Since the Take Back Our City coalition/site seems not to be a going concern in this cycle, I put together my own spreadsheet of endorsements and recommendations. I thought others might find it helpful. I included Liberty City, Neighborhood Networks, NOW, Philly ADA, and Philly for Change. I also included the two Bar Associations' ratings and the endorsements from the Inquirer, Tribune, and Daily News, though I couldn't find any judicial endorsements from the DN - please comment with link if you see them.

If I missed an organization or media outlet that you think I should have included, feel free to comment here or by e-mail from the top-left cell of the spreadsheet.

http://bit.ly/PhillyDPrimary

Tomorrow on the Fourth Floor of City Hall at 11AM, Seth Williams will be holding a pretty exciting press conference.

He'll announce the endorsement of important Philadelphia progressive groups spanning from gay rights to poor people's organizing: Liberty City Democratic Club, ACORN, Americans for Democratic Action, Neighborhood Networks, and Philly for Change. These endorsements are a major vote of confidence from a lot of different and important constituencies, and I think reflect Seth's attention to how crime and the criminal justice system affect people's lives in different ways beyond a simple binary of victim and perpetrator.

He'll also unveil a new policy paper, dealing with economic justice. The proposal shows a great vision of how the DA's office has power to positively affect the lives of many more Philadelphians than it has in the past.

Also: stay tuned for another YPP-sponsored benefit for Seth coming up on May 8th. Email info@youngphillypolitics.com to get on the host committee!

This is, many of us keep saying, the moment we have been waiting for, the transformative moment in our politics when dramatic change is possible, when we will finally guarantee quality affordable health care for all.

As we keep saying it, we hear the other voices tell us that, no, we have to wait, that the economic crisis we face is too severe, requires too much attention, and will be too costly.

But a close look at history, at our present crisis and our politics, should teach all of us, including President-elect Obama that the pessimistic voices are wrong. This is the moment for health care reform.

And that is one reason you should come to the Neighborhood Networks Town Hall meeting tomorrow. For whether we actually we take advantage of this moment for health care reform is, in large part, up to us.

Date: Monday, November 17, from 7-9 PM.

Place: First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street

Here is why I think a major commitment on the part of the citizens of this country to health care reform will finally get us there.

Neighborhood Networks' Town Hall Meeting: "We Are the Change We Need" is almost here.

Date: Monday, November 17, from 7-9 PM.

Place: First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street

More detail about the conference is down the page. But first let me say a little about why this is such an important event.

It's a tumultuous time. Change is in the air, and there's much more to come. All of us who read or write on this blog want to be agents of that change and we want it to move in the direction of peace and justice.

In the last week we've been debating big issues, some that affect every person on earth, others that affect every Philadelphia kid who may have no place to swim next summer.

One question we haven't discussed -- although we have in the past -- is how do we organize ourselves effectively to influence the change.

It's barely 48 hours since the exaltation of Obama's win. But the mainstream effort to curtail Obama's progressive instincts has already begun, with a wide variety of politicians and pundits opining as on cue that the new president must go slowly, depend on Republican support, and delay perhaps indefinitely, anything that represents a real change of course. As progressives we have to fight that narrative tooth and nail.

Many of us put enormous energy into the fight to elect Obama. We owe it to all that we care about to fight like hell to make his Presidency a transformative one, not one that gets us all stuck in the middle of a potholed road. And so we must model ourselves after our new president. We must all become community organizers.