Head over to Brian Dennert Here for an excellent and informative interview with current LACDP Chair and CDP Vice-Chair Candidate Eric Bauman.

Dennert talks with Eric about Proposition 8, partisanship, the budget crisis and much more. Don’t miss out!

Full disclosure: I am president of The Pollux Group, a qualitative consulting firm. My firm worked this cycle (almost entirely pro bono) for Eric Bauman’s LACDP on multiple races, including that of Ferial Masry in AD-37.

Eric Bauman, chair of the LACDP, announced in a conference call to supporters and media this evening that he has dropped out of the race for CDP Chair, for all intents and purposes ceding the field to the more institutionally backed John Burton, whose long history of service to the Party and fundraising prowess have earned him the endorsements of many of the Party’s leading lights.

Why should Ventura Democrats care? Because Bauman, in addition to being a Southern Californian, viscerally understands the importance of having a real 58-county strategy in California. The State Party came too little, too late to the aid of fantastic Democrats like Hannah-Beth Jackson and Ferial Masry. These local Democrats came within inches of victory and could have claimed another much-needed Assembly and State Senate seat for Democrats, even as some unmentionables retained $1.5 million Party dollars for personal defense funds, and much of the rest was showered on almost shoe-in or longer-shot races elsewhere in the state, particularly in the North.

The practical effect of Bauman’s dropping out of the race is that Ventura County Democrats (and those in the Inland Empire, where gains are also there to be made) will have to fight harder to get the support we need from the State Party to turn the registration gains made in our newly blue and highly competitive districts into electoral victories. Like it or not, money and seasoned strategists can make or break campaigns, and Ventura Democrats cannot do it alone. Eric Bauman would have been an extraordinary asset as CDP Chair, because he understands the crucial importance of areas like Ventura to the future of California and the Democratic Party

The good news, however, is that Eric is now running for Vice-Chair of the CDP. Unforuntately, in so doing, he runs against another good friend of mine, 58-county strategy supporter, outstanding progressive and head of our state blog Calitics, Brian Leubitz. My blogging loyalties are with Brian; my Southern California loyalties are with Eric. Choosing between them is like a parent picking favorites among their own children; I personally endorse them both and wish the best for each of them.

Whichever of them takes the seat, however, will need our full support in bringing the 58-county vision to the often entrenched mentality of the CDP.

For more on the leading Vice-Chair candidates, see their websites:
Eric Bauman
Brian Leubitz