West Goshen Democrats

Congressman Joe Sestak invites you, your family, neighbors and friends to attend the 7th Congressional Workforce Development Summit, “Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Jobs,” on Tuesday, June 3rd in the chapel of The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades at 106 S. New Middletown Rd., Media, PA 19063.

This is an important opportunity for students, parents, educators, guidance counselors, business and civic leaders to consider a great challenge facing our region, and nation - how to engage, train and match our young men and women to the current and future workforce needs of the greater Delaware Valley. If you have children from middle school through high school and want to learn about the challenges and opportunities of their future careers, please attend. Also, if you are an educator looking for tools to mentor this generation and the next, or an employer planning to build a 21st century workforce with motivated, well trained, local craftsmen and craftswomen, Congressman Sestak hopes you will attend.

Congressman Sestak is hosting this event to complement earlier economic development and education summits as well as visits to, and meetings with, thousands of students, parents and leaders in business, labor and education. The overwhelming consensus of those the Congressman have engaged is that our collective energy must be directed — now — to curricula, policies, programs and where necessary, legislation that will help the 7th Congressional District lead this region in preparing our young people to compete for and win, high demand, high paying, artesian jobs. We must provide them the skills that will offer them and their families the security and prosperity they might otherwise miss if unready for an increasingly technical world.

Last year Congressman Sestak fought to secure federal funding for the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce Foundation workforce development effort and the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs at Cheyney University and Delaware County Community College. Beyond fighting for federal dollars we are also networking in productive and innovative ways that cost little and provide benefit to many. For example, the Congressman appreciates the efforts of Villanova University’s Engineering Department in reaching out to elementary schools to inspire future engineers, and the presence of Cabrini College on our Excellence in Community Education Working Group. However, much more needs to be done and this summit is dedicated to gathering your ideas on how we can move faster in the race to be competitive in a global economy.

Again, the Congressman hopes you will join me. Registration begins at 5:30 and the event will go from 6 to 9 PM. To pre-register, visit http://www.sestak.house.gov/workforce_signup.shtml or call 610-892-8623.

To download a brochure for this event: <a href=http//www.westgoshendems.org/downloads/workforce_flyer.pdf>workforce_flyer.pdf</a>

By John McIntyre
Barack Obama has had three previous opportunities to knock Hillary Clinton out of the race. First, in New Hampshire in early January where all the polls pointed to an Obama win; second, on Super Tuesday in early February where a win in California (where the polls were tied) would have been enough to cripple the Clinton campaign; and then most recently in Ohio and Texas in early March, where a popular vote win in either state would have been enough to effectively knock Clinton out of the race.

Senator Obama has another opportunity tomorrow in Pennsylvania - and this time he doesn’t even have to win. If he simply outperforms the latest RealClearPolitics Average which has him trailing by 5.9%, that will be enough to calm nervous superdelegates while all but eliminating any hope Senator Clinton has of claiming a popular vote victory.

Senator Clinton has a much higher hurdle. With time running out and Democrats increasingly anxious to turn their fire on John McCain, a win by 2-4 points along the lines of New Hampshire and Texas will simply not get the job done. Hillary Clinton needs a double-digit win.

Clinton will undoubtedly stay in the race with a 6-9 point victory, but at that point her chances for the nomination will be reduced to hoping for an Obama scandal or major gaffe that causes Obama’s campaign to implode. Not totally impossible. But, then again, not very likely either.

Where the race could get very interesting is if Clinton is able to beat Obama by double-digits. Something to keep in mind is Pennsylvania will be the first time Democratic voters, as opposed to pollsters, have had a chance to factor in some of the recent controversies surrounding Obama the last six weeks, in particular Reverend Wright and his “bitter” comments in San Francisco. A big win by Clinton may cause a reassessment of how damaging these issues might be to Obama. On the back of Senator Obama’s dismal showing in the Ohio River Valley among working class whites, his performance in Pennsylvania among downscale white voters will take on heightened importance.

A Clinton victory over 10 points will allow two critical things for the Clinton campaign.

1) Given the likelihood that Obama will overwhelmingly carry black voters and young voters, a 10+ point Clinton win, will mean Obama performed terribly among blue-collar whites. This will exacerbate angst among undecided superdelegates, fully aware that the most reasonable Democratic pathways to 270 electoral votes include wins in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey.

2) A double-digit win keeps Clinton in position to be able to ultimately claim a victory in the popular vote. And a win in the popular vote is critical to the Clinton campaign’s ultimate strategy for the nomination, as it gives superdelegates the rationale (and more importantly the cover) to buck all the emotional investment in Obama as the nominee.

Here is a quick guide to sort through the inevitable post-PA spin.

–Obama wins: Race is totally over.

–Clinton wins by 5 or less: Race is effectively over.

–Clinton wins by 6-9: Status quo, which favors the front runner Obama, particularly as the clock winds down.

–Clinton wins by 10-13: Clinton remains the underdog, but her odds of being the nominee will be considerably higher than the conventional wisdom in the media.

–Clinton wins by 14+: Totally different race, as Clinton will be on a path to claim a popular vote win that will give her every bit as much of an argument as the legitimate “winner”. In this scenario anything could ultimately happen, including neither Clinton nor Obama becoming the eventual nominee.

Welcome! Welcome, fellow West Goshen Democrats.

The West Goshen Democratic Committee of Chester County, Pennsylvania, in an effort to inform, educate and promote, want to welcome our fellow Democratic Party members from West Goshen.

Feel free to use this website as your vehicle to find out important information about local candidates, local events, your precinct information and your representative Democratic committee people.

You also have the chance to get involved with your local community by volunteering to help us promote Democratic values and causes by signing up through our online volunteer form.

We will be updating on a very regular basis, as the election season heats up. So please stop by often.

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