This year I have committed to spending more time volunteering for my favorite causes since donating money is out of the question. My first real foray into volunteerism started out with this past weekend’s California Democratic Party convention that was held here in San Diego. It was actually my first time getting involved in a political event. Oh sure, I attended Yearly Kos in Las Vegas last year, but that felt more like a meet up of blogging buddies which just happened to have a political theme. The CDP event was my first exposure to the real, formal workings of a major political party. So, here are my amateur observations.
Friday I volunteered in the delegate registration room from 2-9. The first thing that struck me as I looked around the room at the nearly 70 volunteers and CDP staffers in the room was that I was one of the youngest! At least it appeared that way. Early on in the main volunteer room, I did see quite a lot of college age kids, but I think they were assigned to more physically challenging tasks such as being a floor runner or usher or doing room setup. Registration took no physical effort since we were sitting the whole time, but you sure did need to keep your wits about you! When they opened the doors at 2:30 for the first round of registration hours, a huge crowd of delegates swarmed in! The first two hours were non-stop with a line at our table from the beginning. Everyone was very nice though. Patient and understanding as we went through our checklist of items to get them signed in and hand them their credentials. As things slowed down a bit and I could look up and really soak up the scene, I noticed the diversity of the attendees. Ages ranged easily from the young 20s to possibly the 80s. Equal amounts women and men. There was a very healthy contingency of African Americans, Asians and Hispanics. Some aging hippies and some young professionals. I was really heartened to see that broad spectrum of involvement in the party. I also loved seeing that many people brought their kids. Get them started early I say! People greeted each other warmly and the conversations started right there in the registration room on the various resolutions that were on the delegates agendas. It was quite the buzz of energy and optimism. I left exhausted, but really excited about the weekend.
Saturday morning was the first open sessions with various speeches from party committee members, state and city politicians. The big draw this year though was that all the major Presidential candidates were coming. I should preface my comments by saying that I have no favorite candidate. I am (to steal an analogy from Kos), ‘dating’ all of them. Our primary is not until Feb so I have lots of time to make up my mind and I intend to use it wisely. I missed the first session due to a conflict with my son’s Little League game and I have to admit that I was not too upset since the morning session was Hillary! What is it about her that she has not generated any enthusiasm from me? Well, maybe that was actually answered by the reviews of her speech that I heard later on. She is naturally going to be weak and hard to believe on getting out of Iraq. She refuses to admit her vote for the war resolution was a mistake and I really think that will be her downfall. Apparently the reaction to her when she mentioned Iraq was very tepid in the hall – even had some boos and catcalls! Considering that everywhere I looked within the main hall there were signs saying Out of Iraq NOW, she was starting out a huge step behind of everyone else. Otherwise her positions seem strong on the other hot button topics such as energy, education and health care. Mostly though she is the consummate political professional and probably (for me anyway) entirely too entrenched in the old school way of doing business in DC. I must admit I did get a huge thrill from seeing her in the hallways on the convention center though! I had just picked up my Observers pass that I earned for working the day before and was heading towards to the main hall when I came upon a group of ‘suits’ moving across my path. In the middle of the suits (SS agents obviously) was Hillary! That gave me chills. She is after all a former First Lady and a Senator and she’s been in the public eye for what seems like forever now. I did get a little giddy over that encounter!
The big fun was Saturday afternoon. As I mentioned, once I walked into the main hall where all the delegates were seated, I noticed the overwhelming amount of signs and buttons advocating the end of the Iraq occupation. From the conversations that I overheard, I would say that the war was a least twice as important as anything else on people’s minds. Yes, I heard discussions of health care and global warming and of course impeachment, but it always started with Iraq. Anyway, I ended up standing near the platform where the bloggers from Calitics were setup. That put me in a good position to watch the supporters for upcoming speakers gather together. Obama supporters were congregating from the beginning of the session. And it was a LARGE rally crowd for him! First up though was the lady who makes ME teary eyed with pride – Speaker Nancy Pelosi. From what I have read about the initial reception for Hillary in the morning, Pelosi got a much more enthusiastic welcome. Looking around the entire room appeared to be standing for her, including the bloggers at the table! She is a fabulous speaker and boy can you feel her resolve! She was adamant about ending the war and vowed not to back down even with the anticipated veto of the funding bill recently passed by both houses which requires a time table for withdrawal. Next up was the Barak Obama. I’d told my friend that I hoped he would ‘wow’ me. He sure did! First I was struck with the size of his crowd of supporters and their enthusiasm. It was intense! The energy level in the room just skyrocketed. His theme was Turn the Page and he sure nailed it. He hit all the right high (or really, low) points on the war and whipped the entire crowd into a frenzy. I had chills several times during his speech. He spoke of being one signature away from ending the war and vowed that lawmakers would find the needed votes to overcome a veto. He did not mention waiting until he was in office (as Hillary apparently did), but showed a commitment to keeping up the fight NOW. Huge ovation for that of course! In hindsight though – I am not sure how much he said of substance. I still don’t know HOW he is going to accomplish his agenda of items. I know that some people don’t care to hear that in these kinds of campaign speeches, but I do and in that way there is still a gap for me when it comes to Obama. However, his speech did make me want to take a much closer look at him in the coming months. Chris Dodd and Dennis Kucinich wrapped up the candidate speeches for the day. Eh! The only thing which struck me there was the Kucinich supporters. Straight out of a 1969 peace rally dudes!
Sunday opened up strong with Maxine Waters. She gave us THE rallying cry for the event: "Not another nickel, not another dime, not another soldier, not this time". Then came John Edwards. I had been looking forward to him the most because initially I have been leaning towards him. He did not disappoint. Even after the inspiration I felt from Obama, Edwards still held me in and hooked me with his very substantive list of items and descriptions of how he will accomplish his goals. He made bold statements. For instance, when discussing his universal health care plan he actually said that his plan could evolve into single payer. He said he would roll back the Bush tax cuts in order to achieve that goal. He spoke passionately about the 37 million people in poverty in the US. His plan to combat it heavily emphasized a living wage, union participation and education. He lamented the amount of debt incurred by college students and advocated public subsidizing of college programs to remove that burden on the emergent workforce. He also boldly declared that the US should be assisting developing countries by setting up preschools and elementary schools for them! Wow! Now, he did not mention how THAT would be funded, but it sure is a bold idea. The overall theme though was that the US needs to go back to being the leader among nations. Wipe away the big bully impression we have been giving off and go back to being supportive of other countries. He actually mentioned Darfur and the shame of the US turning a blind eye to it. In my opinion, he was the whole package. He had tons of passion and enthusiasm, not on the highs of Obama, but certainly plenty enough to get his message through, combined with all the substance that I needed to hear.
Now that I am finished typing this out, I just read this write up on Calitics. He says much more succinctly exactly what I observed this weekend too! I am still dating, but Edwards definitely gets more of my attention after this weekend.