Category Archives: Democratic Party Chatter

The only real fun at any convention, GOP, Democrat, Green, Whig, whatever party are the many parties held after hours at the convention hall and elsewhere. Many candidates hold events of their own, as do many supporters. Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve seen so far this evening:
-Treasurer Phil Angelides had a squad of eager young folks promoting his big party this evening and true enough it had all sorts of Greek food. But the room they picked was incredibly small – so small it made it almost impossible to get a chicken kabob, much less talk to anyone or see anyone. Memo to Phil: if you promote the hell out of a party, get a room big enough to hold everyone – or at least most of ’em! For people like me who hate crowds, it was a bit difficult to manage.
I did have the good fortune of meeting an Assembly candidate from my home district, Mike Gordon who is not only the mayor of El Segundo – he’s running against the Mayor of Redondo Beach who appeared on Blind Date. No I am not making this up.
-The Kucinch Campaign’s suite at the Fairmont had a great selection of food and had the most political of all gatherings. Delegates and supporters gathered to have a drink and have some very animated conversations about Big Issues. Very much in line with the campaign itself, and worth popping in to check out for a little while.
-Best Party Crowd Award goes to the Clark ’04 campaign’s suite at the Fairmont. I find that the Clark campaign seems to attract an interesting, laid back, cool crowd that’s fun to hang out with, both in LA and up here. A good friend of mine from college, Chris O’Sullivan, was a delegate from Sonoma County for Clark, and told me where the party was. Very quickly it was the one with the most beer, the most going on, and the most fun energy of the ones I attended. If they could somehow broadcast this, I think Clark would win in a landslide.
-Biggest Invisible Group Award goes to the Howard Dean campaign. For a group that had huge representation amongst delegates, it seemed like they just vanished at night. No one ever seemed to know where they were or what they were doing. I can’t believe they all just went back to their rooms and slept – surely Dean’s people know how to party once in a while, don’t they? Baffling.
There were some others but they were just so so. AIPAC had free ice cream (nice respite from the overpriced convention center drinks everyone else had to serve) and many delegates started having their own parties to liven the mood up since it seemed that unlike past years, the political “party” scene was a bit dry.
Look for a wrap up of the CDP proceedings later tonight!

If you’ve never attended a party convention (Democrat or Republican, or even Green, or whatever) you’ve probably never been exposed to the maze of rules that govern the convention, and the party itself. While years of media campaigns and self-funded candidates have reduced the influence of convention meetings, there are still times when a dramatic intra-party contest can provide some entertainment, and teach a lesson about grassroots organizing.
The 21st Assembly District in California is located in Silicon Valley, made up of the cities of Palo Alto, Redwood City, Woodside, Menlo Park and other cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The seat is currently held by Assemblyman Joe Simitian who is now running for the State Senate in District 11.
Four Democratic candidates have filed for the primary: John Barton, Palo Alto School Board Trustee and architect, Ira Ruskin, who serves on the Redwood City City Council, Barbara Nesbet, a Monte Sereno Councilmember, and John Carcione, who serves on the West Bay Sanitary District board.
Polls currently indicate that Barton is the front runner, and records indicate he’s the only candidate who’s raising money (versus loaning money out of his pocket) and has no campaign debt. The question for delegates from the 21st AD was to decide to recommend whether or not the state Democratic Party should make an official endorsement of one of the candidates.
This is where things get interesting. The rules were pretty simple – one had to get 60% of the votes cast to win the endorsement. However, votes for “No Endorsement” would count against anyone in the lead for the nomination. This meant that even if one got the majority of votes, the “no endorsement” votes essentially counted as votes against whomever was the front runner. And here’s where the bargaining and politicking began.
Ira Ruskin, although not the front runner in polls, did have some advantage with the people who actually attended the convention. John Barton had a significant block of support as well. Barbara had the least amount of support, and told delegates who supported her to vote “No Endorsement” instead of for her – thus possibly blocking the endorsement for one of the others.
There was added buzz because Assemblyman Joe Simitian is locked in a tough battle with former Assemblyman Ted Lempert in Senate District 11. The overlap between the 21st AD and the 11th SD ensured a high amount of attention being paid by delegates by many campaigns and the lobbying and organizing began in earnest.
One of the most important things you can have in a situation like this is a person who can count. Now that may sound simple to you, but it really isn’t. One has to count not only how many votes one has, and how many the others have, but also how many people are actually in the room when the votes are cast since you have to get a certain percentage (or deny someone else a certain percentage) of the vote. You also need someone who’s good at corralling people and make sure they stay. Many votes in legislatures and conventions have been lost because someone went to the bathroom for “just a minute” – only to return to find that their candidate or bill lost by one vote.
I hung out with the Simitian/Barton crowd and listened as Assemblyman Simitian told assembled supporters the stakes for his campaign – he had the votes but needed them to be there! Most of Simitian’s supporters were also Barton supporters, so the work Simitian was doing to get his people to the convention floor would have some impact on who showed up for the vote on the 21st AD endorsement.
Simitian’s people had a very sophisticated operation, with no less than six “whips” who were in charge of 10 delegates each to make sure they knew what was happening and what to do. Very fun to watch and the sign of a smart camapign.
It wouldn’t be a Democratic convention without at least some confusion and once again, the CDP proved dependable on this point. The actual location within the convention hall where the delegates were to meet changed from what had been announced previously, and there was no longer any amplified sound for candidates to make their 2-minute speech to delegates with.
It proved to be quite disoriented and confusing to all involved, but the Simitian and Barton campaigns quickly made sure that assembled delegates knew where to go. I decided to make a quick sign out of my notebook and point people in the right direction, just so there’d be a fair shot for everyone.
Each candidate gave a short speech and it was clear Barton was the best speaker of the four. Ruskin has more supporters attend the meeting, and in fact at a pre-convention meeting on this same endorsement he’d landed 56% of delegate votes. Now it was time to see if he’d get the 60%, or if he’d fall short once again.
The ballot was taken by voice, kind of like when you’re a kid in school and the teacher calls your name for attendance. I provided assistance as an “auditor”, noting on a list of delegates how each delegate voted as their votes were cast, to provide backup in case there was a challenge as to who voted how. Then they started calling the names, while also providing a tally on an oversized notepad up front for all to see.
Each name was called and delegates shouted out their choice: “Ruskin!” “Ruskin!”, “Barton”, “No Endorsement, “Barton” and so on. Everyone was quiet and listening, and more than one person was keeping their own count like I was. High drama indeed.
Early on it seemed Ruskin was going to get it. As each campaign’s crew kept up their own tally, some were feeling good and some were starting to sweat. But just when it seemed that the great majority of votes were a runaway train for Ruskin, everything changed. The votes were starting to come in for Barton one by one, and the rest were for “No Endorsement.” Just as quickly as Ruskin had surged, he fell. Barton and No Endorsement were starting to dominate the vote tally.
The vote ended. After making sure everyone had their vote counted, the long division and multiplication began. Final count was as follows:
Total Votes Cast: 72
Ira Ruskin: 36
John Barton: 21
Barbara Nesbet: 1
John Carcione: 0
No Endorsement: 14
Thus, Ruskin fell short, getting only 50% of the delegate vote, a drop from his 56% in December. Barton, who had more community group and constituent support but not as much support amongst party regulars, moved up, and Barbara Nesbet’s bid for No Endorsement seemed to help – although one delegate ended up voting FOR her, even though she didn’t want any votes!
Barton’s campaign was clearly heartened by the news, since they’ve been leading in polling and organizing for some time, but like many campaigns, don’t always have the support of every single party regular who’s the type of person who shows up to these sorts of gatherings on a regular basis.
His surge in support, combined with many people who decided it was best to let voters decide who the best Democrat of the pack would be (and not the party), showed new strength for Barton amongst party regulars. Ruskin’s decline clearly caught his crew off-guard, since it is unusual for someone to decline in support like this.
Now the campaigns will all continue to raise money and recruit supporters. While some independent party organizations such as the Sil con Valley Democratic Forum (who have endorsed John Barton) may make endorsements, no one will be able to call themselves the 100% official party-approved candidate. In a crowded race such a label might help votes, confused by their choices, to pick a candidate. Now each candidate will highlight other endorsements and issues to help voters make the best choice on primary day.
The drama was over. The votes were counted and cast and everyone moved on to the Simitian/Lempert race. Simitian’s challenge was simple – he had 60% of delegates committed – but he had to get them all there and make sure they stayed.
I’d had my fill of delegate debates and counting strategies and took off for the convention hall to watch the latest LaRouche Loony Parade out front and take a break.
For those who think politics is dull – spend some time at a delegate fight like this and put your money on one of the contenders. Then you’ll see just how much interest these things can generate. Fun stuff.
It is unfortunate the Elders of Kobol or whoever is in charge of the Democratic Party in DC have spent years trying to make the national convention a coronation ceremony instead of a deal-making interactive process since it made participating in all these things more interesting – and more important. For a view of such a system, try renting The Best Man starring Henry Fonda. It’s worth a look!

Quick update: Sen. John Burton, the President Pro Tem, had some appropriate comments this afternoon I thought I’d reprint here for fun:
“We show up at these conventions , pass resolutions, stand around outside the hall bullshitting with each other, and when we leave we think we’ve done something, but we’ve done nothing. The only think that will win is for us to go out and work.”
Refreshing dose of reality in a convention setting. The state is all the poorer for losing this man to artificial term limits.
Ex-Gov. Gray Davis also made a very brief appearance to delegates who gave him a friendly welcome. “Last year I had a few ups and downs, as you might have heard. How was your year?” he quizzed delegates.
Still, as he mingled afterwards with the folks one on one, he seemed to have a genuine sense of relief he’s out of office and had a rare smile on his face. Carry on, Gray.

Good Morning, loyal readers! Getting ready to head over to the convention and check out the morning’s circus. Scheduled to speak are California’s illustrious statewide officers, includind the now infamous Bill Lockyer, and Steve “I’m with Doofinator” Westly. It will be interesting to see how both are received by this rabid pack of Democratic partisands.
Big noise rumbling amongst delegates continues to be the constant attacks on Dean and its effect on his standing in Iowa polls. If things continue to get nasty, or Washington Insiders claw their way to the top via a bloody negative race, it could be bad news for everyone, including the Insider that wins.
More later…Since the CDP has no lockable storage for my Powerbook I’m locking it up here at the Fairmont, and will update at lunchtime. Hopefully by then there’ll be something fun to report.

News Flash! The CDP Convention is being broadcast live via the Internet! See the proceedings (if you find yourself with LOTS of free time) at http://www.ca-dem.org
State conventions are not usually hotbeds of excitement. However, with the presidential race being what it is, and the aftermath of Arnold-mania still leaving some Democratic officials in shock, there’s a little more excitement. A little more.
This morning’s CDP roster had all of the statewide elected officials (i.e. Lt. Governor, AG, Treasurer, et al) giving their speech. Some were clearly angling to be the gubernatorial nominee in 2006 (Angelides, Lockyer) while others were just there to fire up the crowd (Assemblyman Herb Wesson, D-Culver City and current Speaker).
However the most emotional moment of the morning was not from some elected official but from some good people on the front lines of the grocery strike in Southern California. Sean Harrigan, UFCW vice president, had Olivia Costano and Matthew Hart, UFCW members, tell their stories to the assembled delegates about the fight they’re facing to try and keep what they already have and have been promised by management for years – health care coverage for them and their families.
Olivia Costano spoke extemporaneously, describing her experiences on the picket line. Spit at, shouted at, and physically attacked, she still stays on the picket line. Most disturbing was when she told the crowd about the time she was pushed down to the ground by a large individual, and injured her back. When the police came to take the report, they asked her if she wanted an ambulance to take her to the hospital. Despite her pain she said no. Why? Because she had no health insurance.
At that moment the “gasp” you heard coulda knocked the wind out of anyone. Definitely an emotional moment. But also one that brought home what all the rhetoric and the talking points and the buzz are allegedly about: real people’s lives. It was a moment where people took a few minutes to forget about the sniping attacks on Dean, the back and forth between partisan about What To Do About Arnold, and thought.
It was a great moment, and UFCW VP Sean Harrigan deserves a pat on the back for his work, not just at the convention but for all he’s done for the locked out/on strike workers in Southern California.
Other notable moments: Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante had one of the strangest (and shortest) speeches of the morning session, reading off a “Top Ten List of Reasons Bill Lockyer Might Not Have Voted For Me” to the crowd.
A truly odd mix of humor and bitterness, Cruz rattled of the reasons as follows (and for the record I’m not making this up – this is what Lt. Governor Bustamante said, and any verbal missives about the content of said list should be lobbed at him):
10. Bill was worried Cruz would change the motto from “Eureka” to “Ay Chihuahua!”
9. (can’t read my notes dammit)
8. Bill thought Arnold had better hair – and the fact he had hair at all
7. Bill feared Cruz would appoint Cheech and Chong to the Board of Prisons
6. Bill was worried Cruz would replace the bear on the California Flag with the Taco Bell chihuahua
5. Bill thought Bustamante would install slot machines in the Capitol Lobby
4. Concerned about Bustamante opening a drive up DMV in Tijuana (this got booed and hissed a bit)
3. (got distracted by the press secretary for Dean’s folks….)
2. Didn’t want Richie Ross appointed Lt. Governor (Ross was Bustamante’s campaign manager)
1. He wanted someone who looked more like Superman and less like Shrek
Anyway, you get the idea. Not exactly the most rousing speech, that’s for sure.
Treasurer Phil Angelides had scores of staff prepping the hall with signs and supporters in advance of what was billed as a call to action by the anti-Arnold of the Democratic Party. While a good speech, it was a bit underwhelming after all the buildup. Steve Westly, state controller and co-chair of Gov. Doofinator’s $15 billion credit card debt ballot initiative, gave a polite, well-meaning, and meandering speech, and was met with polite, well-meaning applause.
However, the most rousing partisan moment was Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson’s loud and forceful speech contrasting his (and the Party’s) values with Gov. Doofinator. It was a fiery, funny, and replete with quotable comments;
-On Gov. Doofinator’s promises regarding waste, fraud and abuse in CA gov’t: “He’s playing to the cameras. He thinks helping children, education and our seniors is a waste, his budget is a fraud, and the only abuse here is the abuse Arnold has with the truth.:
-On Democrats who voted for Gov. Doofinator: “Many Democratic voters and some leaders were starstruck by a movie star. It’s time to get that stardust out of their eyes. It’s your job to get some Visine and tell people the truth!”
And so on. It was fun. He ended his speech with some good 70s movie music. Very fun! As for his plans once he retires from the Assembly he simply said “Old Speakers never die, they just run for higher office.”
Other moments: the LaRouche folks decided to bust into the convention hall and harass people with their pamphlets regarding “Children of Satan” and whatnot. I have to say that these kids (and they’re all very young people ) were some of the rudest and most ill-mannered people I’ve ever seen. The would literally walk up and get in people’s faces and scream about the Truth of LaRouche, and insult delegates who didn’t want to take a pamphlet. People, get a grip.
I’ve no problem with fringers getting their voice heard, but this kind of juvenile bullshit irritates me to no end. It’s bad enough I get harassed by these chowderheads when I go to the postoffice and it’s hard to see how they think they’re taken seriously. Ah well, I guess LaRouche needs to get a new generation involved so he can continue the fundraising operations….
Ah, conventions. Always a fun time.
Keep tuned for more updates. Coming up: observations on the delegates themselves with notable quotes from the party faithful, and all sorts of fun at tonight’s hospitality suites!

Greetings dear readers from San Jose, California, one of the hippest parts of California and the center of the World Coin Collector Convention at the San Jose Convention Center AND the California Democratic Convention! Two of California’s most important conventions in one place! And with Sch

Friday’s regular update will not be seen tomorrow as I’ll be on the road to San Jose to go to the Democratic Convention in San Jose. I’ll be posting updates throughout the weekend of the convention, the hospitality suites and anything else of note. Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Dennis Kucinch will be there as will all sorts of other good folks.
Keep checking for updates as the weekend progresses and a final write up on the convention next week!
PS: Next time someone starts mouthing off about how “liberal” the media is, send them this link which contains a study showing how the media trash Dean relentlessly, regardless of the facts.
True, Dean’s going to have to deal with worse from the quarter-billion dollar RNC attack machine but one would think journalists have better things to do with their time than fancy themselves decisionmakers for us peasants out here in the provinces.

Got your attention, didn’t it?
Ah, presidential politics in the Age of Entertainment. By now, if you’ve read the paper or seen the chatter on the TV news, part of todays Big Story from the campaign trail was a flash of that alleged “Dean Rage” that partisans from the Democratic Insider Crowd and GOP Sen. Joe Lieberman have been sounding the alarm about.
This is big news, folks, and it’s good that we focus on it now, lest Dr. Dean become President, get exposed to some gamma radiation at the Pentagon, and end up turning into a menacing Dr. Hulk while conducting delicate negotiations with Congress or the Chinese. The Republic would be doomed in such a horrifying scenario.
Sound a bit silly? It is. Unfortunately this is what passes for “election journalism” these days.
I saw the alleged “incident” in its entirety today. Basically, a Bush supporter was flipping some midwest-style “‘tude” at Dean for being “too mean” to President Bush. After bitching at Dr. Dean for a while, Dean responded and got interrupted by the GOP partisan. His “flash of anger” was Dean asking the guy to let him respond, and why he felt Bush’s policies have been bad for America. He did so so not in warm, fuzzy, hippie-speak or the hushed tones of a big-city liberal – he fought back with force and conviction. The GOP partisan was booed out of the room by the crowd.
This is not how most Democrats, particularly those who have been exposed to the “Insider” virus, respond when attacked. When they get attacked for being Democrats, that’s their cue to get on their knees. Years of practices with the “on the knees” position ensures that nothing really changes, and that the donors they share with the GOP can stay happy.
It’s easy to see how Dean’s reaction could be seen as “rage” – he’s choosing to stand up for Democrats – not hide behind “triangulation” and accomodation. Definitely scary to entrenched interests.
Since Dean’s surge earlier this year, I can’t recall hearing much of anything from the John Edwards campaign about what this guy would do as president or why he’s qualified to even hold the job. In fact, it’s hard for me to even remember he’s still in the race or even what he LOOKS like, and I read about politics every day.
As far as I can tell, the only thing he has been saying is something about how he looks better on TV than Dean and how one-term Senators who haven’t even completed their term are still qualified to lead the most powerful nation on Earth. I do know he said something nasty about Dean – that got in the papers.
Same goes for John Kerry’s campaign. Much time is spent telling people that he’s the one that can beat President Bush and his resume (war hero, Senator, whatever) is pulled out at every opportunity and they’ve always got some zinger of the day to attack Dr. Dean (and now Gen. Clark).
However they don’t seem to be able to explain how it is that “unelectable Dean” has been able to kick Kerry way back in the polls – or how Kerry can be expected to beat Bush when he can’t even beat a small-town politician like Dr. Dean. I get all sorts of emails from the Kerry campaign with some sort of policy information, but it’s usually something I heard already from another campaign. All I really know is his latest anti-Dean and anti-Clark comments.
Richard Gephardt has grown as adept as attacking Dean as Karl Rove and has even spent money creating a whole website just attacking Dean (not unlike something Karl Rove would come up with). He has yet to be forced to explain how it is he can win a national election when the last several nation elections he was in charge of – trying to retake the House back from the GOP – failed miserably, resulting in him resigning his post as House Minority Leader after the disastrous 2002 elections.
Again, not a lot of information on what he’d do as President. I remember once hearing something about health care from Gephardt, but as I recall when we had Democrats running both houses of Congress AND the White House, a national health care plan got torpedoed – mostly by turncoat Democrats, something he reallyneeds to explain. But hey, he said something bad about Dean, and that’s all that matters, right?
Meanwhile I continue to learn more about the ideas and policies of Gov. Dean and Gen. Clark despite the noise (usually from blogs and websites) and while they Insiders keep lobbing flaming bags of dog poop at them, Dean and Clark continue to prove they’re not afraid to stand up to Bush in no uncertain terms.
It’s ironic that the only person that is unafraid to take on the President and call him on his policies aside from Dean and Clark is former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. Then again, O’Neill doesn’t care what some PAC or corporation thinks about him, unlike someone who has to go to those folks to get re-elected.
Ultimately the problem isn’t the politicians – we expect them to misbehave nowadays – it’s the people covering the campaign. Reporters, especially those at the all-news cable outlets, aren’t really looking for information, they’re looking for a great story.
To most mainstream reporters, the goal in these situations is not really to report “news” or dig up “information”, it’s to find a “story” replete with elements of drama, intrigue, humor, or a combination of the three. The spin of the day fits the bill nicely, and we end up with the so-called “information” we get from our major news outlets.
This almost ensures that we really don’t know much about what these folks would do in office if we rely on traditional media for our news. This isn’t a conspiracy of the left or right (despite the protestations of my good friends on both sides) but rather a financial bias, coupled with a little laziness.
Big media companies need to make a LOT of money to stay afloat and to pay for their latest acquisitions, and they know that entertainment and drama sell well, even now. There’s no incentive for them to do otherwise, and risk taking in large organizations is not only discouraged, on a functional level it is impractical or even impossible. Plus it’s a lot easier and cheaper to do than dig around old files in Vermont or trudging around the country interviewing people and doing research.
Cynics on the left and culture warriors on the right both decry “average” Americans as too stupid to know or care what is “really” going on but they’re wrong. They aren’t stupid and they do care – when they have a WAY to find out what is “really” going on. Up until now, finding another source of news was difficult, if not impossible for most people.
Times and technology have changed all of that. Recent polling indicates that more and more Americans are now turning to alternative news sources (blogs, websites, smaller magazines, the Daily Show, etc.) to get their information about Campaign 2004, and this number is expected to continue to go up. Eventually as the ratings for TV news go down, and the readership of dailies and weeklies starts to take a dive, perhaps then Big Media’s executives will see the value of providing real journalism to their readers.
We’ll be better off in the long run if they do. Our politicians might get asked some real questions, and they might have to give some real answers. We’ll have more information than we’ll know what to do with, and that sounds good to me.
In the meantime, keep reading well-written and fascinating blogs with clever Teutonic-based names for all of your election information.
For a fun article covering this issue check out Salon Magazine and see what they have to say…