With the California State Primary less than three weeks away, Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich claimed first place in the straw poll at a presidential forum composed of four democratic clubs in Los Angeles.

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With the California State Primary less than three weeks away, Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich claimed first place in the straw poll at a presidential forum composed of four democratic clubs in Los Angeles.

Over 200 members of the West LA, Westchester, LAX, and Loyola Marymount Democratic Clubs participated on Monday night, Jan. 14, at Loyola Marymount University.

Sharon Jimenez, of Icon Imaging PR, represented Kucinich at the forum. The debate was lively and, at times, heated, as the audience received strong presentations from all the candidate proxies. Jimenez reports, "I think Kucinich came in first in the voting because it is now clear to so many Californians that he is speaking the truth, and he is a fighter … he campaigned in Michigan, fearlessly challenging the stripping of delegate votes in the state by the DNC—that's a fighting Democrat!"

Jimenez is the wife of Bob Jimenez, Communications Director for California State Senator Ron Calderon. Cara Robin, chair of The West LA Democratic Club, organized the debate.

Kucinich took first place in the first round of voting at the Palisades Democratic Presidential Forum at the Pacific Palisades Women's Club on the same evening. L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl represented Dennis Kucinich at the event. Kucinich ultimately claimed second place after three votes in which Obama and Clinton supporters got behind Edwards.

Rosendahl noted very strong support for Kucinich among Palisades Democrats, saying "I received a great response when I announced that Dennis Kucinich had won the court challenge against NBC to be included in the presidential debate. Obviously, Democrats want to hear from Kucinich!" Rosendahl represents the LAX/Palisades/Westside district.

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.