Local Barack Obama delegate Bernita Jenkins got this to us Friday:

Thank you for allowing me to keep you updated over this past week. It has been an experience of a lifetime. And, I have enjoyed every minute. I will be home this evening and we will get to work on the campaign starting on Monday at the Labor Day Breakfast.

The Democratic National Convention came to an explosive end last night at Mile High Stadium. The type of explosion deserving of a country that has worked hard to improve and keep their status in the world. Nothing in the last four decades can compare to the coming changes for the United States.

"I have a dream that one day we will judge each other by the content of our characters and not by the color of our skin" became profoundly true last night.  Can you imagine the smile of Dr King's face if he were able to experience this change in our history. For the first ever, for both major political party, has an African American been selected as the nominee for the highest office of our country. This means we are willing to look beyond race and see the character of the man.

Barack Obama is the man for the job of Commander in Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fighter of a better economy. Senator Obama delivered to us the outline of how he would make all these possible for every American including Barney Smith but exclusive to Smith and Barney. Senator Obama told us that this journey is not his alone but the journey of all Americans.

I have experienced the best part of history in my lifetime. For the past 50 years I have seen many devastating and destructive events. But it is now time to look to a future of great things for our country. We have a new way of thinking and a new attitude. I only hope for the sake of our young people that everyone jumps on board. Senator Obama is willing to take the next step.

Well I will see you at home.
Bernita
 

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FOX News just confirmed this from an a senior McCain campaign official.

So it looks like we're getting a woman running for vice president after all.

With Romney and Pawlenty out, sources are saying Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is McCain's pick.

Palin is a first-term governor credited with reforms of her out-of-the-way state. 

At 44, Palin is younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a maverick.

Bernita Jenkins of Bakersfield, an Obama delegate, shared this second dispatch from Denver:

Tasting history like this cannot be written into the books for anyone to really understand the true magnitude.  If I were to read about this in later years as part of history I would be touched, but to live this history is more than anyone person can fathom in their wildest dreams.  What the eyes have seen and the ears have heard has been a part of God's plan for Senators Obama and Biden life. These two gentlemen have left me breathless and speechless.  And, all I have to offer them is my hard work when I return.

Ok, onto today's events: The California Delegation Breakfast was greeted by the following Senators Kerry, Boxer, and McCaskill. They inspired and encouraged us to work hard get Senator Obama to the Presidency. 

Then we were off to the caucuses.  I attended the Black Caucus again because I heard Mrs. Obama was going to speak there. And, boy did she deliver a dynamic speech. The room was packed and I imagine that many followed her to the next event.  We had Angela Bassett attend the caucus and she greeted the crowd with much love.

Uduak was on the delegation of giving. He volunteered, as well as many others, to help out in the community of Denver today. He went to a school and helped to set-up playground equipment.

We rushed back to the hotel to drop off stuff and then off to the Convention. The first thing on the agenda was to get the nominations completed and then onto the votes. We watched as every state stood proudly and cast their vote. Many had votes for both candidates but Delware cast all their votes for Senator Obama. Then came the real history of the vote taking: New Mexico yeilded the floor to Illinois and then Illinois gave over the floor to New York and Senator Clinton moved that we suspend the voting process. She all votes already cast would go down in history but we stop the process of voting and vote by acclamation for Senator Obama to be the next Democratic Presidential nominee. The place erupted.

The place was packed by 5pm. We listen to some great speakers on their service to our country. We saw Kevin Johnson, pro basketball player and now candidate for Mayor in Sacramento, and Jamie Fox. There were two people on our side of the Convention who were ushered for being a disturbance.

Of course we sat in great anticipation for President Clinton. Clinton delivered a great unifying speech. As he said it could only come from two people in the Democratic party, he or President Carter, and man did he bring unity to the floor our Convention. He  did what no other person in the Convention Hall could have done.  President Clinton is an orator and he definitely knows how to deliver a message. There was nothing fake about what he wants the Democratic Party and any other citizen to do, Elected Senator Obama to the President of the United States of America. Yes, again history was made.

The best was yet to come Biden. He delivered a speech that no one could doubt his love, support, and gratitude to the next President of the United States. If you were there you would have seen the tears in his eyes after the introduction by his son, Beau. Senator Biden has a wonderful life story and we can only hope have many more years of services from him.

At the end, Senator Obama came out and we lost control.

Well, I am taking lots of tissue with me tomorrow. I am living out a legacy I thought I would never seen in my lifetime. I am so thankful to live in a place where we can all be great.  I am so thankful that we live up the words of our Constitution: every person shall have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is the American Dream.


I will email again tomorrow and I will be home Friday afternoon or evening. Pray for our safe travel.

May God bless and keep you.
Bernita

 

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But he's not telling you who it is yet.

McCain is expected to reveal his choice Friday morning, which should take some of the post-Democratic glow off of Obama's Thursday night speech.

According to top Republicans close to McCain's campaign, the top contenders are the same men who have been the source of speculation for weeks: former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and, possibly, Senator Joseph Lieberman, independent of Connecticut.

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Local Democrat Bernita Jenkins, a delegate for Barack Obama, is sending dispatches from the convention back home to fellow party faithful.

Here's the first; we expect to hear more from her later:

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for the opportunity to represent you at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week. It has been a great time. I want to thank especially, all those who have called, emailed or texted me in the last three days. I am doing this tonight to make sure you have an update.

Sunday, coming into the downtown area we had the grand surprise of seeing the SWAT teams in action. They had to block off streets because of protesting. And, they are still having to do the same. We atteded a welcome party that had great food and good people. Then I got to see Frankie Beverly and Maze in concert. Now that was a treat.

Monday, we attended the California delegation breakfast. I had the privilege of sitting with Senator Florez. We got all our instructions from Senator Torres for the Convention. Then in the afternoon I attended the African American caucus. I watched as two men were quickly ushered out by police for protesting.  Last night was beyond our widest dreams and I could not have invented this if I wanted to. Senator Kennedy came onto the floor and the crowd went wild. There were people crying and he was great. He looked good in person and spoke with lots of comfort and understanding for those in attendance. Then of course, we got Mrs Obama. I cried from start to finish and was still teary eyed on the bus back to the hotel.

Tuesday, we attended another California delegation breakfast. Then morning we got four of our Democratic Governors from across the country. Then off to seminars and caucuses. I did all my gift shopping today. Then back to the Convention floor for this evening event. All of the Governors who spoke were great but the best was the Governor from Montana. He was very enthuastic. When Mrs. Clinton came on the stage the crowd went wild. She did the job she was suppose to do and she did it well.

Well I am off to bed and I will send you more news tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Bernita

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While the Democrats are whooping it up in Denver, Republicans led by our own Congressman Kevin McCarthy are working on the GOP platform for their convention next week in St. Paul.

Go here if you want to peek into those proceedings, being held in Minneapolis and carried on C-SPAN's Web site.

C-SPAN's reporting that drafts of the platform differ from John McCain's positions on immigration, stem-cell research and climate change.

Meanwhile, McCarthy has reportedly been added as a speaker in St. Paul Monday.

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Sure, Hillary said all the right things last night at the convention, but her ringing endorsement of Obama was hardly that.

And now CNN is reporting that Bill Clinton won't even be there for Obama's acceptance speech Thursday night.

Someone's taking Hillary's loss very hard indeed.

Four years ago, the musical acts at both conventions were pretty solidly following party stereotypes: The Democrats played classic rock, the Republicans played modern country, and I fast-forwarded through both.

I have no idea what will happen this time. Does Barack Obama have better musical taste than John Kerry? Probably. Does it matter? i don't know. John Legend is listed as a performer today, which is better than anything I remember from either party four years ago. But it sounds like all the good music will be near, not at, the convention. Rage Against the Machine is playing outside both, and Death Cab for Cutie is playing near the Dems.

(I saw Death Cab Labor Day weekend in 2004. The last thing Ben Gibbard said was "Thank you, vote for Kerry!" I'm seeing them again this weekend, probably.)

(On my second-ever trip to Bakersfield, I heard a KRAB DJ complaining about entertainers getting into politics. Just shut up and play, he said. OK, fine — except he was complaining about Rage Against the Machine, which is political to the core.)

This year, I'd like to see better, less-old-people-centric music. Come on, we can get some Ted Nugent and Kid Rock in St. Paul, and something to rev up the Dems that isn't U2 or Boomer music.

Who would be a good political act?

-- James Geluso, who is going to miss three days of the conventions this year to go to music festival

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State Sen. Dean Florez went to Denver, but he didn’t get to stay.

With the Legislature still in budget deadlock, Florez, D-Shafter, went to Denver for make a speech Monday morning, then joined a few other senators to head back to work, according to the Sacramento Bee.

“I wish deeply in my heart I could stay and personally witness the most historic convention in my lifetime,” Florez told the Bee. “I'm very disappointed.”

Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, was also scheduled to head for Denver, but cancelled her trip, according to her chief of staff, Derek Chernow.

“Nicole will not be attending the democratic convention,” Chernow said. “She had made a commitment not to go unless a water bond came up for a vote, and so far it has not.”

Both Florez and Parra were delegates for Barack Obama, who is scheduled to accept the Democratic nomination Thursday.

 

Like many journalists and political junkies, I signed up for Barack Obama's text-message service, hoping to be first to know who his running mate would be. Every time my phone lit up with a new message, I grabbed at it and checked to see whether it was from the campaign. First it was going to come Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Friday...

So what actually happened is that Friday night, at 11 p.m., my girlfriend told me that it was Biden. I was skeptical, because I'd heard some people convinced it was Bayh based on Drudge earlier that day, but when I checked Google News, I saw AP, CNN, WaPo and NYT were all reporting it was Biden.

At 1 a.m., she got the text. She forwarded it to me, but I have never received it myself, and it's now 11 a.m.

It seems to me like a botch. They camped on the news so long that it backfired. They could have broken it, but instead, probably someone got woken at 3 a.m. Eastern and told to send that text because the news was out.

How about you? Did you get the text?

-- James Geluso

The Florez campaign just sent out the text of a radio ad they put out today:

Hi, this is Fran Florez. 

A few years ago, my son Dean Florez got in trouble in the State Capitol.  The Speaker of the Assembly told him to stop investigating a scandal involving state computers.

Dean didn’t listen.  So the Speaker fired Dean from his committee chairmanship.

I told Dean I was proud of him because I raised him to be “valley tough.”

Now, Nicole Parra is going through the same kind of thing. 

I called Nicole because I wanted to tell her what I told Dean 7 years ago…

Politicians from other parts of California don’t understand how we think in the valley…

We’re independent, we don’t take orders from Governors, lobbyists, or party leaders… we work for the valley.

Folks in Sacramento might as well hear from me right now… I’m just as independent as Dean and Nicole.  I’m Fran Florez and I’m valley tough.

 

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Some guy named Edwards? No, no, no — not that Edwards!

Does Hillary still have a chance?

Stay close to your phones; the Obama running mate text message might arrive soon.

Details here.

Capitol Weekly, a government and politics paper in Sacramento, is out with its annual rankings of Assembly members and State Senators by conservative to liberal.

A zero is a perfect conservative, a 100 a perfect liberal. The rankings are based on votes.

How'd our guys fare?

• Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, is nearly a perfect conservative at 2.

• Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, gets a 52 and is tied with one other for most conservative Democrat in that house.

• State Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, is doggone conservative at 12.

• State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, "showed his independent streak" and came in at 72.

The Sacramento Bee dropped in on Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's new office outside the Capitol building.

She was banished there by the Assembly speaker for not voting on a budget proposal last Sunday night.

The Bee calls the office "punishment digs."

And here's a fun take from Big Daddy, Capitol Weekly's advice columnist.

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There's more interesting fallout from the Nicole Parra non-vote on the budget.

Her bills are "done for the year," at least those with her name on them, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Meanwhile back home, she's being called a "rock star."

Nicole Parra is being kicked out of the Capitol, probably because she didn't vote for the state budget proposal last night. Read more here.

“That’s the most severe punishment I’ve ever heard of,” said Vic Pollard, who covered the Capitol for The Californian until last year.

Here's what the Sacramento Bee is reporting.

And bloggers here find the whole thing hilarious.

On Thursday, Fran Florez will hold a salsa lession fundraiser at the DoubleTree Hotel, 3100 Camino Del Rio Court, off Rosedale Highway in Bakersfield. The fundraiser will start at 5:30 p.m., with the salsa lessons beginning at 7 p.m. To make a reservation, call Elsa at 387-0123.

Florez is running against Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, for the seat currently held by the termed-out Nicole Parra.

Florez will also open her campaign office with a party at 3 p.m. Saturday at 5209 Minter Field Ave., Suite 102, in Shafter. The office is a block north of Lerdo Highway, just east of Shafter Airport. Maybe Florez will give a preview of some salsa action.

Politics or entertainment or a bit of both?

Regardless, after John Edwards' recent revelations and strong denial of a love-child, the focus has shifted to the man who claims to be the father of Frances Quinn Hunter.

'Claims' being the operative word.

The story is weird. It's here.

The California Faculty Association is aiming to tie Republican Assembly Candidate Danny Gilmore to the Republicans already in Sacramento. That's not too much of a stretch. Then they're aiming to associate both with failing schools, and not with cute innocent children.

See the ad here.

And there are more, aimed at other Assembly members and candidates, here.

-- James Geluso

So says Hillary's former communications director.

His reasoning is thus:

Had Edwards admitted to being a cheating weasel before the Iowa caucuses, Hillary would have received his votes and defeated Obama.

And the top aide Howard Wolfson also told ABCNews.com that the mainstream media doesn't know the rules when it comes to covering scandals.

So there.

The whole story is here.

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Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday admitted to an extramarital affair while his wife was battling cancer. He denied fathering the woman's daughter.

Get the whole story here.

It's all rosy on the outside, but according to this interesting Time magazine story, Hillary and Bill are still having problems accepting it's over.

They're also not convinced Obama can win in November.

Story here.

Excerpt: But behind the united front, says an adviser, "it's not a great relationship, and it's probably not going to become one." In private conversations, associates say, Clinton remains skeptical that Obama can win in the fall. That's a sentiment some other Democrats believe is not just a prediction but a wish, because it would prove her right about his weaknesses as a general-election candidate and possibly pave the way for her to run again in 2012.

After McCain mocked Obama's 'fame' by comparing him to Paris and Britney, Paris' parents were upset.

Now their daughter is getting her own back.

And the video's actually quite funny.

See it here.

And this just in:

Paris memorized the entire dialogue.

Termed-out Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, has threatened to vote against a budget that doesn’t contain a statewide water bond, The Fresno Bee is reporting.

Bee reporter E.J. Schultz quotes a letter sent to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass by Parra.

“I simply cannot support a budget without a solution to the Central Valley’s water supply. A vote on a budget that adequately reflects our state's priorities is only half honest, unless we are simultaneously addressing the issue of water supply,” Parra’s letter reportedly states.

According to the Bee, a representative for Bass’s office said Parra will be expected to vote for the budget and that the water bond and the budget are two separate issues.