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She was a bit disappointed after the election, but has already sprung back into action on the issue of questionable electronic voting in the San Diego Busby versus Bilbray race. She will appear in a Town Hall meeting along with Brad Friedman of BradBlog and others next week to discuss that issue.
Winograd will continue to apply pressure upon Harman to represent her constituents, is considering another run for the 36th US House District in California in 2008, and is considering organizing a 'Shadow Congress' for her district, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.
'Yes I'm accepting it [the election outcome]. We got 38% of the vote. 15,000 to 26,000. We didn't have enough time. I was a virtual unknown to many of these people 6 months ago. It's a question of resources,' Winograd told Atlanta Progressive News in a phone interview.
Winograd believes that by the time 2008 comes she may have sufficient name recognition among voters to get that extra 13% to tip the scale.
'I'm organizing a Winograd for Congress Exploratory Committee. All the accounting will roll over. And we'll keep the pressure on. [Harman] said she was withdrawing the troops right away. Let's hold her accountable,' Winograd said.
'All the while I'll be waiting in the wings,' Winograd said.
'I'm considering it because it was a sizable investment,' Winograd said.
'The Shadow Congress would be using the exploratory committee to raise funds to hold organizing meetings to look at key issues and to hold (Harman) accountable,' Winograd said.
'Look if you don't address these issues, if you continue to vote to fund the war and nuclear weapons, and suspension of civil liberties, then Marcy will run again,' Winograd said.
Jane Harman appears to have taken increasingly less 'watered down' approaches, since Winograd presented a viable alternative, The Nation Magazine said.
'Not long after I entered the race she signed a discharge petition calling for Kucinich's [Iraq War] resolution onto the floor. She also joined Conyers to speak out against illegal wiretaps. She got increasingly confrontational in terms of Bush and the wiretaps. She finally said she would support removing the troops from Iraq, and oppose a preemptive attack on Iran unless, she left a caveat, if the intelligence is impeccable,' Winograd said.
'I see it as an accomplishment,' Winograd said.
'It effects the Democratic leadership when you launch a viable challenge to [people like Harman]. People get scared,' Winograd said.
Winograd seemed somewhat down immediately following the election.
'It's hard. I took a lot of criticsm from within the party and I'm sure that will persist,' Winograd said.
'My real loyalty is to the people, to the children and their children and to future generations. Not to a political party that may not see the bigger picture,' Winograd said.
'The Los Angeles Times ran a front page story in the middle of the campaign about how Pelosi wanted to bounce Harman off the Intelligence Committee. Perhaps my candidacy provided some cover for her doing that. The reason was that Harman is too Republican-like,' Winograd said.
The Times ran a full article on Winograd's campaign and mentioned her 5 other times, she said.
California progressives US Senator Barbara Boxer and Rep. Barbara Lee 'took a lot of heat' for endorsing Harman prior to her filing deadline, Winograd said.
'Even if she receives 62%, and I received 38%, no one wants to receive rejection from one grassroots club after another or hear their record excoriated on the radio,' Winograd said.
Harman had lost a number of Democratic club endorsements, was not able to get a pre-endorsement from the Democratic Party, and lost a number of organizational endorsements to Winograd.
'It's not ok for lawmakers to sequester themselves in Washington and refuse to meet with grassroots activists. There were so many people who felt disenfranchised in the 36th district and they saw my campaign as a ray of hope,' Winograd said.
From Atlanta Progressive News
--About the author: Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor and a National Correspondent for Atlanta Progressive News and may be reached at
