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The meeting was devoted to presentations and Q+A for candidates and their representatives as follows:

The meeting was devoted to discussion of the GOTV campaign for the November general election and presentations by and questions for the following candidates:

The Voting Integrity Alliance of Tampa Bay gave a presentation and film. President Pamela Haengel explained that this group is a non-partisan citizens group that has recently requested an audit of the March 7^th municipal election in Pinellas County. The film described the voting machine problems caused by the lack of a paper trail. They are not secure. Although many states have mandated paper trails, Florida has not. Also present was Bill Bucolo, Communications Director for the Alliance, who presented the film Ms. Haengel took post-film questions.

April Griffin, Candidate For Board Of Ed and representatives of the Rod Smith Campaign spoke to the audience.

May 9 - 40-50 of our members and supporters "greeted" the President on his entry to Kings Point. We received good press coverage in the local media, including the Sun, Trib and St Pete Times.

15-20 of our members made it inside, sat during the President's arrival and managed to ask a detailed question concerning the deficiencies of Medicare Part D, that the President ignored.

May 4 - Panel discussion on the Iraq War, by members, Joe Bohren, Ross Chandler, Oscar Kramer, Perry Miller.

Pat Crow introduced Phil Compton of FCAN, who discussed preparations for the protest of President Bush's visit to Kings Point on May 9.

Dave Nicholson described his "Windhunter" project which will produce hydrogen from a sea mobile platform of wind turbines.

We receive visits from the following candidates or their representatives: James Davis, running for Congress from the 12th congressional district, April Griffin, running for the county school board, Lauren Hallahan, for Rod Smith, running for Governor, and James Rowell, running for county commissioner from district 7 (countywide). Mariella Smith, from the Sierra Club, noted the 2 wins we've had against the Little Harbor developers and reminded us there is another hearing at the County Center May 24th at 9 a.m.

April 6 - Election of officers and amendments to bylaws. See "Officers" page for names of the new officers and board.

Glenn Wright spoke briefly on the Get Out the Vote campaign, stressing the need to organize now for the fall election. Sign-up sheets for precinct captains were placed on the tables. Also available were slips with our new web site designation.

Pat Crow gave his talk on "How Propaganda and Spin Shape Elections". Negative ideas are presented positively by the Republicans and vice versa. The Democrats were described as more idealistic and honest; it is important to hang onto those values.

We received a visit from Steve Gorham, who is running for the Florida Senate against Rhonda Storms. He spoke about his values and future plans.

Karen Thurman, Chair, Florida Democratic Party, spoke to a group of 140 at a luncheon meeting of the Democratic Club of Greater Sun City Center on Thursday March 2, at the Club Renaissance.
She spoke of the work the state party is doing in fund raising, candidate recruitment, campaign coordination and get out the vote campaigns. Of particular interest were her comments on what local Democratic Clubs and activists can accomplish in aiding these efforts.