3 posts tagged “election”

Well, I learned a lot at the 6th Congressional District Assembly and Convention.

For starters, there were three lines to get into the building. On the left there was an Obama alternate line. Immediately to the right of that was a Hillary alternate line. Then, way over to the right was a combined delegate line. While waiting in line I found even more reasons not to vote for Hillary. Those people are petty, desperate, and scared. By luck I wound up in the right line despite there not being anyone telling us which line to get in. I was standing behind two Hillary supporters. After about 30 minutes someone in the Hillary line mentioned to these two perfectly nice women I had been talking to that they were in the wrong line. She was really bitchy but in a badly subtle way. She gave the not so subtle impression that word had gone through the Hillary camp that they shouldn't be talking to the Obama people. Even the two ladies in our line were upset at the idea of this divisive BS. There was even insinuation that Obama people had intentionally mislead Hillary people.

I mentioned that the Hillary signs seemed a bit sad and desperate. Some of the Hillary people of course got offended but had no defense for the rule in the letter sent to all of us that said no yard signs would be allowed at the event. More proof that Hillary and her supporters have no respect for rules and have a feeling of entitlement about the election. It continues to bolster the impression that they feel it's here right and they will do anything, inside or outside of the rules to win. The desperation and arrogance are just disgusting. It also lends credence to the conspiracy theory that she's prepared to poison the Democratic party and let John McCain win if she can't be the Democratic nominee. I don't like to give to much service to such theories, but it's hard not to think it's true when you see the dirty tricks and skulduggery her campaign in using.

Eventually they started to let people in and the Hillary alternate line went in first. That was followed by someone coming out to say that the Hillary camp had a lawyer who got them in first. I don't know if this was true or not but it was sure ridiculous.

Once we were in the check-in went smoothly, they had computers with bar code scanners to scan our credentials. Next, we were sent to the auditorium to wait for alternate seating. In the auditorium we were directed to sit on stage left for Hillary and stage right for Obama because it would "make it easier later". I don't know that this is true but, whatever. It's just more harmful divisiveness among people in the same party.

Now, here's where the event's organization really fell apart. We sat in this room for about an hour and were informed by the CD6 Chair that they were going to start seating people soon and that they hoped to get started with the Assembly, which she was running, at 10am. It was 9:45 at the time. She also said she expected it to take an hour and a half, then there would be a break followed by the Convention. This was good news since I had a soccer game to go to at 2:30. However, it didn't go that way. At 11:45 they still hadn't seated the Assembly and the alternates were getting antsy. We were told once again that they were going to get us seated shortly, there were some glitches but they had them worked out. Meanwhile word was circulating that a lot of alternates would be needed, likely all of us. This was good news, except for the realization that at this rate it the Convention wasn't going to be over before 4pm.

At this point I made the decision to bail on the Assembly and Convention. I had been under the impression before the Assembly and Convention that I would be out of there in time for Victor's soccer game and promised I would make it. Being that family is important I had to go. I wasn't the only one turning in my credentials to leave, there were at least two other people immediately in front of me who did the same.

Now, don't think that the day was a total loss. In the two hours we waited in the auditorium I got the opportunity to see and hear from all the various candidates and elected officials in the 6th CD. This was very informative and I really appreciated it. So often you vote for the person based on a commercial, a name on a sign or flier, or even just because there's a 'D' or 'R' next to their name on the ballot. I got to hear from these candidates and elected officials for Ken Carl Water Board, Douglas, Arapahoe, and Jefferson County Commissioner, Colorado State Legislature, and US House of  Representatives to name a few. I got to hear who they were, where they were coming from and what they wanted to do. I heard so much hope from these Democrats as they spoke about how they were the first Democrat elected to said position in 14 years, 24 years, recent memory. It was inspiring to hear about successful Democratic inroads in such a Republican state. It gave me so much hope to know that I wasn't alone as a Democrat in Colorado.

Finally, I got the experience of seeing how our local political machine works and to see that I need to become more involved in it at some level to help it work better. Oh, and I got an Obama button and and Obama sign, cool.

I miss "this" Bill. I voted for him twice and I think his advice is very good. I know it's helps me decide who I vote for.

Last night Bonnie and I caucused for the first time. It was very exciting to go down to Victor's elementary school and stand up for our candidate. The turnout was amazing and it was so great to see all the committed Democrats coming out for their candidate.

We started out in the cafeteria but our precinct had too many people and was moved to the art room. In the end we had 46 people. It was a diverse group that ranged in my estimation from 21 to 80 years of age. There was a good division of men and women. In our initial vote we had about seven undecided voters.

We had about a half an hour of debate with some good speakers who made good points for their candidates. There were also passionate speakers who did nothing to convince me that they had thought their decision through. In the end all but one was persuaded to vote for Obama. Our final vote for precinct 94 was 31 for Obama and 15 for Hillary.

Then we voted for our delegates to the county meeting. Our Hillary delegate was a 21 year old college student. She was very excited to be chosen. Our two delegates for Obama were a middle-aged man and woman. The man seemed to be very knowledgeable and had experience working on Capital Hill several years ago. The woman said she had been a Republican until two months and two days ago. She said three men had made her a Democrat; Bush, Cheney, and Obama. Her story was inspiring and she was very optimistic about the prospect of a President Obama. I think our three delegates are excellent choices and I hope that some of them can be elected as delegates at the next level of the nomination process.

I also put my name in to be a delegate and was elected as an alternate. I'm OK with this since the first two were so well suited to perform the task.

In the end our efforts combined with the rest of the state to give Obama a 2-1 win over Hillary in Colorado. The reports of the turnout for the Democrats are five times the previous year's Democrat turnout. It was also more than double the turnout for the Republican caucus.

I can't hope but to feel optimistic that this trend of the Democrats turning out twice the number of voters as the Republicans is a sign of how the general election will go in November.