DEMOCRATS FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION RELEASES LIST OF BOLD-FACE NAME SUPPORTERS FROM ACROSS USA

DPE Momentum Continues To Grow

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, Democrats For Public Education (DPE) released a list of bold-face names who signed on as supporters for the newly-launched organization. DPE is a 527 formed to show that Democrats remain united around a core set of principles to ensure public education thrives for generations to come. Since officially launching on August 19th, 2014, scores of elected officials, party leaders and activists at all levels of government - and from communities in all 50 states - have already added their names as supporters.

"In less than two months since officially launching, its no surprise that Democrats for Public Education has already enjoyed such a flood of support," said DPE Co-Chair Denise Juneau, Montana State Superintendent of Instruction. "These folks understand that a high-quality public education is an economic necessity, a moral imperative and a pillar of democracy. We believe we should be lifting up and championing public education, teachers and our neighborhood schools - by investing time, energy and resources."

Below is just a small sampling of Democrats from all across America who have signed on to support DPE:

• Parris Glendening - Former Maryland Governor
• Mark Schauer - Candidate for Governor of Michigan, Former U.S. Representative
• Lon Johnson - Michigan Democratic Party Chair, DNC Member
• Ray Buckley - New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair, DNC Vice-Chair, ASDC President
• Wallace Collins - Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair, DNC Member
• Karen Carter Peterson - Louisiana Democratic Party Chair, Louisiana State Senator, DNC Executive Committee
• Diane Ravitch - NYU Research Professor of Education, Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education
• Rita Solnet - Co-Founder of Parents Across America, Former PTA President and Former School Advisory Board Member for Palm Beach County Schools
• Alice Huffman - California NAACP President, National Board of Directors of the NAACP, DNC Member
• Doris Crouse-Mays - Virginia AFL-CIO President, DNC Executive Committee
• Minyon Moore - Former Assistant to the President, Director of White House Political Affairs and Director of White House Public Liasion under President Clinton, DNC Executive Committee, Democratic Strategist
• Maria Cardona - Former Senior Advisor and spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign, former Senior Vice President for the New Democrat Network (NDN), served as Deputy Press Secretary and Press Secretary at the Department of Commerce, former Communications Director the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Strategist
• Loretta Weinberg - New Jersey State Senate Majority Leader
• Martha Fuller Clark - New Hampshire State Senator, First Vice-Chair of New Hampshire Democratic Party, DNC Member
• Rich Madaleno - Maryland State Senator
• Bonnie Watson Coleman - New Jersey Assemblywoman, candidate for Congress
• Edie McClafferty - Member, Montana State House of Representatives
• Margie MacDonald - Member, Montana State House of Representatives
• Ellen Cogen Lipton - Member, Michigan State House of Representatives
• Mimi Stewart - Member, New Mexico State House of Representatives
• Joel Briscoe - Minority Caucus Manager and Member, Utah State House of Representatives
• Anita Bonds - District of Columbia Council Member At-Large, DNC Executive Committee
• Barbra Casbar Siperstein - New Jersey Democratic State Committee Vice-Chair and DNC Executive Committee
• Andres Ramirez - Vice-Chair, DNC Hispanic Caucus
• Karren Pope-Onwukwe - Attorney and DNC Member, Maryland
• Lottie Shackelford - Chair of DNC Women’s Caucus, Former Mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas
• Maggie Allen - Principal at Windsor Elementary School (Maine), DNC Member

Last month, Democrats For Public Education (DPE) released the results of a national voter survey showing voters back public education in large numbers. You can view the poll memo on its findings here.

For more information – and to sign-up as a supporter – please visit www.DemocratsForPublicEducation.com.

New Phase and Shifting Balance: Democrats consolidate progressive base while Republicans in deepening trouble

From Democracy Corps


The latest national survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for Democracy Corps and Women’s Voices. Women Vote Action Fund shows a Republican Party in deepening trouble and emerging underlying trends that may have shifted the balance for 2012. Barring sudden economic shocks, there is accumulating evidence that we have entered a new phase in the political cycle, substantially more favorable to the Democrats.


This survey sees a collapse of the Republican brand at almost all levels. Negatives associated with the Republican Party have not been this high since right after they lost the country in 2008. Their presumptive nominee flirts with a 50 percent negative rating and may now represent a big drag on the national party. 

President Obama nears the 50 percent mark and is now just four points away from what he achieved in 2008. Democrats have newly consolidated the progressive voters of the Rising American Electorate who were responsible for Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008. These voters—unmarried women, young voters, and minorities—dropped off in 2010 and lagged throughout 2011. They have returned in a big way for Democrats, led by a resurgence and re-engagement of unmarried women. Only young voters have not been re-consolidated, which is either a problem or an opportunity.
 

“The Rising American Electorate, unmarried women especially, is largely responsible for the gains Democrats are making and this survey demonstrates in vivid terms the importance of the RAE to the progressive base.”


-- Page Gardner, 
Women's Voices. Women Vote Action Fund

Seniors, who abandoned Democrats in 2010, have come back two surveys in a row and suburban swing voters watch the Republican primary debate with growing alienation from the Republican Party. The tax issue, a presumptive Republican advantage, has moved dramatically in favor of the Democrats.

These results may not simply be the result of a spot of good economic news and rough news cycles for Republican nominees, but the beginning of long-term structural changes that will characterize the 2012 election cycle.

Recent controversies over Planned Parenthood and contraception will not revive the Republican’s standing, indeed, the opposite may be true, as this survey shows voters disagree with them on principle and wonder why at a time of great economic distress, Republicans are consumed with denying birth control coverage for women.

This survey provides fair warning to the Republican Party that they may be losing the country.

A more detailed analysis of these results can be found at Democracy Corps.