Rep. Barbara Lee Campaigns In San Leandro

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), whose congressional district now includes San Leandro, packed the Zocalo Coffeehouse in a Saturday morning campaign event that brought out about 100 supporters of her progressive brand of politics.

Lee was the only member of either house of Congress to vote against the legislation, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, that authorized the President to use force against any nation or group "to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States."

Relaxed and poised among a semicircle of supporters, Lee referenced the vote Saturday, saying that she could not support what amounted to a blank check letting the President go to war against any nation.

Lee, 66, is considered one of the most progressive members of Congress, and on the flip side is deemed one of the least friendly to conservative causes.

In the June primary election, she will face two conservative opponents: Marilyn Singleton, who advertises no party affilitation, and Justin Jelincic, who describes himself as a conservative Democrat and "Bible believing Christian."

Lee won re-election in 2010 with 84 percent of the vote in her former Congressional district.

Lee, who described herself Saturday as a person of faith, also said she strongly favored the separation of church and state and was concerned with what she described as the increasing intrusion of religion into politics.

"There is a war on women," Lee said, which included attempts to "take us back to the days of back alley abortions."

Local elected officials in attendance included Mayor Stephen Cassidy and Council Members Ursula Reed, Jim Prola and Pauline Cutter.

Patch blogger Craig Williams, who was among those in the audience, raised the issue of income inequality, which he made into .

The event was taped for the San Leandro Bytes web site. A link will be added when the tape is posted.

Zocalo co-owner Tim Holmes published a photo gallery of the event, including many shots of the audience.

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