I have been a Democrat in my soul since 1976, after watching the Watergate hearings in diapers, seeing Tricky Dick board Marine One on TV in disgrace, reading a Time magazine interview with James Earl Carter, brought a fresh hope in America(for a seven year old. I served in the U.S. Navy under a Republican Commander-in-Chief (Ronald W. Reagan) who I disagreed with. I have been a registered Democrat since the day after my 18th birthday in 1987 and have voted in every election I have been eligible to vote in. My first vote for President, 1988, was for Jesse Jackson. And Barack Obama's candidacy is nothing like Rev. Jackson's. With that in mind I am considering putting in my nominating papers (avail Feb 1 in my state) along with a pledge of support and running as a delegate, from the 3rd Congressional District in the BLUEgrass State to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, with my support pledged to Sen. Barack Obama.
I have never thought previously of doing this. Yes, I have generally had a candidate I liked, maybe not loved, but liked. But my first choice never seemed to be everyone else's. I supported Tsongas in 1992. Bradley in 2000. To all the Gore folks out there, I had issues with Tipper and still do over her work with the PMRC. Would I vote for Al now? In the primary, probably not, but I voted for him in 2000 in the general and would do so again. In 2004, I liked Dean, although Iowa sort of freaked me out and unfortunately as I've said in comments, the lateness of Kentucky's primary pretty much forced a vote for Kerry.
I first thought Barack Obama should run for President watching his speech at the 2004 convention. I told my wife at the time that if he won his Senate race we would see the first African American elected President in 2012. That would have been after two terms of a Kerry administration. I was thrilled when he announced, signed up on his website, so forth and so on. Then, the Donnie McClurkin issue occurred.
I say now for the first time in my diaries on this site, I am a bisexual male, fought for the fairness ordinance here in Louisville, KY. Was in council chambers when the measure passed. I was friends with the daughter of one of the members of our county government and my discussions with her about the issue led to the passage of fairness at the county level. Louisville and Jefferson County have since merged. I disagree vehemently that homosexuality is a spiritual issue and I did not like the message that having someone with Donnie McClurkin's views on stage, gave me about Barack Obama's commitment to LGBT rights.
I was undecided for some time. Barack Obama and a diary here on the 21st of January changed my mind.
Those two forms (a candidacy form and a pledge of support) I mentioned earlier must be submitted to the state party by May 15th. The primary here is on May 20th, then we have our Congressional District caucuses on the 31st. Now, this may all be moot, if things shake out differently (an inevitable candidacy one way or the other, for instance) but, I'm thinking an opportunity to participate more deeply in a historic convention will be worth it.