(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)
Finally. We’re finally at that point where we are actually electing delegates to serve our Party in Denver. Until Saturday, we’ve only known who our “superdelegates” in Denver will be. But this messy process of democracy that started on February 5 in schools, churches and homes across Colorado is finally winding down this month with the final selection of the National Convention Delegates representing Colorado.
Our first stop on this final leg was at Dakota Ridge High School. On Saturday, Democrats from across the Sixth Congressional District gathered there to put candidates on the ballot and, yes, to elect our national convention delegates from that district.
Now, one of the reasons you haven’t heard much from DemNotes is that I’ve been very busy on two tracks. First, I’ve been busy preparing for the State Convention on the 17th. The planning committee in Colorado Springs has been furiously and steadfastly working to prepare for a massive influx of people like we’ve never seen before at a State Convention. I’m sure there will be hiccups — there always are — but I’m convinced that the planning for this State Convention is going as well as it possibly could.
The second reason I’ve been so busy is because I’ve been working with the Obama campaign and the Party in preparation for these delegate selection meetings. It’s been a somewhat stressful time, one that’s involved more than a little yelling and cursing, and lots of back and forth among Party staff, the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign. In any event, what I’ve been doing has mostly been things that I can’t really write about. Even with all of the stress in our Democratic family leading up to Saturday, Saturday was (mostly) civil, especially once it was underway (there was a lot of tension early in the morning, resulting in at least one inexcusable instance of mild assault by one campaign volunteer on another campaign’s volunteer).
What made me proud, though, was the civility that I saw among the delegates. Clinton delegates respected Obama delegates, and vice versa. As I’ll explain below, it was a long day, and things could have easily gotten over-heated. But they didn’t. Folks kept their heads and the day went pretty smoothly.
The day started with a great influx of people. We arrived just after 7 am — the time that campaign volunteers and staff were told to arrive. However, there were already lines snaking to the doors — one for delegates and one for alternates. People were in a good mood, and it was a pretty sunny, if chilly, morning. Campaigns were handing out donuts and other snacks and drinks to keep delegates and alternates happy. Candidates for national delegate — there were over 300 in the 6th CD alone — were busy campaigning for votes to all of the different people out there.
Inside, preparations were going pretty well. The Sixth CD was a kind of test case — the State Party has put a lot of new plans into place to process the record numbers of delegates. Credentials were bar-coded and sent out beforehand. Problems with credentials were sent to a separate area, and were dealt with quickly. Once registration opened, the lines — that weaved all the way to the street — moved fairly rapidly and orderly. There were separate lines for Obama alternates and Clinton alternates. Most everybody agreed that the Party had a pretty clean registration operation.
The biggest snag of the day was the seating of alternates. Due to some issues with numbers and lists, alternates were not seated until about Noon (the assembly was supposed to start at 10 am). While delegates went into the gymnasium, where the Convention and Assembly was to be held, alternates were sent to wait in the auditorium. There, we did our best to keep alternates energized and engaged. I spent about an hour to an hour and a half emceeing an impromptu program which included speeches by just about every candidate for the State House, some county commissioners and county commissioner candidates, and various other dignitaries and candidates. When I ran out of folks to speak, I asked candidates for national delegate from both campaigns to come up and speak about themselves briefly. We alternated between Obama and Clinton candidates until we were visited by Jennifer Herrera, who is the Chair of the 6th C.D. She asked that the alternates have some more patience, as the alternate seating was about to begin, and encouraged folks to talk amongst themselves and to get to know each other as they waited.
Not long after that came the process of seating and credentialing the alternates. Party staff came in with credentials and called names. It was a longer process than most had anticipated, and I know that the Party staff and representatives from the Congressional districts will be working over this next week to streamline the alternate seating process for the three Congressional districts holding conventions and assemblies next weekend.
Once the CD Assembly started, people were happy to get down to business. While there were three candidates for Congress on the ballot, only one of those three ended up with the 30% necessary to make it to the ballot: Hank Eng. Eng did a great job organizing his supporters, and it apparently paid off. He’ll be a great nominee for us in the 6th CD, focusing on the issues facing the voters while the Republicans focus on beating each other up in their own primary.
Another nice surprise was the unopposed nominee for C.U. Regent — A.J. Clemons. Clemons is bright, personable, and an extraordinary speaker. Her presentation brought laughs and cheers — I can’t imagine a better candidate to represent us in the 6th C.D. than Clemons.
After the balloting for the Assembly, there was another brief period while the Convention alternates were seated. After introductions of the Presidential elector candidates, the convention split up into caucuses for the two candidates — Clinton delegates went across the hall to the auditorium while the Obama delegates stayed in the gymnasium. After all of the candidates for National Delegate were introduced, the two groups voted. Voting ran pretty smoothly, even though they were presented with ballot “booklets” several pages long due to the number of candidates.
What was very interesting was that after all was said and done, after all of the positioning and re-positioning of the campaigns, nothing changed. The delegate count was just what everybody thought it would be — 3 delegates and 1 alternate for Obama; 2 delegates for Clinton. Senator Clinton received 262 votes to Senator Obama’s 481 votes.
And, yes, we finally elected delegates. So, congratulations to our first pledged delegates: for Senator Clinton: Rebecca McClellan and John Petty; for Senator Obama: Robert Kihm, Marzette Bedford-Billinghurst, and Paula Noonan. And congrats also to our first pledged alternate: Carmine Iadarola for Senator Obama. By the way, Don Strickland was selected as the Presidential Elector for the 6th CD, as well.
Next weekend: we take what we learned from the 6th CD and apply it to three more CDs: The Seventh, the Second and the First. If you’re a delegate or an alternate to those meetings, be sure you show up!