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Obama almost lost a delegate today.
My wife and I just returned from voting in our Congressional District Convention/Assembly (CD6) in Colorado a few minutes go. Many Obama delegates and alternates didn't show up. We were unable to fill all the Obama seats from Arapahoe county. Campaign organizers were frantically calling missing delegates and begging them to come down to the convention. It was a close thing and the Hillary supporters were out in force.
The Assembly was in the morning and Hank Eng won the CD6 nomination. He will be running against Tom Tancredo in the fall. The Convention for CD6's national delegates, 5 plus 1 alternate, was in the afternoon and that's where we were short. Luckily, many people responded to the calls and jumped in their cars to drive down and fill vacant seats for the afternoon. We did finally get enough for Jefferson county. If they hadn't come, one of the national delegates might have gone to Hillary instead of Obama.
Many Obama delegates are new to the process and some are missing some of the arcane steps required to actually complete the process of carrying the voter's voices forward. It seems the Hillary folk are more likely to be longtime party participants who know the ropes. In another year, this might have made no difference. This year, we need to keep our eye on the ball and follow through.
If you are a state or congressional level delegate or know someone who is, be sure to keep in mind that the results from months ago are not always chiseled in stone just yet. It's vitally important to keep in touch and keep doing everything you can to see this through.
A last note, this is not because the Obama campaign isn't following through because they are. We got multiple phone calls and we both got letters reminding us of the upcoming conventions, both congressional and state. It's just that not enough of the delegates are following through.
Comments (34)
Jeez. Formatting sucks. How many times do you have to hit return to get a paragraph break in the blog software?
Oh well, it's legible.
May 3, 2008 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, someone needs to get a handle on this kind of thing. I've seen a couple of reports like this and I'm sure a lot of instances are being unreported. Hopefully the Clinton gains are being offset by Obama gains elsewhere.
Surely we've got enough eggheads following these stories for someone to be keeping count of how many of the delegates chosen at the district our county level are getting replaced by another candidate's delegates because someone just didn't show up to the final convention. Anyone got a link?
May 3, 2008 8:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting post. Thanks.
May 3, 2008 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll be honest, I've never followed the delegate counts this closely in recent elections - meaning once a state was over I pretty much moved on. This time we really have to pay attention to the delegate process at every step of the way.
And, the more I learn about, the more it seems like a Rube-Goldberg machine.
May 3, 2008 8:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
And every state is different. I don't see how mortal humans can keep track of all of the variations.
May 3, 2008 11:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously. Chuck Todd is just the latest reincarnation of the Highlander.
May 3, 2008 11:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who wants to live forever, anyway?
May 4, 2008 12:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
An important post.
It's a reminder that "get out the vote" has always been a major factor in election results in this country. People get passionate about this candidate or that candidate but then lose passion over time, people get interested in a particular race because at the time the issues in the race interest them, but then move on to other things. (Heck Karl Rove in the past has been a known expert in exploiting this, knowing when and how and more particularly where to specifically get out the vote, even if you have to send buses to get those single issue voters to the polls in a single district) This is why it's the party regulars, the stalwarts who work within the parties, day in,, day out, who end up getting things done, and it usually goes their way, and I guess, why shouldn't it, it's more their political party, than that of fans of one particular presidential candidate.
May 3, 2008 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh I should add that you and your wife deserve high praise for being there and following through on what you promised to do!
May 3, 2008 9:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks. It's been interesting, educational, and at times boring. This is the second Saturday we've spent 8 hours sitting in a basketball gym on bench seats listening to speeches and voting on local party platform issues while building up to the meaningful votes. We have one more to go with the state convention in Colorado Springs in 2 weeks.
It's springtime in the Rockies and there are 10,000 things to do outside on a Saturday. I'm sure this has a lot to do with waning interest and loss of focus. Still, there's work to be done or we might let some more chances slip through our hands. After this experience, I'll be a strong advocate for simplifying the Democratic Party's nominating process. The maze of applications, credentials, conventions, and rules are not conducive to wide public participation.
May 3, 2008 10:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Might I suggest that you send your post to the Obama campaign? National, that is. They need to know about some of the things you mentioned that surely would apply to other states, particularly this part:
May 3, 2008 11:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Already done. Let's hope it helps.
May 4, 2008 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
artappraiser:
I'm glad your read this post because I recall this being one of your recurrent themes in discussion this year's election, namely, what happens after the entertainment program ends.
It's a real treat to read this post, and the one by the other Billy that's on the recommended list this morning. Good way to begin a Sunday.
Bruce
May 4, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
bslev,
Gonna make this quick since I don't have a lot of time and don't know if you will come back to this thread. On that theme of mine, what popped into my mind this time, with this thread, was Perot's party. Perot's party was started by a lot of very passionate people, but it disintegrated and died after the power of his personality wasn't there to drive it, they couldn't unify all the single issues passionates. It's the power of personality issue and whether the charismatic leader can transfer it to greater goals. (Also got me thinking that lots of Perotistas are still out there, they are now Lou Dobbs fans :-))
May 5, 2008 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
We had the exact opposite situation in the State of Washington. Too many people trying to get further up the food chain. I wonder what the difference in organization, or demographics was?
May 3, 2008 11:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Part of it was definitely our county party organizations. We attended the county convention as delegates and were registered for the CD and State beforehand. The list for CD that was posted in the week following our county convention by our county party didn't have our names on it, although we were on the State list. We then proceeded to make other plans for May 3rd because we hadn't been selected. A week ago we get a call from our precinct captain asking if we were going to the CD convention. Turns out the list that was posted on the county party site for 3 weeks was incomplete, we were selected to the CD after all. Then our credentials came in the mail middle of this week. Without the heads up from the precinct captain, we might have been out of town when this went down and more seats would have gone vacant.
It seems the existing local party structure has been strained to the breaking point by a 4 to 8 fold increase in participation this year. The good news is we have an excellent chance of taking back Allard's Senate seat and Tancredo's House seat due to the huge interest in Democratic nominees this year.
May 4, 2008 12:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
ARGH!
THE SCHOOL BASICS FOR POLITICS ARE
REATHIN'
RIDIN'
AND RAMMIN' WENCHES!
THIS IS PIRACY 3.0 DON'T YOU KNOW! JUST LIKE THE CLINTON YEARS!
BRING BACK THE CORPORATE RAIDERS! WE WANT THE 90S BACK UNDER WENCH HILLARY!
ACQUIRE! MERGE! MARAUD! DILUTE! DILUTE!
ARGH!
May 4, 2008 12:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Have a Rum Runner on me Peet!
May 4, 2008 12:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Glad Obama didn't lose a delegate today, so in a race where every delegate counts, I pray we do get a handle on things. Thanks for the eye opener.
May 4, 2008 1:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, this disturbs me. At my county convention, all the seats were filled for delegates, and the rafters were filled with alternates. All there at 8:00 a.m. sharp on a Saturday morning.
May 4, 2008 3:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Our County Convention was like that as well. There were 3200 seated delegates from the caucuses and 1200 alternates. Very few alternates ever got seated as the turnout among seated delegates was phenomenal. Most alternates spent their day in limbo, only to be turned away in the late afternoon.
Then came a split in the process as some national delegates are selected at the State convention and some are selected at these smaller Congressional District conventions. Many people didn't understand what the CD conventions were about and overlooked them in the rush to focus on the State. The paperwork to apply for the CD convention was parallel to, but different from, the State. Most everyone who did apply for the CD convention were elected at the County convention as either seated or alternate delegates as there were barely enough to fill all the seats. Complexity bred confusion. A National delegate almost slipped through the cracks.
May 4, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am an alternate for our state convention...I'll make sure to be there!
Thanks for this heads-up.
May 4, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good! Glad I was able to shed some light.
May 4, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for doing the unglamorous work, i.e., in contrast to pre-election speeches, rallies, etc., that ensures the deed is done and the deal delivered! Every delegate is hard won and needs to count.
May 4, 2008 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
It runs in my family. My grandfather was a precinct captain for JFK in Anaheim. I still have an unused ticket to the 1960 Democratic Convention at the LA Coliseum that I got from him. My brother has been Democratic staff for the AZ House of Reps for 20 years. He inherited Grandpa's portrait of JFK and Jackie that was given exclusively to campaign workers and it hangs in his office today.
As I have moved from CA to NV to CO, I keep my brother apprised of local laws and such that seem to be good ideas and are working well. He says some of my comments have affected new legislation he's worked on in AZ. My family has a history of being cogs in the Democratic machine, even when it wasn't cool.
May 4, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is another issue that I have yet to see Obama or Hillary's campaign respond to.
In Indiana, and Georgia to name two, we need massive voter "I.D." programs to help anyone who needs assistance get their necessary gov't ID to vote in general.
We need to run ads and have an 800 number for people to call in to if they need assistance. If the General Election is close this could definitiely make the difference.
May 4, 2008 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
recommenr, recommend. recommend!
May 4, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ditto.
May 4, 2008 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
A debacle for the donkeys
Caucuses are the predominant form of voter suppression in the US.
And, running against Tancredo? I thought he announced back in October that he wasn't running for reelection.
May 4, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I sit corrected, Tancredo's now aiming at the Senate in 2010.
It's Tancredo's House seat, has been for 10 years now and has never been out of Republican hands since it was added (gerrymandered) in 1984. Doesn't stop us foolish donkeys from rolling the rock uphill.
Ever participate in a caucus?
May 4, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, I've never participated in a caucus.
May 4, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
This was my first. I was pleasantly surprised that it was enjoyable, though somewhat chaotic. We talked with other Obama supporters and some Hillary supporters. It was an evening well spent with ardent supporters from both sides.
I've found myself referring to my caucus and subsequent convention experiences to temper my zeal and tone done my rhetoric regarding voters who hold views different from mine. They're not stupid, they're not in a trance, and they're not the enemy. It's much harder to demonize the other side after spending some time chatting about shared goals.
May 4, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for following through on your commitment. I'm glad that others were able to make it once they were alerted. I have an aunt and uncle in Colo. and they were concerned that Obama wouldn't make it through the process.
May 4, 2008 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The maze of applications, credentials, conventions, and rules are not conducive to wide public participation.
That's why I maintain that caucuses are the biggest vote suppression scheme going on right now. It is ridiculous. Consider...
Our County Convention was like that as well. There were 3200 seated delegates from the caucuses and 1200 alternates. Very few alternates ever got seated as the turnout among seated delegates was phenomenal. Most alternates spent their day in limbo, only to be turned away in the late afternoon.
That sounds like a system that sucks the life from its supporters for a distorted result. Why can't people walk into a voting booth, make their candidate selections, jerk that donkey lever and get back to their lives knowing their vote will be counted?
May 5, 2008 2:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
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