Comments on: State convention wrap up

By: vjp

vjp — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:13:57 +0000

Well, you may see Google ads on my blog but rest assured, I’m not getting anything from them. Ads are not allowed at wordpress.com (my blog host) but they do run them on some blogs here. I’m not particularly happy that wordpress.com has those ads but hey – I like the price of the hosting

I will say, though, that not being able to post ads or sponsorships here was part of the reason I chose wordpress.com. When you see an endorsement from me, at least you know I wasn’t bought and paid for.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:53:51 +0000

We know. Seems everyone has google ads on their blogs nowadays except for you.

By: vjp

vjp — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:33:12 +0000

I used the wrong term. The DNCC credentialled ~50 state blogs plus another 150 or so for the convention. The state blogs are to be seated on the convention floor with the state delegation.

As for money – well, that’s not why I blog.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:51:10 +0000

Mouse, a few bloggers upstate realized that you can’t make a dime as an unofficial blogger, so they sort of took it upon themselves to “redefine” that.

By: Anon E. Mouse

Anon E. Mouse — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:08:29 +0000

Isn’t “official blogger” sort of an oxymoron? Isn’t the whole POINT of being a blogger that you are not just an official mouthpiece?

By: vjp

vjp — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:21:38 +0000

Ah – I see Yes, I was thinking of Denver and the ongoing saga surrounding the official blogger. Truth is that I was too busy campaigning to get to Denver to have time to blog the state convention.

By: Shawn O'Donnell

Shawn O'Donnell — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:14:49 +0000

Vivian, In your excitement you’ve moved your mind to Denver … I thought the DPVA missed a great opportunity when you, a well known Hampton area blogger could have been used to cover this past weekend’s convention … in your backyard …

Now to Denver! I’m looking forward to reading your accounts!

By: vjp

vjp — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:01:49 +0000

The DPVA didn’t have anything to do with the selection of the official state blogger. That was done by the Dem. National Convention Committee. (See here.) But you can count on me blogging at the convention – after all, I don’t have to be embedded with the delegation because I’m a part of the delegation

By: Shawn O'Donnell

Shawn O'Donnell — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:40:55 +0000

by the way Vivian … the DPVA missed the mark when they did not have you designated as the official site and blogger for the convention … I know you would have done an awesome job making certain everything got coverage … talk about a missed communication opportunity for our canididates and our party

By: Shawn O'Donnell

Shawn O'Donnell — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:37:10 +0000

Linda B … did your husband at least get some good pictures of you while we waited for … our names to be called?

By: Shawn O'Donnell

Shawn O'Donnell — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:57:43 +0000

You noted the non-union stuff too … I did not buy anything … PDA Virginia did have a table but was giving away their materials (all union)

By: vjp

vjp — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:37:32 +0000

Plus, not to be nitpicky, but did anyone else notice that most of the items for sale were not union? I was disappointed at all the vendors that weren’t supporting our union brothers and sisters. I only found one vendor- Tiger Eye that was union.
Most of the T-shirts were not.

Yeah I saw that. But one of the worst things I saw was a t-shirt with “Democrat Delegate” on it.

By: vjp

vjp — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:07:51 +0000

Shawn – I’ll have to think about a post about our conversation.

As for no speeches – I think the only real answer is to try not to cram everything in one day. It’s just too much.

Elsewhere, I saw a comment about the add-on delegates. One was Renee Grisham. If memory serves, the other was Ward Armstrong.

By: proudvadem

proudvadem — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:17:54 +0000

Good point!
I don’t know if there was any good solution for Saturday.

By: Randy Klear

Randy Klear — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:11:00 +0000

I can visualize the reaction now if a “grassroots” person ran over and had the mike shut off by “insiders”. As if there aren’t enough conspiracy theories flying around.

By: proudvadem

proudvadem — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:34:20 +0000

Randy,
Not realizing how painful the counting would be- you were ABSOLUTELY right about removing the speeches! IF, and a big IF the ballots could have been counted quicker- then the DNC speeches would have been a necessity.

I went with the slate because I didn’t know any of the other names. I really wanted to hear from each individual “why” they deserved to be DNC or return to DNC. I only received one email regarding DNC so I had no idea about any of the other candidates.

Perhaps next convention, we have a timekeeper that shuts off the mic if a person goes over? Or a hook to drag them off the stage?
At least for a position like DNC.

By: Randy Klear

Randy Klear — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:19:24 +0000

There were 13 candidates for DNC, not 6. And 2 minute speeches rarely stop after 2 minutes. It’s a pretty good bet that the whole thing would have taken 45 minutes to an hour. And given the acoustics, it’s an even better bet that relatively few delegates would have heard all the speeches anyway.

There should be better ways of getting delegates information about the candidates for all contests. DPVA could collect campaign statements from the candidates, post them on the web site, and email them to the convention delegates (well in advance of the convention itself). I also think some kind of provision could be made for letting candidates meet the delegates before the convention starts — table space outside the hall, a night-before meet and greet room, or both.

By: linda b

linda b — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:59:34 +0000

I had a speech prepared and think that the attendees should have heard from each person for DNC. This is an important position.
They didn’t even want us to get up there and tell our name. I think if the delegates could have heard each person speak they could have made a decision on whether to vote the slate of each person individually.
All candidates were very impressive I must say and I would have liked to hear them all.
Six people running and giving them 2 minutes each would not have extended the convention any more than it already was.

By: Shawn O'Donnell

Shawn O'Donnell — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:15:06 +0000

The most important actual vote result that came out of the DPVA convention was that Vivian became a certified official delegate for Clinton to Denver! … major hat/tips Vivian … on reflection of what she had to say … it was too bad our lunch conversation about grassroots democrats in Virginia politics vs. political “insiders” wasn’t recorded … I hope you write a posting about that Vivian

By: Randy Klear

Randy Klear — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:02:13 +0000

Maria, do you think in retrospect that the Rules Committee was right to remove all the DNC candidate speeches from the agenda? I remember people there insisting that the extra hour wouldn’t hurt anything.

By: Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:03:29 +0000

Lloyd Snook has a good discussion going on at Democratic Central. Some of the same complaints and suggestions that are made here are in his article, plus more.

Good to see you Vivian, and I do have a Glenn Nye photo or two for you. Lisa says hi, and we had a father’s day dinner to go to Sunday, so we left around 10:30AM from W’burg, drove to Cumberland, and then back to Richmond again for dinner!

I am worn out from being in the car, not to mention the convention.

Democratic Central

Of course, i will have a photo wrap-up later today or tonight. I took over 200 photos at the convention, not all came out good. I did get some shots that were fantastic.

By: Anon E. Mouse

Anon E. Mouse — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:25:26 +0000

I suggest you just get rid of the slates.

By: proudvadem

proudvadem — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:12:40 +0000

DPVA did a good job. However, it took a LONG time to get credentials. I heard as of Friday night the 2nd CD was not ready…eek!
Congrats on Denver!
I completely agree with you on the scheduling. I am glad I saw old friends to talk to during all the waits! I wonder if it would have helped to have more people counting?
It should have started on Friday night. I was beat by the time the caucusing began and ready for the suites. I left around 5-ish because I was tired of waiting for results. I still dont know who the Obama at-large delegates are.
I was a little confused by the people who kept interupting the chair to complain about slates or something else. That seemed to make it drag on and on and on!
Plus, not to be nitpicky, but did anyone else notice that most of the items for sale were not union? I was disappointed at all the vendors that weren’t supporting our union brothers and sisters. I only found one vendor- Tiger Eye that was union.
Most of the T-shirts were not.

By: vjp

vjp — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:47:17 +0000

Well, somehow the word has to get out to the people about putting together slates. I know a lot of folks didn’t understand the slate process or how to go about filing one.

As for the emails – again, I doubt that most folks realized that the delegates were on the DPVA website.

I just think this whole process was a good teaching moment, a chance to further engage the newcomers. The DPVA, with its small, relatively new staff, couldn’t do it alone. If nothing else, pointing people to the website, which contained a wealth of information, would have been extremely useful.

By: Randy Klear

Randy Klear — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:18:48 +0000

I think moving up the deadline for slate filing would make it that much worse. As is, people didn’t know enough about the process to know they could create slates, even with the late deadline. There was a group called Volunteers for Obama that passed out slate literature in caucus, but didn’t file an actual slate to get it put on the ballot. They almost certainly lost votes because of this. The vote counting would have gone faster with more slate voting, too.

On the Obama side I count 9 emails from the 150+ would-be at-large delegates, none of them slate members; one of those had also filed for DNC. Frank Leone put out an email on behalf of the DNC Unity Slate, and also had a campaign website, which I only discovered this morning.