First of all, I would like to announce that Nancy Pelosi NEVER agreed to debate me and her other two opponents. Last week, on KQED, she said that she would "never hesitate" to debate anyone, but HER OFFICE WOULD NEVER EVEN ANSWER US! She has NEVER debated anyone. Pelosi knows that she has an indefensibly deplorable record and that I would show her for the hypocrite that she is. It’s one thing to say that she is against the occupation of Iraq and then continue to fund it. It’s one thing to tell the Wall Street banksters that the "party is over" but then give them 700 billion dollars to continue whooping it up on taxpayer’s money. It’s one thing to say that she represents San Francisco values but then does not impeach the most criminally corrupt President in history against the wishes of her district. Pelosi should have had the courage and respect for her constituents and the democratic process to answer why she gave Bush and the telecom companies immunity from spying on us without warrants and why she allowed the war criminals to continue their policy of torture. Pelosi knew that debating me would be a disaster for her, so although she’s been in the district for many days now doing interviews and fund raisers her time was "compressed" and she didn’t have time to face her opponents and the voters of California’s 8th district.

Last night, Cindy for Congress had one final volunteer meeting before the polls open at 7 AM today. A young Latino gentleman, whom I have never met before, came into HQ and told me that he waited in line at City Hall (for 4 hours, that’s another entire conversation) to early vote and he talked to 40 people who all voted for me. Not one person he talked to voted for Pelosi. I got this email from a voter named Matthew this morning:

I have voted early and voted democrat for all seats but sf’s 8th district.  I VOTED FOR YOU.
I worry how Ms. Pelosi can be outed (sic) since I can’t find one person who voted for her.

Our volunteers who were out doing visibility and canvassing today reported overwhelmingly positive experiences and I have had the same sort of experiences myself lately as I have been out campaigning. It seems like there has been such a shift in this city since we qualified for the ballot in early August.

In talking to our staff and volunteers tonight and reflecting on the past 15 months of campaigning, I realized that I had many false assumptions about how the campaign would run and am gratified at how great things did turn out!

When we first came here in August of 2007, we had a dinner for some of our friends and activists here in town. I believed that my campaign would get a lot of support from the anti-war movement, but even though many of the groups/leaders have endorsed Obama (who is not a "peace candidate" by any stretch of the imagination), they claimed that they couldn’t endorse or help me because of "non-profit" status. Consequently, the natural base that we believed that we would have did not materialize and we had to seek support elsewhere to build our campaign.

Secondly, back in August 2007, no one had any idea who would be the nominees for President. I knew, however, (based on history) that the Presidential race would not focus on important issues, and I have been proven to be correct. We have had a 24/7 dosage of candidate associations; flag lapel pins; who loves Jesus or America more and how much is spent on clothes or how many houses each candidate owns.

I believed that the race in California’s 8th district would be the perfect chance to put important issues into the national dialogue since I was running against the Speaker of the House and I did already have name recognition and had been in the media previously. I never anticipated the near total black out of news about the campaign from establishment/corporate media! Even most of my so-called progressive media friends shut me out. Only KPFA and Green 960 gave me a platform with token appearances on other sources. The SF Chronicle only covered the campaign when it would have been patently obvious that they were ignoring Cindy for Congress. We have brought up serious solutions to the profound problems this district and nation face and the black out of our campaign is disgraceful and so transparent. Nancy Pelosi has done several interviews here in the district in the past week and I want to know how that can be fair when she has a fierce competitor who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars here in the district campaigning against her? I am actually the only person running for Congress here who is actually campaigning and the media has shamefully continued their fantasy of one-party rule here in San Francisco.

Despite the challenges, I am so proud of this campaign. We have raised a decent amount of money without party backing and having to build our base from scratch. We have placed thousands of signs and tens of thousands of pieces of literature all over the district. Hundreds of people have made thousands of phone calls for us and we made history by even getting on the ballot!

The thing I am most proud of, though, is that CFC never sold out our vision or our principles for money or votes. We were told by early "consultants" that I should change my message (ie: not talk about peace or impeachment or the toxic problems of Bay View) and change the way I dress, talk, and write. Our "consultant" actually came to me with an offer for tens of thousands of dollars from Tom Delay’s (dirty, former House Majority Leader from Texas that was forced to resign from Congress in disgrace) PAC! As you can imagine, that "consultant" did not last long!

Cindy for Congress has won victories every day that our office stayed open despite the attacks and the marginalization of our campaign. We ran a courageous campaign and hung in there with our platform and vision even when the days were darkest and we couldn’t pay our rent. We never gave up and we never once doubted that what we are doing is the absolute right and honorable thing to do.

Win or lose today, I am winning or losing with my integrity and our vision intact. We have been supported by so many of you that it will continue to grow and blossom and Nov. 4th is only the beginning of a movement that just also happened to be a political campaign.

Thank you so much for your incredible support. I am honored by your confidence and your commitment to hope that comes from true change.

Stay tuned for breaking news from the campaign throughout the day!

On our way to VICTORY!

Love & Peace

Cindy

Watch this great video/song called "Hey, Hey Nancy"

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