video

This is the aforementioned video by the DWP workers, warning of a impending crisis. The power and water systems are so degraded and undermanned that Los Angeles' reliable power and clean water are at risk. This video mixes in local news reports, interviews with workers and energy experts to warn of the tenuous situation.

Watch it and pass it around to your friends and family. Use the email to a friend button on the bottom, and/or click on menu to grab the direct link to the video within the player itself.

Yesterday, when I was watching the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate I noticed that there was a significant number of Californian's questions that were selected to be asked of the candidates. Out of the 38 questions that were asked, eight came from Californians. No other state even came close to matching that total. Minnesota, Michigan, South Carolina and Pennsylvania had two each. The rest were single digits and two came from unknown locations.

Everyone in the country was eligible to submit a question. A state by state breakdown of the origin of all of the 2,000+ questioners is impossible to find, since we only know user names. However, during the debate they listed the hometown of almost all. So we can't know if this was a representative sample of the questions asked. Regardless, it is great to see so many Californians get a chance to ask the candidates questions during the debate. Wouldn't it be ironic if there were more CA questions asked during this debate than the one in LA?

Below the fold are the Californian questions and the name and hometown of the questioner.

The campaigns are in fundraising mode and the legislature is bogged down in budget negotiations, so it's time for random video afternoon.

How about a flashback to a time when candidates were having large rallies in California. Here is an official campaign video on Obama's huge 12,000 person rally in Oakland back in March.

It seems like this is the week to roll out new TV ads for the Democratic presidential contenders. Yesterday, Obama released his first two ads of the cycle, now here is John Edward's offering called "Strength of America". The ad is airing in New Hampshire and features a cameo by Elizabeth Edwards.

Obama released his first two ads of the cycle in Iowa today. It was a relatively modest buy, but he is getting a lot of earned media out of it. They are by and large bio pieces and pretty traditional political ads.

The first ad is called "Carry" and emphasizes his ability to work in a bi-partisan manner and highlights his work in the IL legislature on health care among other issues.

The second ad is titled "Choices" and focuses on his work as a community organizer.

Interesting move not to put them in YouTube, but brightcove configured this way let me grab the code. No real big difference from a user perspective.

The coalition Together for Health Care has launched its third ad. This one is titled "1959" and features hardware store owner Craig Cowie. He talks about his store's rising health care costs and how it might force him to drop coverage for his employees.

The broad coalition Together for Health Care has launched it's second ad called "35 Years" featuring Dr. Richard Corlin, former president of the AMA, discussing the need for comprehensive health care reform this year. I hear that the ads are going up in Sacramento, Bakersfield and Fresno. The Central Valley push indicates they are targeting Republican legislators.

My friends over at It's OUR Health Care video taped Michael Moore's Q & A session following the Sacramento premiere of SiCKO. This is the last video of five, where Moore emotionally discusses the concept of We vs. Me and American values. It was a really touching and heartfelt ending to the night.

You can see the rest of the clips here.

Gov. Richardson just released the third in a series of humorous ads with a job interview theme. This one is on his energy plan and his record in New Mexico.

Slow news day, given the Republican debate yesterday, so here are a few interesting links, that aren't exactly our usual topics here, but related.

• Go dig around Open Secret's new presidential money site. I especially liked the industry donations breakdown and the California donations chart. You can look at the top zip codes and metro areas.
• Univision has announced two presidential debates, one for each party. Bill Richardson was the first one to indicate his attendance. They will be held in September and it will be interesting to see who decides to participate, especially on the Republican side.
• The SacBee looks at Hillary's attempts, but not fully successful efforts to woo Sacramento.

I don't believe I have put up Obama's full address to the CDP Convention. Here you go.

Oh a couple more videos, just for fun. For a bit of a laugh go watch Joe Trippi have issues baking a pecan pie. And check out Dodd on a plane. (h/t to CMR) Pie is better than plane, I have to say.

The Courage Campaign joins in the YouTube video fun today with one from Gov. Bill Richardson. Cut to the middle for remarks on health care and the environment.

Democracy for America has released another in their series of video responses from the Democratic presidential contenders. This time it is Barack Obama. He specifically references the Californian policy on carbon fuel standards.

During last night's debate the Democrats had an in-depth back and forth discussion on health care reform. You can watch the video below, but I would like to focus on two specific sub-topics, universality and how we pay for the needed reforms.

John Edwards directly addressed the lack of an individual mandate in Barack Obama's plan and Obama responded.

On this issue of mandatory and non-mandatory. People are not going around trying to avoid buying health care coverage. And in fact if you look at auto insurance, in California there is mandatory auto insurance. 25% of the folks don't have it. The reason is because they can't afford it.

So, John and I we are not that different in this sense that I am committed to starting the process. Everybody who want it can buy it and it is affordable. If we have some gaps that are remaining, we will work on that. You take it from the opposite direction, but you are still going to have some folks who are not insured under your plan John. Because some of them will not be able to some of them will simply not be able to be able to afford to buy the coverage that they are offered.

Obama is correct. No matter what we do, short of passing a single payer plan there will be people who will not be covered. There will be a percentage of the population that subject themselves to the punitive effects of Edward's proposal. It certainly should be much smaller than 25%, given that it is the less well off who often go without car insurance. That same population would have access to care in both Edwards and Obama's plans.

Dodd has released a new tv ad on global warming, focusing on his corporate carbon tax plan. The ad is now on the air in New Hampshire.

Democracy for America continues to roll out responses from the presidential candidates to talk about the environment. Here is Gov. Richardson's video on his energy plan.

Next time they might want to have him look to camera and not have him sit on a computer chair.

Barack Obama just sent this video to his email list, complete with a request to share your health care story. The video mixes Obama's speech with the story of an Iowa family going bankrupt due to their exorbitant health care costs.

The folks over at the Courage Campaign have been asking the presidential candidates to speak to Californian voters and answer a few questions. Today they are featuring a response from John Edwards. Here is the video. In it he talks about health care and the environment, with a bit of discussion of his international education program.

Another slow news day on the presidential campaign front. Today's YouTube is from an appearance by Senator Obama at a rally hosted by the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226, in Las Vegas, Nevada

Once again, Iraq is sucking up all of the oxgygen, so it's time to go into the YouTube archives. Here is Joe Biden on global warming.

Bill Richardson announced his official energy proposal in a speech to the New America Foundation today. He already had a fairly fleshed out energy plan, but this was the official rollout and he did make a few tweaks. Here are the highlights, directly from the just updated Choices for Working Californians Bill Richardson on Environment page.

Governor Richardson wants to cut oil demand by 50% by 2020 and change to 50% renewable sources for electricity by 2040. He wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% by 2040. He also believes it is crucial to lead by example and restore America as the world's leader on the environment. Richardson contends that we can do all of this without breaking the bank.

Previously, Richardson was calling for a 75% greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 now it is 80% by 2040. This is a significant and aggressive move, something Richardson notes is "10 years faster than what scientists say is necessary". A more minor change sees his call for CAFE standards to be raised to 50mpg by 2020, instead of in "10 years".

He is already getting high remarks in the larger blogosphere for his emphasis on transportation in his speech. Unfortunately, it is nowhere in his policy statement, but it is one place where he is definitely separating himself from the competition. Any talk about reducing oil dependency and greenhouse gases should go hand in hand with a discussion on public transportation and smart growth strategies.

They went for quirky fun, with a side of substance. There are two ads in this video, both of which are airing in Iowa. They are both titled "Job Interview". The first deals with Richardson's lengthy resume and the second his record in New Mexico with regards to jobs and education.

They are looking for feedback on the ads, which you can leave here.