The Democratic Party of New Mexico CD1 District Convention

Volunteers show up at 7:30 am this morning to get their instructions for how to register delegates for the convention. The volunteers were not paid and got up early on a Saturday morning to help out with the district convention. They all deserve a big thank you from the party. These delegates broke up into two groups one for Senator Obama and one for Senator Clinton.

At 8:00 am the delegates for the convention started arriving at the Hispanic Cultural Center. We had to register 600 hundred people before 10:00 am. I had agreed to volunteer for the registration table because Terri Holland had asked me to support the convention. Most of the delegates were claim and waited in line to register. A very small few needed to be sent back to kindergarten to be retrained on how to behave in a line. Strange to be saying this but I did not get any rude people on February 5 at the caucus which was normal everyday democratic voters. But I did get one rude delegate that wanted to break the rules and became rude and upset when I would not agree to her demands. You would think that a delegate would be better behaved but sad to say this woman needs to learn how to act in public.

Could the registration have run more smoothly? Oh yes, we at the table had to place four stickers on pieces of paper for each delegate. We needed to control who was coming up behind us because it was not good to have people walking up and demanding their name tag before they signed in at the first table. The door behind us was closed and locked but someone got the smart idea to open it so people could get into the building. The one rude woman lost the ticket that she was given to her at the sign-in table and then had to go get another one before we could give her a name tag but she did not want to follow the rules. Always someone in a crowd that feels they are above the rules, although I get the feeling that happens more often in the Republican Party. The letters were not placed so that people could understand which line to stand in and by the end of it people were pulling packets all over the place to get delegates a name tag. I can honestly say that I get the feeling Brian Colon will be happy that he could not take part in this convention. He is a superdelegate and has not chosen a candidate to support yet.

Once everyone was registered they went in and the fun started about voting rules. In the end the rules were kept the same because Roberts Rules of Order do not allow for a change at the convention. The rules must be changed in the state constitution. We should look at ways to change the voting rules so that each candidate is voted for on a ballot and that each delegate is given one paper ballot instead of three or four. The rules are not easy to understand and this upsets people a great deal. The best rules are those that keep it simple and straight forward. I did see a few local candidates and office holders in the general meeting. Lt. Governor Diane Denish was there to support Senator Clinton. State Treasurer James Lewis and State Representative Sheryl Williams-Stapleton were there to support Senator Obama. Judge Elizabeth Whitefield running for state district court was there to say hello to the delegates from both candidates. Also there was Garry Breeswine who is running for Metropolitan Court Division 6.

I went into the group that was electing delegates for Senator Clinton. My personal feeling is that either candidate would be better then Senator John McCain. Both democratic candidates are well suited for the job of president and would do a great service for our country. I have to admit that I voted for Hillary in the caucus because she is a woman and appears to better understand issues that face women in our country today. She is a mother and knows how hard it is to be a working mom. In some cases you could even say that she raised her daughter on her own because her husband (our beloved former President Bill Clinton) was always running for public office. Not his fault but public office takes up a great deal of time for anyone. But back to the convention, the results were Terri Holland is the female delegate and Richard Cooley is one of the male delegates. I went as a district convention delegate so that I could vote for both of them. I was very happy that both got elected. After the voting was over I went over to the Obama room to see how thing were going. Eric Griego was the chair for the Obama group and he was doing a great job. John Wertheim was chair for the Clinton group. John always does a great job with these types of activities. I was sorry to hear that James Lewis did not get one of the delegate spots but I did not hear his name called. Our state treasurer is a good man and a strong supporter of Senator Obama. Our newly elected delegates will now go to the National Convention in Denver in August and vote for the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. With only a few days left until the Pennsylvania Primary it will be interesting to see the results of that election. In the end one must remember that it always comes back to the Will Rogers quote "I don't belong to an organized party--I'm a democrat."