There was the debate between the Democratic Presidential Candidates between Hillary Clinton and Baracak Obama in Texas and aired by CNN and Univision. The debate was full of hot topics such as Cuba, Immigration, and Health Care Reforms. Other subjects came to the forefront of the discussion later on into the debate. The moderators were Campbell Brown for CNN and Jorge Ramos for Univision who did their homework before participating.

On the issue of Cuba, Hillary Clinton stated that she was willing to talk to Raul Castro when conditions such as release of political prisoners, opening of the political process, and some form of free elections and reconciliation. Barack Obama was forced to change his earlier position of meeting with the Castro Brothers in order to fit with the environment in Texas.

Immigration was another hot topic in which both agreed that they approved of the construction of the wall between the United States of America and Mexico only to see that the law split communities including the University of Texas Campus. Both candidates reiterated on the need to learn English but also to prepare for a bilingual and multilingual world. Both candidates acknowledged that the United States of America cannot afford to isolate itself from the rest of the world.

When Mrs.Clinton and Mr.Obama started to discuss Health Care, it appeared that the tension was building regardless of the language with Obama talking about a voluntary programme and Hillary Clinton talking about a mandatory programme. When Jorge Ramos of Univision attempted to ask Mrs. Clinton about whether Barack Obama was “Presidential Material”, Hillary Clinton cut him off by insisting on answering the questions on Health Care and the need to for it to be mandatory. Personally, it is not considered good manners nor presidential to cut off a journalist when he or she is asking a question. Mrs. Clinton may have lost some points with her interruptions. Campbell Brown appeared shocked that such an interruption occurred.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr.Obama started arguing with each other on the subject of plagiarism with Mrs. Clinton accusing Mr. Obama of “Xeroxing Changes”. This term appears to be a new one but Mr. Obama replied that he had received permission from his speechmaker and that “little subjects ” should not be addressed. Mr. Obama talked about the need toresolve the problems of getting the United States of America back on a stable course.

The winner in my opinion was Barack Obama, and the CNN Journalists in collaboration with Univision.

PS: I forgot to add that even though Obama won the debate, he did not answer the question I sent to him via CNN about his 210 Billion Dollar Recovery Package. Where will he get the money?

It was Democrats who created the minimum wage. They were always in the forefront where labor gains were concerned. But nowadays days are not “glory days.” It was Democrats who fought for Social Security, civil rights, and Medicare. Social equality is still a claimed Democrat priority, but these aren’t the “glory days.”

Environment is a contentious issue, and when there is a conflict between environment and profit, Democrats defend environment. The other guys defend profit. Preservation is a higher purpose than making money, but that doesn’t make these the “glory days.”

Democrats improved the economy and and achieved a deficit reduction during the Clinton years. They enacted a crime bill in spite of heavy opposition, but those were not the “glory days.”

Why not? And why so many defections from the working middle class which has benefitted so much from past Democrat effort? What’s missing?

Nothing is missing. Something has been added: a form of immorality. In its zeal to be all things to all people,the Party has tried to become all-inclusive and the voters’ perception of the Party has changed. Many of the faithful have deserted their Party because they can’t stomach their fellow travelers. Some have a deep-rooted moral aversion to abortion. Some believe the rights of law-abiding citizens have been subordinated in favor of predatory felons. Most abhor and are disgusted by social acceptance of sodomy and other deviant sexual practices. Their consciences force them to reevaluate ptriorities.

Rightly or wrongly, a very large number of defectors believe that permissive liberalism is responsible for moral decay, bastard babies, proliferation of drugs, crime and pornography, unwarranted welfare, suppression of public prayer, and practically evry other social evil. In their minds, lurks a simple equation. Democrat equals liberal, atheist, permissive, criminal-coddling, homosexual, and abortion.

I recognize the problem, but I don’t think desertion is a viable solution. The country needs two strong opposing parties. It needs a healthy, moral Democratic Party. The Party must be retaken by Moderate and Conservative Democrats and former Democrats.

People who believe, as I do, that the true meaning of G.O.P. is greed, oppression, and profit must not be silent, passive observers. We owe it to ourselves to reclaim our party.

Letters to the editors, call-in radio shows, probing questions put to candidates in the primaries, direct correspondence with elected representatives, and most important,the vote, are all tools capable of reshaping the Party.

Our Democratic Party has a shining past. We must not abandon it to the special interest fringes with immoral agendas. Let’s take it back!

This stance has tended to translate to a voter-base amongst the working class, the trade-unionists, and the religious and ethnic minorities. This translates into the sources of funding received by the party in terms of individual and group donations. Funding of presidential campaigns also comes in partly from the public purse, as it does for the Republicans, for both primaries and general elections.

Other money comes in from what are referred to as 527 groups. During the 2004 campaign cycle the top 527 groups to contribute to the Democratic campaign were America Coming Together, Joint Victory Campaign 2004, Media Fund, Service Employees International Union, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

Does this sound like today’s Democratic party to you? Yeah, me neither. How pathetic have we become when the Republicans can out-party us in every respect of the word? I hang my head. I mean, sure, Bill Clinton was kind of sleazy and all, but that boy knew how to party – politically and literally. It’s why we loved him so much.

The closest thing Democrats have to an agenda these days is doing the opposite of what the Republicans have done for the past seven years. I’m not saying its not a start, since there was so much being done wrong. But it doesn’t even come close to serious, well formed, well expressed party platform from which one might – oh, I don’t know, say – run a Presidential election, for example. Democrats are so busy trying NOT to be so many things, they haven’t taken a moment or to contemplate what they are. They’re trying not to be “too” pro-choice (like pregnancy, folks, you either are or you aren’t). They’re trying to not to appear to be pro-gay-marriage (though the truth is that most Democrats don’t much care personally whether two guys tie the knot or not). Democrats are so scared of losing the vote of the folks in the Midwest, they’ve become consumed with what they’re not.

But what are we? What do we stand for? What is important? And when, for the love of God, are going to stand up to the Conservative Right and say, “We respect your views on religion, abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage and taxation, but, frankly, we just think your wrong. You were wrong before, you tried to make it work, it didn’t and now it’s time to move over.” Then come up with platform positions that reflect that. Democrats have gone from being the party that championed civil rights, education, the space program and jobs programs in the 60′s, to being a party of panderers and placaters doing everything possible to obscure their true opinions.

We have one shot at greatness. We have the next ten months to put the party back together, to decide who we are and what we stand for. We are at a crossroad wherein we can either choose to continue in our current direction of inoffensive mediocrity, or turn in another direction, toward decisive and opinionated greatness. But we only have ten months. It only seems like a long time. So we need to get cracking and fast.

I love my party. I love what its accomplished in the history of this country. But we’ve been together a long time, and like any long-term relationship, its starting to show cracks and strain. Please, Democratic Party. Do something wonderful. Help me to remember why I fell in love with you when I was seventeen. Be the party I know you can be, so I can fall in love with you all over again.

After the War of 1812, the Democratic-Republican party began to divide, and the Federalist Party emerged from the party faction. When Andrew Jackson took office in 1828, the Democratic Party was finally formed. As the Democratic Party continued through the 19th century, the majority of Democrats supported slavery, and the majority of voting Democrats were found in the South.

As tensions began to rise in the country over the issue of slavery, the 1860 election went to Republican Abraham Lincoln because of split votes between Democrats Stephen A. Douglas and John Cabell Breckenridge. The Republicans held on to office during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, and it was not until 1884 when Grover Cleveland was elected president, that the Democrats held office.

In 1910, Democrats managed to get control of the House, which then led to the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and in 1916.

The election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 was by far one of the most influential presidencies in United States History. FDR’s New Deal legislation opened the door for many liberals in the country, and his policies affected the country for decades afterward.

During the Second World War and the years that made up the Cold War, Republicans began to take conservative and Southern votes away from the Democratic Party. However, there was a shift in African American votes as many began to vote Democratic as well as a large majority of people in Northern states.

In the 90′s Bill Clinton took office as a Democrat, and his liberal view points appealed to many in the country. Since the election of George W. Bush in 2000, the Democratic party seems to be growing momentum as it looks to take back the White House in 2008. This is apparent due to the Democratic sweep that occurred in the 2006 midterm election.

The Democratic Party was actually first known as the Democratic-Republican Party, but for short was called the Republican Party.

The Democratic Party was founded on May 13, 1792 by Thomas Jefferson, our third United States President.

At the time of its founding there were two different viewpoints regarding how government should exercise its power.

The Federalists or Hamiltonians led by Alexander Hamilton were in favor of a strong central government.

Thomas Jefferson believed in popular rule or rule by the people; and the rights of the states.

The Democratic Party ruled government for about 40 years beginning in 1801 when Jefferson was elected President. This period was sometimes referred to as the “era of good feeling.”

Although Jefferson believed in the power of the people he was like Hamilton and other government statesmen, an aristocrat. Andrew Jackson, not being an aristocrat, but a “backwooodsman” was the first President to bring the real power of the people to the White House. Andrew Jackson organized the Democratic-Republican Party into a real political machine that supported Jefferson’s strict adherence to the Constitution. During Jackson’s reign the party began to call themselves Democrats and this name has endured.

The Democratic Party was most prominent in the Southern states, but there were also Northern Democrats. The differing viewpoints of Northern and Southern Democrats caused a split in the Democratic Party over the issue of Slavery. Southern Democrats wanted to continue Slavery and Slave laws; whereas Northern Democrats were opposed to this. Slavery became an extreme political and economic issue with Southern Democrats wanting to extend slavery into new states and territories. They also upset the Democratic principles of strict adherence to the constitution by interpreting them in a very broad manner so as to extend slavery into new states and territories; and at the same time adhering strictly to states rights so as not to allow constitutional intervention. At the time Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was considered political propaganda by the Southern Democrats who believed in the Slavery issue.

Due to this aggravated Slavery issue, a new Republican Party formed in 1854. They were against Slavery.

With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1861, and during his administration the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were enacted which abolished

When the country was founded, it was known as the Democratic-Republican Party. They shared a different ideology than the Federalists. The Democratic-Republican Party would look out for the majority who were the little people while the Federalist Party felt that the rich minorities should only be protected. Thomas Jefferson and other influential Anti-Federalists made up the party.

In a sense, Thomas Jefferson founded both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The Jeffersonian Republican spirit seems to live on in today’s United States Democratic Party. Jefferson along with other Anti-Federalists late into the 18th centure opposed fiscal policies brought on by Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist. They wanted a strict constitution of the Constitution, a weaker central government promoting states’ rights even more, and in favor of the farmers and other smaller figures.

Because of the tyranny of the Federlists thinking their word is law because it’s the party elected into office, the Anti-Federalists or Anti-Administration was formed up from various factions. They very much opposed the Federalist’s Party rule which was dominated by Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton wanted a strong central government ruled by the “elite” which were the rich that loosely interpreted the Constitution.

Soon, the Federalists would lose power especially after the death of Alexander Hamilton at the hands of Aaron Burr in a gun duel along with the retirement of John Adams. But the split wouldn’t come until the 1824 elections with the Congressional nominating caucus. Those that had shown up supported William Crawford despite him being ill. They split. You had the “Old Republicans” and the “National Republicans.”

Old Republicans would be known as the Democratic Party since they supported General Andrew Jackson and Jackson was a Democrat. Under Jackson, the Democratic Party was made up of farmers, Irish Catholics, and political leaders from both a local

There are other ways of obtaining the neccessary funding as well. Nowadays, non-profits have to act like businesses in certain aspects in order to stay afloat on the water. If they don’t, non-profits have no way of functioning at all. The Democratic National Committee is pretty much a non-profit entity.

One of the most obvious forms of funding are through donations. I should know due to a brief experience with working on the John Kerry campaign a few weeks before ’04 Election Night. The donations come from everyday people like you and me. The more wealthy donors tend to favor the Republicans more than the Democrats due to differences in representation. The Republicans at this moment tend to favor the more well-off people. It shows that donations is one way that the Democratic Party can get its funding. There was a small box in the front office where people could donate between $5-500 each. There’s a limit on how much each person can donate.

A good number of donations come from notable actors, actresses, and musical artists. I remember there was this one site where it listed the names of celebrities that donated. Actors such as Ed Asner, Ted Danson, and Alan Alda each donated to the Democratic Party or Democratic Candidate. Most of the people listed donated to the Democratic side while only a few donated to the Republican side. Basically, it seems that Hollywood is on the Democrats’ side.

But there are other ways of getting funding. Each county and state Democratic Party and most definitely the DNC will have their websites. As the website is your business, the website is your organization. All the information on the organization will be on the website. Those types of websites will get hundreds of thousands to millions of hits in a day. The websites can pretty much affiliate with other websites. The people go to their websites through the DNC’s website, they get money. It costs nothing to affiliate. The residual revenue stream that comes from affiliations and ads contribute to the DNC’s funding.

It’s free to affiliate and can generate a good source of funding. It would be ridiculous not to take advantage of it. Websites are the biggest revenue drivers for any business or organization. The Democratic Party is by means no acception to this current fact. With websites, there are online stores. One can easily secure a vendor. The items are very inexpensive to make such as t-shirts, caps, and coffee cups and can be sold at a higher price. Even religious organizations whom are listed as non-profit entities do the same thing. Plus there’s new stuff being sold through the online stores which means more funding.

Basically, these are the different ways on who funds the Democratic Party and how it’s funded. Like many other things, funding is no exception to how things have to evolve in order to survive. Funding tactics have to evolve.