountain Democrats for hosting another very successful event.  Check out Sen. Dodd’s website here.

UPDATE:  Joe posts about Chris Dodd’s visit.

Don’t forget to come hear Sen. Chris Dodd at tonight’s town hall meeting, 6 pm in the Linn Henley Lecture Hall of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  This event is free and open to the public.  More details here.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who is campaigning for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, will be in Birmingham at 6 pm on Wednesday, June 6, for a town hall meeting at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (Linn Henley Lecture Hall).  This event is sponsored by the Over the Mountain Democrats. 

Sen. Dodd is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and a senior member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions and the Committee on Foreign Relations.  He brings a wealth of experience to the table, and he’s ready to answer our questions.  He’s also the first Democratic presidential candidate to schedule a public campaign event here, and he deserves a big turnout on his own account.  But keep in mind that a good response should encourage other candidates to come here as well.

The town hall meeting is free and open to the public.  See you there!