Saturday, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean and about 400 Democratic Asian American party activists and officials filled the halls of the San Jose Marriott to attend the Asian American and Pacific Islander Democratic Leadership Summit (.pdf). Howard Dean was the keynote speaker and spoke on Saturday morning at around 9:30. He gave the DemocraticMessage, or what we perceived as the "Together, we can do better" speech. [Ed. note: is that the same or different from the "yeeeeaaaaargh!" speech?] For those who weren't there, and are interested, it is similar to the speech he gave to the Jewish Council of Public Affairs. The conference was energizing and uplifting with speeches from the first Asian American Boston City Council member Sam Yoon and from the first Asian American San Jose City Council member Madison Nguyen. The Saturday lunch speaker was Mike Honda, who spoke on leveraging an Asian American background to run for political office. Of course, no conference is without handouts. Consequently, there was an organizing tip handout given out in the late Saturday afternoon titled, "Democratic State Party Structures - How to Navigate and Move Ahead, Four Important Things to Know." This handout did not talk about how Democrats can win elections, but instead focused on the finer points of the Party such as becoming familiar with Robert’s rules of order. Who said that politics was all fun and games? Do not despair though, as another rule from the handout was to "ESTABLISH Political Convictions and Strength." (capitalization in original). Well, Asian-American Democrats, go change the world! Just make sure to do it according to Robert’s Rules of Order and only after establishing your political convictions.

So what happened with all those stories we've been telling you about all week? Fret no more! Here's your answers! *Madison Nguyen beat Linda Nguyen, 62% to 37%, for the District 7 San Jose city council seat. (Apparently people liked Madison's prior political experience, and may have been turned off by the flyers accusing Madison of having affairs with married men.) *Barry Bonds hit an almost-home run in his first game back, which was ruled a ground-rule double due to fan interference. He hit a single last night. No Old Navy splashdowns yet -- but only five games back from first in the division. *A second shipment of animals from Louisiana arrived yesterday, and will be housed in Marin and the Peninsula Humane Society. Awwww. *And it's day two of the Sutter healthcare workers' strike at Cal Pacific. Picture of Madison Nguyen from her campaign website more ›

San Jose voters will be putting the first Vietnamese-American woman into elective office in California today -- who will be named Nguyen. You're either reading a column by the Great Karnak -- or you already know that the San Jose City Council special election is between two Vietnamese-American women -- one of whom is named Linda Nguyen and the other of whom is named Madison Nguyen. They are not related. Nguyen is a very common Vietnamese name (there's an SF-based Smiths tribute band called the Nguyens, for instance) -- but that hasn't stopped folks from getting the two candidates mixed up. Madison Nguyen, who currently serves on the San Jose school board, is running on a more progressive platform, while Linda Nguyen is running on a more pro-business one (though both are Democrats). The main issue in the election, though, has been ethics -- since the winning Nguyen will assume the seat vacated by Terry Gregory for ethics violations -- and both Nguyens have accused the other Nguyen of unethical behavior. Polls are open until 8 today; expect a lot of "who's the Nguyen-ner?" type puns on the local news tonight. Picture from KRON.com. Linda Nguyen is on the left and Madison Nguyen is on the right. more ›