What better way could there be to spend an entire Saturday than at a Democratic Party? That is exactly what I did yesterday as an Obama Delegate to the Texas Senate District Democratic Convention for Senate District 61 (a.k.a., the Fighting 61st). With Alison as the Precinct Chair for the 1223 Precinct, I was nominated four weeks ago at the precinct convention, held right after the caucus, to be one of 15 delegates to the Senate District Convention. Given the continued excitement with the primary race, the convention was quite well attended.
Arriving with Alison at the SMU's Moody Coliseum (where their basketball games are played) at just after 9:00am, thousands of delegates and alternates were grouped together by precinct outside the arena. Alison suggested that I was dressed inappropriatly in my jeans and Hawiian shirt. "You're not suggesting that I should wear a suit are you?" "Of course not," she replied, "but something red white and blue with political buttons and blinky things would have been the uniform of a true blue delegate." I looked around and sure enough, buttons stating "You bet your..."
Because of the tremendous turnout, and because of the disorganized nature of the Democrats, it was almost noon before everyone was seated inside and the business of the convention began. It started with rousing speech by an elected official, climaxing with the statement that "...one person is responsible for the tremendous surge in the Democratic party -- that person is George W. Bush." Cheers and applause... then quiet. The speaker continued. "Some of you may have heard of my recent arrest for public lewdness." The crowd is almost silent. "I want to assure you that I was just in the wrong place with the wrong intentions." Now this presents an interesting problem. This is the Democratic party that proclaims to welcome you regardless of race, sex, religion or sexual orientation. But it is also Texas. There was a smattering of applause, and some cat calls occasionally referrencing Larry Craig. But the show must go on and the parade of little known pols came up to give campaign speechs. When one of the pols endorsed either Clinton or Obama the factions supporting that candidate would chant "Hil- la- ry, Hil- la- ry..." or "Yes we can, Yes we can..." It was like being at a sporting event. I decided that it was important to model a chantable slogan of three sylables and told Alison that is why we gave her a three sylable name.
Alison and I left for lunch and she headed home, having fulfilled her obligations. I returned for the actual voting. When I arrived the floor battle had just begun. The credentials committee had reviewed and reported on the numerous complaints filed by the faithful foot soldiers of each candidate. Improper voting, irregular seating of delegates, etc. Imagine an arena filled with perhaps ten thousand people argueing over arcane points of order which hid more significant jockeying for a very slight advantage. The sport had turned to a blood sport. Alison, a veteran of these events told me to expect this. It is OK, she said, for people to shout out while someone is speaking. It is OK for cheerleaders on the floor to coax their delegations into cheering or booing a proposal or a vote. But the bickering ended almost as abruptly as it had started and the precincts submitted their final votes and elected their delegates to the State convention. Despite giving an impassioned speech to be sent to the State convention, I withdrew my nomination in favor of another more sincere Democrat.
All in all I had a blast. I can see how party regulars are created and nurtured. It is easy for candidates to rouse the political base when that is who they are surrounded by. It is harder to govern. I think that this year we have three truly interesting and credible candidates and I am hoping for an interesting and spirited general election.
2 comments:
How about "Go B-O!" (no, I don't think so)
Errata - Rick proudly represented the Fighting 16th, not the lesser 61st.
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