Yesterday morning I was able to attend a breakfast fundraiser for Russ Warner, a Democratic challenger to House Rules Committee chair David Dreier in California's 26th congressional district. Also at the event, which drew perhaps 100 people, was Wes Clark, one of the many leading Democrats to endorse Warner in the race.

The program began with a press conference (which you can listen to here -- a 20.8 megabyte .wav file) during which Clark and Warner both spoke and took questions. Topics included the war in Iraq -- in which Warner's son served for 17 months -- Warner's electability against the very well funded Dreier, progressivism and the Democratic Party, immigration, education, gas prices and energy independence, and universal healthcare.

Later, General Clark and Mr. Warner spoke to the donors and other attendees (which you can listen to here -- a 21.2 megabyte .wav file), hitting on some of the same themes as the press conference. The most interesting moment from either speech, at least to me, came from Clark roughly 14 minutes, 40 seconds into the file.

"I think they went because 9/11 was a monumental policy failure by the administration and going to Iraq was a cover-up for that failure."

Clark stopped short of calling for a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq -- far short, indeed. Instead, the retired General called for more diplomacy, more soft power and more effective strength to improve the situation in the country. Said Clark, "We've got a choice in Iraq between an F on our report card and a D-. And I'd rather have the C-/D+ than the F." In other words, rather than pulling out today, America should make one last push to save Iraq from complete calamity.

Finally, I had about two minutes to talk to General Clark as he left the event for other commitments including a Beverly Hills fundraiser for Arkansas Democrat Mike Beebe, who's running for Governor in the state (you can listen to the shorter 2.3 megabyte .wav file here). His message to the progressive blogosphere sounded a lot like what Chris has had to say right here on MyDD.

Let's change Congress this year. We can do this. All we've got to have are the resources. We've got the candidates. They need support. That means we need to get into every one of them - all 435 of them - and make a difference.

One final note: as I wrote yesterday, while California's 26th district is going to be difficult to win, it provides the Democrats with one of the three or four best chances for a pick-up on the West Coast this fall. Congressman Dreier barely managed 53 percent of the vote in 2004 despite outspending his Democratic challenger by greater than a 52 to 1 margin, and this year the Democrats have a very credible candidate in Russ Warner.

Check out Warner's campaign website, throw him a buck or two and keep an eye on this race. Just by running a real candidate here, the Democrats can keep Dreier at home throughout the election season -- and more importantly keep him spending his bucks in the district rather than spreading his largesse to endangered Republicans. And if the right climate does indeed arise come November, Dreier might just find himself out of a job.