California Democrats meet this weekend in San Jose for their annual convention, with the party’s progressive wing planning to back off on their ‘07 Bush impeachment calls and focus instead on winning in ‘08, Upton Sinclair-style.

“Our focus is going forward,” said delegate Marcy Winograd of the Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles (P.D.L.A.), who also sits on the state party’s executive board. “I hate to use the word ‘insurgent’; we consider progressive delegates as almost insurgent delegates…challenging fossilized incumbents who are too spineless to stand up to the Bush Administration.”

The state party meets this Friday through Sunday at the San Jose Convention Center. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) speaks Friday night. Former President Clinton comes in later this weekend to promote the possibly future President Clinton. California’s supercharged DNC super-delegates will be there too.

Both Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spoke at last spring’s state convention in San Diego, where progressive Democrats hung banners and passed out leaflets everywhere calling for White House impeachment. Despite progressives’ anger last year over Pelosi taking impeachment off the table, progressives this weekend have no plans to boycott or shout down Pelosi during her Friday night appearance.

“It’s a matter of messaging regardless of who the candidate is,” said Winograd, who in 2006 ran unsuccessfully in the 36th congressional district primary against U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice). Winograd estimates that about 35-40% of state party delegates are friendly to progressive issues.

Winograd’s P.D.L.A. already has endorsed Obama though the state party’s official progressive caucus has not. Progressives are being encouraged to run for openings on the party’s county central committees and keep fighting California’s prison-building industry and also mandate paper ballots as more reliable than electronic voting. As usual, progressives this weekend in San Jose will be at the ready with Jesse Jackson-like political rhymes including “healthcare not warfare,” and, “education not incarceration.”

Progressive Democrats running in upcoming races include Fran Pavley who hopes to replace State Senator Sheila Kuehl when the widely respected Kuehl is termed out this year in L.A.’s coastal 23rd District. Labor organizer John Perez also wants termed-out Speaker Fabian Nunez’s Assembly seat in the 46th district in L.A., where Perez is also the cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.