Home

About
- Who We Are
- Community Guidelines
- Right to Respond

Advertising on BOR
- Advertise on BOR
- Buy on all Texas Blogs

Advertisements

Search




Advanced Search

Open Thread: Share Your Convention Stories!


by: Open Thread

Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 10:22 AM CDT


Here was the first e-mail we received from a convention attendee, who is at Delmar Stadium for one of the many Harris County conventions:

I've been here at Delmar Stadium since 7:30 and still haven't registered, as they seem to have changed the process midway through. I'd estimate there are about 3,000 people here, without knowing who's still outside. They are only now going to begin calling us by precinct to finish registration. With any luck, we'll be finished with this by Passover.
Additionally, the Travis County convention will not stop credentialing at 10:00am like they said, so if you're running late, you can still check in. Best of luck -- everyone remain patient, democracy takes time!

Share your stories below. We'll start reporting numbers this afternoon, once we get them.
ADVERTISEMENT


Tags: (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email

Open Thread: Share Your Convention Stories! | 71 comments
Report from "User Winning in 08" on Obama HQ Blog (0.00 / 0)
Copied from the Obama HQ blog comments section:
My brother is at Texas Senate # 7 Sam Houston race track at its a mess. They are questioning his creditials. What worst is so many people showed up who are aren't actually delegates that the fire chief is threatening to shut it all down because there are too many people.

The Fire Cheif Should have Shut Ours Down (0.00 / 0)
I was definitely in a situation where my safety was an issue.  if you were old elderly infirm or had a helth problem you were upa creek.... Gotta go huddle with my delegation
[ Parent ]
I'm an alternate (0.00 / 0)
Welli thought we had figured it all out beforehand.  Our Precinct Chair and the Secretary declared that they were goign to be our delegates.  I wasn't going to fight with them because they are hard core and I might be able to get to the national convention with a blogger cedential, and they have been party loyalists for a while so they deserve it.  Only 7 of the Clinton crew showed up.  Obama has 18 so we gifure out we will take all o

Mindy montford just walked by with a guy following behind her with a mindy Montford sign.  I wasy Rosemary walking around a few minutes early.  Dale somebody is giving a rambling speech about the railroad commission and water.  

I really like my neighbors.  Anyone who want to do away with a caucus would do ordnary citizens a great disservice.  Sure the TDP ran a tragically horrifically organized campaign, but once you finally make it in and get to problem solve with the neighbors, it is really cool.  If they should get rid of anything.  Get rid of the primary.  

Dale the railroad commissioner guy is saying "Lets Hear it For Texas!"  Dale henry  is walking ambien.  I'm sleepy now.  People Water and Fossil Fuels!! thats his slogan!.

[ Parent ]
Yes to the DailyKos people- I am an Obama Delegate (0.00 / 0)
I was a delegate at the precinct level and will be an alternate to the state convention unless our seven Clinton delegates come up with some crafty plan to spit their votes to take the two meaningless alternate slots.
[ Parent ]
The spreadsheet is incorrectly showing Fort Bend! (0.00 / 0)
Someone put 44 in the Clinton column and 20 in the Obama column.  Can someone tell Burnt Orange about this??

Thanks.

[ Parent ]
I survived Travis County's Fiery Death TRAP! (4.00 / 2)
Well it took me over an houston to go a freaking mile!! then I walked about a mile and then up a hill and then I begin my journey to enter what shall ever be known at the Fiery Deathtrap that was the Travis county county convention

they basically  had 25 lines they hundreds of precinct in a tiny fenced in area. some rocket scientist thought that t would be smart to put some of the most active precincts in travis county at the same window.  It was madness, but now that I am inside and had a chance to hook up with my neighbors from the caucus all is well.  our Clinton precinct  head delegate person--- their ring leader gave me her string for my badge because they ran out of string.  Our precinct was really cool.  We had some pretty strong leaders and even though we are on different sides in the primary, we were a lot more collegial that what I heard at other precincts.

This is my first time caucusing or making it as a delegate to anything.  We already decided how we are going to caucus and I will be an alternate to the state convention.  But some precincts haven't even figure t out.  they are trying to find each other out in the madness.

Now Loyd Doggett is giving us a time-filling pep talk.  I am glad that I am here.  I wish it had been more organized.

News.  Last night Glen maxey said at convention delegate traiing that if Obama wins the nomination he plans on contesting Texas which would have implications for all of the down ticket races.  Turning the county positions in harris and dallas county blue.

One of my other delegates said that at 11:30 they are going to stop letting people in.  

So the sliding schedule is this which is now an hour and a half off.

10:00 Call to order
10:15 national Anthem
10:30 Congressman dogget ( he already spoke)
10:50 Establish Temporary toll
11:00 Reports of the Dredentials Committee
Report of the rules committee
Election of permanent Officers of the Conventions
12:00 Speakers, Elliot Naishtat, Donna Howard, Valinda Bolton
12:15 Deputy Voter Registration program ( they said they are going to try t deputize 5000 voter registrars here today ( glenn said that last night)
12:25 swearing in of Deputy Registrars
12;30 Precinct caucuses ( I am an alternate--- we already decided)
1:30 Platform and Resolutions committee
etc

No Credentials Fights in Travis County (0.00 / 0)
They announced that the credentials committee resolved all credentials fights unanimously.  I just think travis county is a lot more laid back than Harris and some of the other parts of the state I heard some caucus night horror stories.  We're pretty cool with our clinton delegates and it was really nice.

Glenn maxie said that in come precincts in Travis county they sent twice as many delegates as there were slots because they thought they should have had more.  they elected two delegation hairs when there would only have been one and a bunch of other stuff, but I haven't heard anything like the poster out of harris.  

Del Signin extended to 11:30am - Be in line by then and You Will Get In (n/t) (0.00 / 0)

Harris SD6 (3.00 / 1)
We have now moved on to judicial candidates introducing themselves, and with that you know it's going to be a long day.  We are still not done with sign-in, and likely won't be for another hour at least.  Very few big problems, but lots of little ones delaying it.
SD 6 Update (3.00 / 1)
Many precincts are voting for delegates and leaving, even though the temporary role has not been accepted.  A lot less people than this morning.

For anyone wondering my views, Obama volunteer and possible at-large delegate/alternate.  We are bored.  Stop by the Obama table if you're here.

[ Parent ]
They tried to do the same thing in Travis (0.00 / 0)
But they admonished us from the podium that we could not begin  caucusing until they told us to.
[ Parent ]
They did that here too (0.00 / 0)
...but no-one has said that the votes will be disallowed if they were taken early.

P.S.
Bored, bored, bored.

[ Parent ]
Thanks, Tim. (0.00 / 0)
We were there with you this morning as alternates and sure appreciate your updates.  Sorry that it has taken so long, but thanks.
[ Parent ]
Don't worry - Iowa was slow, too (0.00 / 0)
Hi all, from Iowa. As you know, we held our County Conventions earlier this month.

For Polk County (the largest in Iowa) - our sign in was supposed to be complete by 9 am (we had early sign in the night before for a couple of hours, and sign in restarted at 8 am the day of). I originally wasn't a delegate or an alternate - so I was on stand-by in case there were any slots available for my candidate after the rest were seated.

At 10:45 am, they had seated most of the delegates and then stated what alternates could start seating. I eventually did get seated and we were all signed in around 12:15 pm (3 hours late). Then they went on lunch break for 1 hour.

At 1:15 pm we re-convened and by 1:45, we were able to break out into preference groups. I think we finally had the final delegate counts for the district/state conventions figured out by 3:30 pm.

Stay strong and keep up the morale.

SD 25 and 24 - Travis County (0.00 / 0)
Well there is only one consession stand selling hot "food" a hamburger is 5 you can get French fries for 3 you can get a bottle of water for three.  i snuk in a contraband orange and we have been plotting how to order pizza.  ONE hot concession stand for 13,ooo people.  They also have a smoothie bar and a place to get popcorn and coke.

I am fine now that they have stopped giving speeches. They ought to just play music.

[ Parent ]
Yeah - same happened in Iowa (0.00 / 0)
Polk County in Iowa had 1 concession - Hamburger & side dish & cookie & can of soda for $7.
[ Parent ]
Travis County---Obama Sends Out Incorrect Post Cards--- Precincts Admonished to Stop Caucusing (3.00 / 1)
The Obama team lost at least one delegate.  Seems the sent post cards to Williamson county delegates telling them to report to the Travis County Expo center.  I got the same post card, but i am actually supposed to be here. I pulled up the location of the Williamson county convention on mapquest for her.  Aircards ROCK!! there is no wifi out here. Not to mention the girl sitting next to me at the power outlet said some rude girl at the front of the room wouldn't let her charge her laptop battery so she  found refuge in the power outlet I commandeered.

A few minutes ago, the podium admonished precincts that they should not be caucusing and selection their delegates.  folks are grouping up by precincts not and basically making it a done deal so the caucus itself should be a formality and folks keep coming up to me asking about at large Delegates.

Thankfully they stopped with the annoying speeches fro inarticulate candidates and we have been left to wander around in search of sustenance.  I will starve before I pay % bucks for a convention center hamburger.  I am gong to have to pull out the contraband orange.  I may climb in the bleachers and get a shot from behind the podium as soon as I juice up my battery a reporter is standing by like a vulture ready to jack this power outlet as soon as we get up.

Travis County (0.00 / 0)
Mindy Montford and Rosemary Lindberg are speaking now.  Donna Dukes spoke earlier--- tepid applause and scattering of boos greeted Donna.
[ Parent ]
Terry McAuliff and Ron Kirk Speak at Travis County Convention (0.00 / 0)
Promote their candidates, but promote democratic unity. McAuliff says that if Obama wins he and Hillary will campaign for him beginning the next day.
Say what? (0.00 / 0)
"McAuliff says that if Obama wins he and Hillary will campaign for him beginning the next day."

Did he say that like it was a good thing? I'm not so sure that's the sort of "help" Obama needs in November!

[ Parent ]
Gillespie County Convention (0.00 / 0)
had a great turnout. Five times as many people voted in the March 4th Democratic Primary than in the last Democratic Primary in 2006.

Gillespie County's 7 state convention delegates will be 5 for Senator Obama and 2 for Senator Clinton.

congrats dad! (5.00 / 1)
We'll be a father and son delegate team at the state convention!

Please read the Community Guidelines and How to Rate Comments.
[ Parent ]
Thanks (0.00 / 0)
People, I'm an Obama supporter in the UK, and I just wanted to thank all of you for both taking the time to caucus today, and for keeping us up-to-date with events and results.  It's so frustrating that the only non-online media we get here is Fox!
Look before you Leave- Precinct Forced to Recaucus- Hillary Gets Delegates because Obama Folks Left Already (0.00 / 0)
Before folks run for the exits, you better hope that you precinct chair is competent.  They just announced for people to recaucus a few minutes ago from a counle of precincts and one person said that because they screwed up and the obama people had left, clinton picked up soe delegates, but dont worry, the at large delegates are suppose to make the final outcome reflect the presidential preference poll we signed up for this morining.
With so many people... (0.00 / 0)
and so much going on ~ it's always better to stick around until the convention closes. I didn't realize we were all cheering for Obama here.
[ Parent ]
News from Hays Co Convention (0.00 / 0)
Just got a call from my husband at the Hays Co convention location. He has been there since 7am, and this is the first call I have gotten from him. He said there is some sort of contentious activity going on at the moment. Some delegates have left, and the folks running the convention are saying that there is no longer a quorum present and a recaucus will have to be done. He didn't have time to give me more details as he had to return to the convention floor.

I guess we just have to keep the faith.

Oh, I hate the quorum bullshit (0.00 / 0)
I knew somebody would try to pull that.  Glad it wasn't us.
[ Parent ]
We're with you! (4.00 / 2)
5:30 p.m. Update by Matt- Here is a traffic report for everyone to enjoy.  as of 5:32 p.m. we have had 64,061 hits and 76,548 page views.  Wow!

That's because you're running an excellent site and great service to those of us watching.  My daughter was born in Texas, and we now live in Chicago, but she always considers herself a Texan.  We're with you, Texas!  Keep up the great work for our Democracy!

Thanks! (5.00 / 1)


Help build a progressive movement in Texas. Join Progress Texas.
[ Parent ]
New Harris SD6 report (0.00 / 0)
Nominations for Permanent Secretary have hit a big snag.  The chair closed nominations before all nominations were heard.  A motion to reopen was made, leading to a shouting match.  The nominations were eventually reopened, and we are currently hearing speeches by the nominees.

Basically, people are on edge after 10-11 hours, and letting it flow over against the chair since it wasn't until after 5:30 that the permanent roll was accepted.

You know... (0.00 / 0)
It's a challenging process ~

But I betcha people who made the most of the day have made some really good friends and had some really important discussions.

I salute everyone for your commitment and for your patience today. :-) You've all been part of a very historical event in our state.

We shouldn't forget that this process is a critical part of the Final Chapter of our national nightmare.

[ Parent ]
It was a clusterf*ck (0.00 / 0)
I worked very hard to make the convention a good and well-organized one, as did several other people on the county executive committee.  But people just did their own thing anyway.

Despite having been instructed otherwise, my precinct tried to draw lots to see who went to State.  Then, one person in my precinct voted three times.  No one cared to correct the error, and the result was that I didn't become a delegate to State.  Oops.  I could not stay and oversee my precinct's vote, because about a hundred other people needed my help.  (I was vice chair of the convention, and chair of Nominations.)  Several people found it necessary to tell me how this happened...although they didn't feel it as necessary to stop the vote. Thanks.

There were multiple other irregularities.  Rules were stated clearly by mic, and stated in a handout.  We roamed the aisles, available for questions.  People just did what they wanted.  

Then there were alternates who insisted in sitting with the delegates, the people who wanted to start things like NOW, the voting before the convention was even called to order, the people who demanded that rules be changed or ignored, and so on and so on.  

Sorry, but as I see it, our delegates were the problem, not the people putting on the convention.  

Same in SD 17 Fort Bend (0.00 / 0)
I liveblogged a little at http://muse-musings.blogspot.com.

TDP rules not followed. Lots of good old boy stuff going on by the Credentials Chair. Very embarrassing.

I have not had a chance to blog about how my own precinct was not paired. And it was supposed to be for caucusing. Geez. We had to find another "orphan" precinct. Luckily it was similar to us geographically, etc.

I served on Nominations, yet that committee makeup was not determined until yesterday and I was not notified. First I knew of it was when my name was read in front of the convention. TDP rules state that committees are supposed to be elected by the County Executive Committee. Our was not. Back room bargaining ruled the day.

The Convention Chair adjourned the convention while Nominations was still working!!! We were the only "body of the Convention" left, so the 13 of us had to elect the Delegation Chair!!!

[ Parent ]
Dallas Convention (0.00 / 0)
Photos from today's Dallas State Senate District 16 County Convention...  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1...

We were there for 9 hours before we finally elected our precinct's state delegate and got to leave.  The convention continued after we left, but not for too much longer....  they needed to clear out by 6pm for a cheerleading compeition in the same basketball arena.  :)  

Overall it was incredibly slow but reasonably civil amongst the several thousand people there...  things got tense during the credentials committee reporting, but we finally voted to just accept their decisions and move on, so that was good.  

Never been a part of anything like this before....  don't think I'll sign up for it next time if it's still so disorganized and disrespectful of people's time.  :p

David Griggs should be cloned (0.00 / 0)
NOT kidding about the subject line.

In Dallas County Senate District 8 at Thomas Jefferson High auditorium, registration was the same cluster@#$% as at the precinct caucuses.

But once it got underway, David's knowledge and unflappability made it, if not a joy, not a burden either.  Many, many, many kudos to him.

In my own precinct, enough Obama delegates and alternates didn't show that the balance switched from 20-7 to 17-10, and Clinton forces, using all 10 of their votes, got the first delegate position, while Obama got the second delegate and both alternates, using strategic voting. Clinton should have had the first alternate, but for our attrition. :-(

precinct chair bullixed up the vote (2.00 / 1)
Our precinct had a 42-8 advantage in county delegates for Obama going in, with a final state delegate count of 4. By doing the math, we should have been able to assure that all 4 state delegates were Obama delegates, and regulated the Clinton supporters to at-large delegates. And again, by the math, that's how it should have worked.

However, our precinct chair figured out a whole host of scenarios based on how the Clinton supporters might possible divvy up their  8 votes, created cheat sheets for the Obama delegates, and went through painfully complicated explanations for his little system, which he enacted for the final precinct caucus vote.

Unfortunately, he didn't account for 4 of the Obama voters leaving early (thus changing the math of his cheat sheets), didn't do a very good job of organizing the voters, and as a result there was a misvote or three amongst the tired and confused Obama supporters. Final tally from our precinct: rather than the 4 Obama state delegates that were still mathematically assured us due to the now 38-8 advantage (9 x 4 = 36, leaving 2 extra votes for alternates), we ended up with 3 Obama state delegates and 1 Clinton state delegate.

By the numbers there was no way Clinton should have gotten a delegate from our precinct. But our chair had to overthink the damn thing, and now one of our precinct's Obama supporters will have to miss the State Convention as a result, and potentially risking Obama losing a delegate overall (I think there was still a chance someone could end up being an at-large delegate for Obama despite our precinct's blunder, but I'm not sure how that math will work).

So, the lesson learned for today: Don't think you're smarter than you really are. Keep it Simple, Stupid.

West Texas Small County Convention (0.00 / 0)
Uplifting and nauseating.  Our convention in Callahan County went pretty well because of our small size.  The numerous bugs in the process could be fixed on the spot. Huge improvement over the precinct caucus. Full delegations were seated from both sides in all precincts.

We had as many observers (who were not alterates) as delegates.   The observers were not a problem, fortunately.  The unseated alternates provided both people that were a big help and people that insisted on trying to be disruptive so I guess it balanced out.  I did wish that the Chair would have done something about an unseated alternate that kept disupting a speaker who had the floor.  Sounds like we had it pretty good overall compared to the big cities, though.

Among the various speeches, some were uplifting, some were rally around the party speeches, and a few were nauseating rants.  Some Obama-side attacked Clinton campaign tactics and record.  Some Clinton-side made personal attacks on Obama.  None of the haters got elected as state convention delegates.  About 20% on both sides said they would not vote for the other candidate come fall.  Potentially a big problem for the party if the negativity  continues.

Mess at rodeo arena matched SD 10 progress, but we were inspired (0.00 / 0)
We had to wait 9 hours before we got our credentials and vote.  By that time we all knew each other well; our precinct (1105--Wedgwood, in Fort Worth)delegation was very well managed by the talented Juanita Burdette.

It was inspiring--one of our delegation, UT Arlington student Clifford Blumberg had saved his money so he can go to Denver in August.  We gave him our (Obama) vote.

Our Southwest Democratic Club sold mugs, hats, buttons and T-Shirts, making more money for the general election.

Dems are rising here! Turn Texas Blue!

SD 10 (3.00 / 1)
Will Rogers once said, "I don't belong to an organized political party; I'm a Democrat."  Ironically, Senate District 10 met at the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in Fort Worth today (and tonight), and proved Mr. Rogers right.

I have been to most of the senate district conventions since 1980 (I think I missed 3 or 4), and today was my worst experience.  I understand that there is a lot of work that goes into planning a senate district convention, and that this year was not the norm.  More people than ever participated in the process, there were a lot of new people (who may not come back) and there were more credential challenges than I've ever seen.  I'm not sure what caused the delays in SD 10, but it had to do largely with credentials.

When we went into the coliseum we were told to enter and find our seats.  Shortly thereafter it was suggested to me by a fellow delegate that we should go get our credentials.  Just as I was about to head off another delegate said that credentials were not being handed out yet.  Within an hour our delegation chair arrived and said that we needed to go register.  It just seemed like the procedures were not set or kept changing.

The convention was called to order at 3:15 pm.  My precinct did not receive its packet until 5:00 pm.  When we turned it in to the credentials committee at around 6:00 pm a delegate from another precinct was at the credentials table asking when her precinct would get their packet!

I'm not blaming the credentials committee (and I'm not trying to blame anyone).  Two of my long-time friends who are well-versed in Democratic Party rules were on the credentials committee.  I think they worked every night this week to help resolve matters.  My hat is off to them and the others who tried to give us a good convention.

Many of the problems stemmed from the precinct conventions.  Some precincts elected too many delegates.  Some didn't designate who the delegates and alternates were, and didn't designate who was for Clinton and who was for Obama.  These are problems of which I have personal knowledge; I'm sure there were others.

A lot of good people spent a lot of time in trying to put together a good convention.  I want to thank them.  Many people didn't understand the process, and didn't seem to be trying to understand it.  One delegate offered this motion:  Let's stop this nonsense and send it to the state.  I have no idea what he meant.  It's not as if the people running the convention wanted it to go on longer than necessary!

We've just got to do things better in the future.  It may take a lot more training, education and patience from the people who have been through this process before.  It may take redoing our system.  Whatever it takes, we need to begin working on it as soon as we elect a Democratic president in November.  

SD 14 wrapup (0.00 / 0)
    * Leave the house at 7:20 to walk to the designated rendezvous point in the neighborhood. Realize the ride I was going to catch left at 7:00. Double check e-mail. Second set of folks leaving at 7:30. All good.

   * Queue up on Decker Lane to turn into the venue. Wait there for 30 minutes or so to actually get on the grounds. Once in, we decide that once one has purchased a Prius, there is a chance there might not be enough room for three other passengers and the carload of smug with which some select Prius owners may drive around. (Note to self - smug probably won't count as a passenger for the HOV lane...)

   * Fight through the line/crowds to get in line in front of the window issuing credentials for our precinct. Wait.

   * Get credentials. We're in! Yay! Find our precinct's seating area. Wait.

   * Decide to see the governor about a horse - or haircare product. Wait.

   * Back to seating area. Start to put Obama sticker on my Canadian sportswear sweatshirt labeled "ROOTS." Decide that, while I like the ironical nature of that, others might not. Take off sweatshirt, place sticker on kinder, friendlier "DemocracyFest 2005? shirt instead. Wait.

   * Go person two of the tables in the exhibition area. Put on an Anti-McCaul sticker. Gain some level of perspective. Place Larry Joe sticker under my Anti-McCaul sticker.

   * Speeches start. Head back to precinct seating area to see what's up with my Obamatriots. Wait.

   * Listen to more speechifying. Wait.

   * Wait around. Wait.

   * Start process of elevating alternate delegates. Find out we can't caucus for Obama/Clinton yet. Return to seats. Wait.

   * Eat sandwich. Wait.

   * Sit. And wait.

   * Stand. And wait.

   * Wait. And wait.

   * An announcement. I wait with baited breath to hear if we should stay away from the brown acid. Instead, told our senate district is close to certifying delegates. That's great. In the meantime, I'll wait.

   * Standby to standby to wait.

   * 4:00ish - Released to caucus. Finally. We select delegates for the state convention. By 4:30 (and about two hours late), we're done with the most important part of the convention for the bulk of the folks who where there.

For my part, I think our precinct chair/delegation chair - a Clinton supporter, ran the vote in as fair and open manner as possible. Others in the Obama delegation may disagree, but I think he did just fine.

And though there were many delays throughout the day, I believe that should have been expected, given the unprecedented turnout. I think, by and large, things were handled fairly well. Though I'd like to never have to visit that venue again. I don't think it was conducive to people milling around and visiting. That said, the bathrooms were sanitary, never ran out of paper towels, they turned the ticket windows over to food concessionaires once everyone had gotten their credentials, and even set up additional porta-potties. It could have been bad there. Oh, not Superdome/Katrina bad...but bad nonetheless.

Sheila Jackson-Lee gets booed by Houston Dems (5.00 / 1)
Video from Senate District 13 (Harris County), where there were 3627 delegates (and an estimated 5000+ people present):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

The crowd was overwhelmingly African-American, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee had to wait a couple of minutes for the booing and Obama-chanting to subside. She kept repeating, "I'll wait for you to stop."

She is one of the Texas superdelegates, and her constituents are leaning on her to reverse her support for Hillary.  

My buddies were there (0.00 / 0)
they said it was CRAZY!  I'm interested in seeing if she crumbles under pressure.  
[ Parent ]
Report from Montgomery County (North Houston) Senate District Convention (0.00 / 0)
As was probably true throughout the state, the Montgomery County Senate District Convention was truly amazing & historic.

A rough number: 1500 delegates (may be low) this time as compared with about 150 two years ago (2006).

Much fun, much chaos, incredible excitement.

Understand, this is in NORTH HOUSTON, a Red State bastion for many years.

We're all overwhelmed at the response and enthusiasm, and I for one appreciate the old "coming out of the wandering desert" metaphor in a personal way.

Last point: not just the engagement levels, but the variety of participation - from 18 to 80, all ethnicities and attitudes (and some were frankly pretty nutty :-) ).

Texas is definitely back in the saddle as being quirky and, well, unique (grin).

See y'all at State in Austin in a few months.  

El Paso, West Texas (1.00 / 2)
The mayhem I have witnessed here tonight is unbelievable!  

We stayed till 9:00PM MST, with mnay people here since earlier than 7:30AM.

I am EXTREMELY disappointed in the Obama supporters!  Using undermining strategies to get the results of the convention disqualified, since as you know, El Paso County voted overwhemingly for Clinton, I certainly look forward to the state convention(I am an alternate).  

I even heard people in the stands saying that with the behavior of the Obama supporters (and their well-paid, out of town & non-Texan advisors), they will never support Obama.  Sad day for the Democratic party and the Obama supporters should accept responsibility for what they have done!

SD 16 (2.00 / 1)
SD 16 (north/central Dallas county) may have been a little more civilized and organized than some others.  

SD 16 moved to Moody Coliseum on the SMU campus to accomodate the expected large turnout. So there was plenty of seating space, adequate restrooms, good ventilation, food available, etc.  A one point in the afternoon buckets were passed around to collect donations to cover the cost of the new venue and lots of people were tossing money in.  Volunteers had stayed up late the night before to put precinct number signs up all around the arena.  

Parking was a problem.  The Bush library is being constructed nearby, and a muddy field strewn with demolition debris became a makeshift parking lot after every legit parking space within a mile was taken up.  I gave up, took my car back home, got a ride to Moody and then walked home after it was over.

BTW Moody is where Bush had his last campaign rally the night before the 2004 election, so it was sweet to see the place jammed with several thousand Democrats.

The credentials lines were long and it was 4:00 p.m. before we voted for delegates.  A tedious day, but there were some opportunities to get to know some neighbors and talk seriously about politics.  

I was with the Clinton group from our precinct, but we all agreed we would would vote for Obama if he is the candidate in the fall (our long-time precinct chair, also a Clinton supporter, insisted on this pledge before we voted for delegates).  

Many of the candidates and officials who spoke pitched party unity.  Some of the better speeches focused on why Republican opponents need to be defeated in the fall.  A few bashed other Democratic candidates and that led to a few ugly moments.  

The other ugliness occurred when the credentials committee began to present its report.  They made the mistake of starting out asking for a vote on each challenge separately, which just led to an extreme amount of acrimonious shouting and booing on the first two challenges (one by an Obama supporter, the second by a Clinton supporter).  Trying to conduct a voice vote using parliamentary procedure in a sports arena full of thousands of screaming partisans is bound to lead to chaos.  Finally someone asked for a motion that the entire credentials report be read and voted on in its entirety.  It turns out the credentials committee had equal representation for both candidates, and while some challenges were granted and some denied, it all balanced out with virtually no change in the balance of delegates.  So we approved the report and moved on.

Moody has a big jumbo-tron thing in the middle of the arena, and it was fun to watch different groups of Clinton and Obama supporters competing to get on camera with silly antics.  Dallas DA Craig Watkins gave a brief speech with two cute little boys (presumably his sons) jumping up and down next to him to get on camera.  Priceless.

It was a long day and in the end I know my candidate lost the Texas caucuses.  But I'm still glad I went.  I learned a lot about party process, met some neighbors, and had a few moments of inspiration.  There were glitches and things that could have been done better, but I truly appreciate the huge amount of volunteer work that party regulars put into organizing this unprecedented event.


Hays Democrats suffer Mattox (3.00 / 2)
Mattox needs to stay away from the convention process. His attempts (and somewhat success) at taking over the Hays County convention and telling the masses how to behave is not welcomed here.

Resolutions are part of the process.

Mr Mattox does not believe in resolutions or democracy. He does this at each convention that he attends. It's an old tired act that disenfranchises the good Democrats that want to express issues from the grass roots. He doesn't believe in grass roots unless he owns the grass. The convention is an act of democracy, Texas style. If Mattox wants something that's not democracy, then there's always Iraq or Darfur.  


Mr. Mattox is not so super of a delegate (3.00 / 2)
Jim Mattox's diatribe was delivered to our convention and it was quite a surprise. He managed to alienate both Clinton and Obama delegates at one time.

This was one of the most despicable offerings that I have seen in Hays County. The treatment of the convention by Mr. Jim Mattox will not be forgotten. The convention is a political event and I know to expect political speeches but what Maddox delivered was insulting, mean spirited and definitely not with the times. His candidate is Senator Clinton and I would expect him to say some good words in support of her but to attack Senator Obama and his supporters in a vicious and tasteless manner is not representative of the good people of Hays County.

I voted for Mr. Mattox for attorney general twice, I did not vote for him for governor as he deployed the same mean spirit and tasteless attacks on Anne Richards.

If Mr. Mattox wants to continue with these tactics, I suggest that he get a hood and sheet and join his like minded brethren. Texans are a generous and smart people. Today's Texas Democrats are smarter than Mr. Mattox's arrogance will allow him to believe. Mr. Mattox, I appreciate your enthusiasm but the year is 2008 and your revisionist historical lecture to our convention was unnecessary, mean spirited and reminiscent of an old horse who should graciously go out to pasture or the glue factory.    

Mattox was an example of political corruption... (2.00 / 2)
Mattox was one of the "your scratch my back and I won't make trouble for you" politicians.

In 1983, Mattox was indicted for "commercial bribery" and prosecuted by noted District Attorney Ronnie Earle.
Mattox did not deny threatening the law firm, nor did he deny the Seafirst transactions, his defense being based on the legal definition of the crime of "commercial bribery." After a long trial, Mattox was acquitted.
Wikipedia

Hmmm.. arguing a case based upon verbage.

No wonder he supports Clinton.

Does this also sound familiar?
From Ronnie Earle:

"When we indicted Jim Mattox, Democratic liberals threatened to cut off our funding," he says.
www.ronnieearle.com

Campaign donors making threats to an elected official?
Wow! He really IS a Clinton man.

STIMULUS CHECKS FOR OBAMA!
STIMULATE OUR FUTURE!

[ Parent ]
Agreed, Les. (0.00 / 0)
Mattox's sister, Janice Mattox, is my precinct chair and a Clinton supporter.  Whenever one of her friends dropped by our precinct convention to ask how it was going, instead of admitting she failed to get out the caucus for Hillary, she would offer this excuse:  "Well, you KNOW there are all those people in the APARTMENTS," and then would give the long line of Obama supporters a dirty look.  Well, a number of us actually live in houses on her very own street, and I'm not sure what makes her so high and mighty over those who don't.

Frankly, she sounded racist to me.  And if not that, rude, because she made this comment loudly enough for the Obama supporters to hear.

Like brother, like sister.

[ Parent ]
Tarrant County SD-10 (0.00 / 0)
was attrocious.  I can't begin to express how abominably it was run.  We arrived at 7 AM, and didn't sign in until after 2 PM.  Many amongst the crowd became restless and increasingly angry, with numerous challenges being made to the absolutely and regretably clueless chairperson, who began reading one of 56 incredibly long and detailed resolutions.  Many of the resolutions were very similar, and by 5 PM, only 23 had been read.  They intimated that they would not call for us to vote amongst our precincts until after all were read, and business had been dealt with.  People were pleeing with her to stop and allow a vote among precinct delegates, but she began ignoring those who took the the microphone.  Our precinct chose to vote at 5:30 - without knowledge that the vote would be recognzied - and this actually allowed us an opportunity to find some common ground with the Clinton delegates, who were also incredibly frustrated.  As we left, I think that over 30 resolutions were left to be read.  Tarrant County was terribly run and horribly disorganized.  None in our precinct of largely very intelligent individuals had a clue what was going on, and nobody was able to communicate anything meaningful to us.  The chairperson continued reading the resolutions, and probably 1/10 of the crowd remained - highlighting how out of touch those running the event were.  The one positive from the occasion was that many of us got to know our neighbors quite well.  Ironic note - an event just adjacent to the Will Roger's collesium was running a gun show - which became more humorous as one of the lengthy resolutions concerning gun control was read at some lenght.
Williamson County (0.00 / 0)
I attended the Williamson County Democratic Party Convention yesterday at Stony Point High school in Round Rock.

I wrote a pretty long post about the experience here: http://blog.stevious.com/?p=1470

My District Convention.... (0.00 / 0)
Yesterday, I returned to my alma mater, Lamar Cons. High in Rosenberg, to fulfill the next step in my civic duty (only in good 'ol Texas).  As a nominated precint delegate, I and about 20 others representing my precint showed up at 9:00 am and earlier with a full stomach (the lucky ones) and with Obama support signs and precint number identity signs in hand to "wrap it up" for Sen. Obama in Texas.

Well, at about 6:30 Pm or so we, in fact, wrapped it up.  ABOUT TEN HOURS LATER!!  I actually left uncertain as to whether my name was called out by the nominating committee to serve an "At-Large Delegate" spot.  Long story and one I'll have to deal with on my own.

The fact is that over 700 delegates from our nook of Ft. Bend County showed up to represent their precints and the process was tiring and at time very frusterating.  It was, too, enlightening and enpowering.  Congressman Nick Lampson and State Rep. Doar Olivo gave their pitch, as well.

I am confident that with a little more organization and broadening of expectations, future Caucuses and District Conventions will flow smoothly.   I am also confident that after the State Convention in June, it will become clear that Sen. Obama, in fact, won the state of Texas.

I am just thankful I didn't have to go to one of the larger ones, such as the one at the GRB or the race track--jeeez.

JRR
SD 18 - Ft. Bend County, Houston

SD 12 - Tarrant County @ Gaylord Texan (0.00 / 0)
The convention hall was horrible. The sound system made it painful to listen to the speakers and hard to understand instructions. After hours of standing in line to get credentials, people entered the main hall only to be met with a sea of numbered signs representing their precincts...the problem was, none of the signs were in any kind of numerical order or any other order at all! People were making their own signs on pieces of paper, they were hard to read and difficult to see form a distance. Precincts were spread out everywhere. It also did not help that some people were taking the signs and walking around with them! You had to walk around the whole convention room looking for your group or hoping that you would eventually recognize someone or bump into someone with your sign number. This lack of organization also made it difficult for the caucus packets to be handed out, and in finding those precincts that were being challenged. This was something so simple that could have been fixed had they organized it properly. If the seating had been divided numerically into sections that were clearly numbered and marked it would have saved hours in getting everyone where they were suppose to be in order to get the caucus under way.  

At one point in the early hours there was a motion to save time by allowing all the precincts that had been challenged to simply be split in terms of their delegates, half for Obama and half for Clinton. They brought it up for a vote more than once threatening that the convention would go all night if we did not pass it. As an Obama supporter it seemed a questionable alternative to the process and a way for the Hillary supporters to gain delegates by unfair advantage...especially after reading news reports that they were the ones who had instigated the majority of the challenges in the first place. "Stuffing" the process with challenges and then agreeing to rescind them if the delegate count was split. I was very proud that the majority of people realized how unfair this would be and voted it down amid raucous booing more than once.

The credentialing of alternates went fast and there were a lot of delegate spots open due to no-shows. Why did so many people not show up? Had they gone to the previously agreed upon location to caucus having never received notification of the change? Did they arrive and see the horrendously long line for getting your credentials and give up and leave? Did they leave because of other obligations late in the day and could not stay past 5 or 6 pm when caucusing would actually begin?

Since it took so long for everyone to be credentialed, and because of the large number of precinct challenges we did not get our packets until around 5 or 6. The actual caucus process didn't take long at all even though we had a majority of people from our group that wanted the state delegate and alternate positions. In our group it was a situation where Obama won the delegate count for the once delegate we could elect, but if we had not had some people withdraw their name from the delegate list for consideration it would have split the vote and the delegate would have gone to the Clinton supporters.
I know many of them were disappointed that they had to withdraw their names from consideration in order not to loose the vote for Obama.

Now I thought the worst was over and the that the remainder of the convention would go smoothly. I was wrong.  Once voting on the resolutions started it became clear that this too suffered from a lack of organization in how the delegates were to be informed of protocol. The voting started with bickering over movements to pass all of the resolutions at once to save time. This is where the long day, tired delegates and grumpy officials clashed. Motions were voted down, but because some delegates were, stubborn, ignorant, or just plain not listening to what was being voted on and did not comprehend what was taking place, they kept wanting to argue over whether it was being done properly or not.
This was, frustrating for both the officials trying to read the resolutions and for the majority of delegates who wanted to vote on them. If the complaint is that the delegates did not know the proper protocol, were out of line and hijacking the process with their criticisms, then it should have been explained to everyone before we started, or some other process should be considered in voting for these...such as a ballot everyone can read and fill out drop in a box during the day or something. Again, this was mostly an organization issue.

Despite the valuable civics lesson, and pride I had in taking part in the process, I was overjoyed that one of the resolutions we passed was to abolish the caucus process. Hopefully Texans will give this some serious consideration for the future especially if the conventions participants continue to grow. It will become increasingly impossible to meet the logistical order in trying to run an event like this with that number of people involved and not run into major problems and frustrations.  

To folks (4.00 / 2)
who complain about the caucuses "why do we have to do this?", I say, "you don't. Go home."

Honestly, if it's so awful and ridiculous, just don't come. Or, propose real solutions to to resolve the organizational issues that seem to prolong the conventions and lead to so much annoyance and boredom. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is almost never a constructive solution.

To see a full slate of nearly 400 delegates in Bastrop yesterday was exciting and invigorating to me, as a Democrat. You can't be the party of the people without the people without people. Conventions can be run smoothly, as we proved yesterday. There are a number of possible solutions to resolve the tedium of credentials challenges and at-large nominations and dealing with resolutions. Everyone who had problems at their conventions with these things shouls....

Start showing up at local party meetings. Get to know your local party leaders, and find out where the problems lie. Talk to others - old and new party people. Vote in new leaders where necessary. Propose new initiatives and changes in rules. Start working your precinct as a activist and run for precinct or county chair. Create a committee to study problems with the caucuses and come up with ways to streamline the process. Organization is everything, and that comes from having competent leadership and putting the right people in charge of things that they're good at. This election has exposed many of the problems plaguing the Texas Democratic Party, but it's also spotlighted a number of fine  people and organizations who know what they're doing. Look for good examples and follow them.  

[ Parent ]
Excellent! n/t (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Shut up and go home? (3.00 / 1)
I don't think people are necessarily "complaining" on this thread; I think they are acting as witness...and there is a difference. Critical review of what happened doesn't have to be a negative thing and problems can only be fixed once they are brought to light.

This site, has provided many people a way to reflect on what happened at conventions other than their own and to share their impression of the process as they experienced it, good and bad.

you need to make up your mind...do you want people involved or do you want them to go home? I think it is kind of insulting to say to someone who volunteered to be a delegate, sat through the process willingly for more than 7 to 10 hours, then tell them not to "complain" or to "go home" and "just don't come", then hypocritically suggest they "get involved" is offensive. They were there. They were being involved. Just because you don't like what they have to say about it doesn't mean they shouldn't have been there.

I understand your offense to the implication that people with good intentions are facing criticism of their work in putting the convention together, however that fact does not mean that the end result can't be scrutinized by others.
I'm sure they did work hard, and yes we do need more people to help volunteer, but part of the critical observation of these conventions is also necessary in helping give feedback so that the problems get resolved in the future.

Insulting the messenger, insinuating that they stay home if they have a complaint, is an insult to everyone that participated in the conventions.
 

[ Parent ]
Save the drama and the victimhood. (2.00 / 2)
I didn't tell anyone to shut up or not to complain. I didn't insult everyone who 'participated'. And I certainly didn't insult any messengers. Read it again. I'm talking about folks that bemoaning the convention and caucus process in general.

My point is precisely that they were there. All of them. So they obviously care enough to show up and do something extra above and beyond just voting. If the process is really so awful, then then they would skip it. But, if you're going to "scrutinize the end result", after so many people donated their time and energy - lots of it - to conducting these events, then put your money and time where your mouth is. This party needs good organizational minds and new ideas.

All I keep reading is "our convention was a mess", "everything took so long", "our chair was completely disorganized", etc.

Look, it's great that people are bearing witness to all these problems - really. It certainly needs to be done. But at some point you have to move forward. These problems can be solved. They are almost entirely organizational in nature. Real "involvement" in our political processes requires more than just showing up and casting a vote. If something doesn't work well, then let's figure out how we can do it better.

Our convention ran quite smoothly, in spite of the historic turnout and hundreds of new participants - due in large part to having a county chair with good organizational skills who recruited lots of interested people and put them where they could be most effective. We all worked hard together to make sure it went off well. Of course there were hitches and delays, but we got nearly 500 people signed in within an hour, and started on time, and didn't go past 6 hours total.

Obviously problems are magnified when dealing with thousands as opposed to hundreds. But again, it's all organizational. It can be done right with the right people and the right system and good communication. And it almost always starts with leadership.  

[ Parent ]
Spare Me The Defensive Attitude (0.00 / 0)
I didn't say you told anyone to shut up but you certainly implied that anyone with a question or criticism was better off if they stayed home and didn't take part in the process because of their criticisms.

It's great that your convention went smoothly...kudos to your organizers for that. I think your list of how to get more involved was informative and offered helpful suggestions. However you preferrenced your post by admonishing those who were questioning the process or who had expressed negative observations by encouraging them not to participate.

It just read as a contradiction to me and came across as being hierarchal and suggestive that you didn't want to have to deal with those people since they were not as involved as you or had not gone to the same lengths to participate on a level that you thought would warrant their remarks.    

[ Parent ]
Quite the contrary, my friend. (0.00 / 0)
you preferrenced your post by admonishing those who were questioning the process or who had expressed negative observations by encouraging them not to participate.

Don't put words in my mouth. I clearly stated in my post that those who expressed disdain for the process were free to choose to either make it better with a constructive contribution, or not participate. I didn't "encourage" anyone to not participate.

came across as being hierarchal and suggestive that you didn't want to have to deal with those people since they were not as involved as you or had not gone to the same lengths to participate on a level that you thought would warrant their remarks.    

Read into it what you like. I'm encouraging those who criticize  the process/execution to lend their abilities and ideas toward improving it. I don't find that 'hierarchal', I think it's a call for action.    
[ Parent ]
Pas de Touché Pal (0.00 / 0)
Your premise is still offensive and badly stated whether you are able to accept it or not. If you want to encourage people in a positive way then maybe you yourself need to take some constructive criticism and reconsider how you present your suggestions.

Saying...

"those who expressed disdain for the process were free to choose to either make it better with a constructive contribution, or not participate."

and then following it with...

I didn't "encourage" anyone to not participate.

...IS a contradiction. Denying it, or trying to say you didn't mean what you said, or that I am in some way misinterpreting your original intent to try to misrepresent you, does not score you any points. Your "call to action" has great merit but not when you insert the suggested derogatory advice that people are better off not participating if they are going to be critical of the process. Rethink your approach otherwise you will continue to get pricked.

Fini

[ Parent ]
No, it's not a contradiction. (0.00 / 0)
I didn't encourage anyone to leave. I'm saying, here and now, that those who have problems with the process, now have a choice of action.

Are you gonna propose anything different or just "attack a messenger"?  

[ Parent ]
Denton County (0.00 / 0)
I was there for 12 hours and they were still waiting on nominations to finish up their at large selections (I was the only candidate with enough sense (stupidity) to stay that long). So not sure what the final time was. But I hope not much longer than 9PM since the chairs were being taken away, as well as the sound system.

We were in a park. It was overcast and damp but luckily did not rain. 3000 people (1600 delegates I guess) who weren't sure what in the world was going on, but yet wanting to attempt using Robert's Rules against people who knew them much better than they did.

Overall it was ok given our circumstances, but was quite a cluster at the same time. Anyone else with more opinions of it, start on this thread.

I thought Denton went ok (0.00 / 0)
[ Parent ]
Collin County Convention! (5.00 / 1)
Started at 9am this morning.  I believe the last sign in was around 4:30pm.  The start of the convention was about 30 minutes ago.  We are barely past the reading of the rules.

It is going to be a LONG night.

Still here... (0.00 / 0)
And the certifications group is still tabulating.

The consensus is - we are going to be here until next week.

Time for a cola.

They are actually showing a really good film on how Republicans think and how we should teach/react to them.

[ Parent ]
cool... (0.00 / 0)
I wish we could have watched a film!
 
[ Parent ]
Here is my take of what happen at our convention... (0.00 / 0)

I am heartbroken.  I want to believe that the Obama supporters have the right Democratic mindset for us.  But I was proven right in the fact that they don't.

They don't want equal rights for GLBT.  They don't want to include GLBT in equal rights although they have NAACP, Affirmative Action, etc.  All of our laws cover gender and race non-discrimination, yet in our state you can be fired for being gay.

They don't want marriage for everyone.  Civil union is possible but not the word marriage.  I had to do a double look to make sure I was at the Democratic convention.

They want to discriminate against those that cannot caucus - working folks who cannot show up for one night, or people with kids who can't afford a babysitter.  I guess they don't feel that 10 days of early-voting plus the day of the vote is enough to get their voters out.

They were proud of their discrimination because they don't think, or maybe realize, they are discriminating.

The heckling, whispering, pointing, laughing, booing, and  disrespect when people were trying to talk was embarrassing.  Not to mention the tornado of trash that was left.  Our county is supposed to be one of the richest in the state.  You couldn't tell by the end of the convention.  It looked like a trash dump.  I bet Katrina convention centers looked better than what was left.  I have a feeling that Embassy Suites will charge the Democratic Party triple next time.

It should never be held on a Sunday.  I missed a wonderful church show from a Nigerian choir and dance troop.  Even Denton County, when they couldn't find a venue big enough, went ahead and got tents and held it outside on Saturday.

I do hope everyone works toward changing this system.

[ Parent ]
SD14 / SD25 Convention (Austin) (3.00 / 1)

As an Obama supporter living within Senate District 25, our precinct had a solid game-plan for the convention for which we met at least three times beforehand to get our strategy ironed out.  We had 56 delegates for our precinct (36 Obama and 20 Clinton) and many alternates.  Some of our delegates could not come for one reason or another (one was out of the country), but our top leaders managed to call in enough of our alternates to keep us at 36 delegates.  The organizational and planning skills of our experienced caucus goers was amazing and we had a great plan in place.

We left at 6:50am for the 30 minute trip from Oak Hill (SW Austin) up to far NE Austin (where the Travis County Expo is located).  We car-pooled, and everything was fine until we got within a mile of the convention site.  But even so, we arrived around 7:50am.  The lines were not too confusing, but some people gave out some conflicting information.  

Not too hard to figure it out.  Once we all had our credentials, we did what the Army always does: Hurry up and wait.  The convention opening was delayed until 11:30am and we didn't actually get to caucus until about 4:15pm.  We got to caucus before SD 14, because they had numerous problems (over 20 precincts had too many delegates), whereas SD 25 was cleared by the Credentials Committee.

We heard from a number of local officials including our Representative Lloyd Doggett who stressed party unity, but when he said he was supporting Obama, the place erupted.  The speakers that supported Clinton, such as Terry McAuliff and Sean Astin also stressed party unity and urged everyone to back whoever the Democratic nominee wound up being.  Hillary supporters were very cordial and cheered loudly whenever a speaker stated their support for Senator Clinton.

After finally voting our precinct wound up with 3 Obama delegates 2 Alternates, and 1 Clinton delegate with 1 alternate. All four of our delegates and four althernates will attend the State Convention here in Austin on June 6-7.

It was an uplifting experience, even with the tedium of waiting, because we got to talk with our neighbors and see how the process actually worked. According to local news, there were over 10,000 people at the convention, of which almost 7000 were delegates!  Very huge crowd, it completely filled up the arena.

Glad to be involved! Very proud of Texas!

Go Obama!

SD 9 Dallas County went pretty well (0.00 / 0)
Everything went smoothly until we had so many challenges to the at large delegates and alternates.  I left at 8PM and we had not started resolutions yet.

The only real problem we had was a woman who tripped on the protective floor covering on the gym floor and split her scalp open.  She was taken away in an ambulance but came back later, I think.

I still say the resolution process should be automated under the state party website.  Folks should be able to submit one right at the convention but it would be easier for everyone if they could pre-file a precinct level resolution like a bill in the legislature.  \

Corrections and amendments to the resolutions could be made online at the committee meeting so everyone could track it on their laptops.  

It would make the Senate District Convention Resolutions meeting go a lot faster, too.

I wonder--is there some way to check in before the convention, like with airline tickets?  That would really speed things up as well.

We're gonna talk about (0.00 / 0)
the credentialing process in our convention post-mortem and try to draw up a proposal to streamline it. Ideally, we'd like to take a proposal/resolution to state, even if it just helps get the ball rolling on the issue.

I like the idea of a "pre-check-in" of some kind, and perhaps designing a process where credentials challenges must be lodged and taken care of in the week or two weeks BEFORE the convention. Same, perhaps, with at-large nominations? Maybe applicants can file before the convention and let the committee do all of the sorting and paperwork before convention day, so they can be ready to start pulling apps as soon as they get precinct caucus results and quickly narrow down their options.

For the larger conventions, perhaps breaking up credentials and nominations into sub-committees responsible for different precinct groups might help also.

Also, maybe candidate speeches can be shortened, and resolutions should be taken up whenever there are breaks in the action - waiting on committees, etc.  

[ Parent ]
only one arrest?? (0.00 / 0)
I only saw one person get arrested in Webb County.  surely there are others around the state.

The Obama folks were all instructed to wear green, were well trained (though combative) and tried to make an end-run asking for every precinct to be reconvened to vote again around 12:15ish.

They claimed to local media that they will protest HRC delegates from Webb at the State Convention.  Seems like only yesterday the Obama folks were slamming the HRC folks for threatening to contest things.

I'm ready for this long primary to be over.

Please refer to KT's signature.

Open Thread: Share Your Convention Stories! | 71 comments
Connect With BOR
Your source for Texas politics.

On Facebook: BOR
On Twitter: @BOR
On Tumblr: BOR
On Pinterest:
Rick Perry's Rental Mansion

Need A Vendor?
Check out BOR's Progressive Vendor Page for campaigns and non-profits.


Texas Blue Pages

Texas Blue Pages
A career network for progressives.

Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?

Shared On Facebook

Advertisement

Burnt Orange Reporters
Publisher: Karl-Thomas M.
Editor-in-Chief: Katherine H.
Contributor: Phillip M.
Senior Writer: Michael H.
Staff Writer: Ben S.
Staff Writer: Chaille J.
Staff Writer: Edward G.
Staff Writer: Emily C.
Staff Writer: Joe D.
Staff Writer: Nick H.
Staff Writer: Shelby A.
Founder: Byron L.

Read staff bios here.

Traffic Ratings
- Alexa Rating
- Quantcast Ratings
-
Syndication

Powered by: SoapBlox