About Us

Bay Area Democrats: Politics without Cynicism. Issues without Self-Interest.

Bay Area Democrats is a network of private citizens active in national Democratic Politics. Our mission is to improve the quality and quantity of policy and financial support by Bay Area residents to national Democratic elected officials.

Over the last decade in Bay Area, the number of Democrats interested in participating in national politics has grown dramatically. With six years of experience organizing free and low-cost events for our members, we know that we can continue to expand the number of people who participate, and improve the quality of what it means to participate, for all national Democrats who live here.

Thank you for your interest.


RECENT NEWS


6/10/08 - Barack Obama is $100M man

The Hill - Story
"One hundred million dollars this June - it’s definitely within reach," said Wade Randlett, who has raised more than $200,000 for Obama.

Randlett said Obama would not likely reach the awe-inspiring total if he limited himself to contributions that could only be spent before the August convention.

"The big question is when we really open the floodgates to general-election money," he said.

Randlett said there are three reservoirs of Democratic money available.

"First, there are the people who have not maxed out to Obama," he said, citing donors who may have given a total of $500 in small chunks. "Then there are the Hillary folks - that’s a second very large bucket. The third large bucket are the people who thought, ‘I’m not sure who’s going to win’ and put small bets on either candidate.

"There were a significant number of people keeping their powder dry because they were unsure who was going to win," he said.


5/30/08 - Poll: California Democrats lining up for Obama

San Jose Mercury News - Story
Obama supporters seemed ecstatic about the results of the Field Poll.

"It shows that California voters have now come to the conclusion that Barack is a serious candidate who is likely to be the next president of the United States," said Wade Randlett of San Francisco, a member of the Obama campaign's national finance committee.


4/2/08 - Democrats return to California, their political ATM

San Jose Mercury News - Story
Wade Randlett, one of Obama's fundraising co-chairs, said people who have never been politically active are "basically calling 411 to say, 'where can I see him?'"

Obama will first appear at the Atherton home of tech executive Sohaib Abbasi and his wife, Sara, and later at the San Francisco home of developer Alex Mehran and his wife, Carolyn Davis.

Randlett, who in summer last year chastised Clinton for running an "inevitability campaign," said Tuesday that Obama's nomination now appears inevitable.

"Three months of campaign results now put him on track where he's the all-but-certain nominee," Randlett said. "Barack is going to wind up with more pledged delegates, and superdelegates are not going to overturn the will of the voters."


3/5/08 - Did negative campaigning save Clinton?

KGO News - Story
"It's a sad but true fact that negative ads work in America. I wish they didn't," says Obama fundraiser Wade Randlett.

Randlett isn't alone. ABC7 political analyst, Bruce Cain, thinks the ad is probably the single biggest factor in Clinton's surge. He also thinks it was negative.


2/16/08 - Clinton Looks to California to Compete with Obama's Fundraising

San Jose Mercury News - Story
Wade Randlett, an Obama fundraising co-chair in San Francisco, expects that in the final campaign stretch, 90 percent of donations will be Internet driven - and, as has been the case throughout Obama's campaign - will come in small amounts from scores of donors. The other 10 percent will come from campaign events, with big name surrogates standing in for Obama. Randlett hopes former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley or former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle might make appearances in California to raise money for Obama.

"The longer you stretch this out, the clearer it is that marginal new participation makes a difference," said Randlett. "If you thought it was going to be wrapped up on Feb. 5, and on Feb. 6, this thing is still going on, you think, 'maybe I should get involved.' That's been a very motivating reality. They suddenly are motivated to write the check."


2/7/08 - Millions of cell calls for Clinton: Big effort to contact list of likely backers gave her the state

SF Chronicle - Story
Wade Randlett, a leading supporter of Obama in California, said the challenges in the state included "the huge number of people, the expensive media markets" and the "very big brand" of the Clinton name in California.

"For anyone to come from zero and try to overcome (that) is an uphill climb," he said, "and we didn't get over the top of the hill."


2/06/08 - Still a long slog for Clinton, Obama: Democratic presidential race still a long trek

SF Chronicle - Story
Wade Randlett, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for Obama in California, said the night's returns showed that Obama had been able to close a onetime 25-point deficit. And Obama has defied expectations, he said.

"We will know that Barack can not only win young voters, but pull them out in massive numbers," he said.