I was privileged to attend the California Democratic Party convention last weekend, and I’m only now recovered enough to put together a post about it (that plus the CDP just finally got the video up on their website — more about that later).
There was a lot of excitement going into the convention since we knew that seven of the eight Democratic presidential candidates would be addressing the delegates. Only Sen. Joe Biden didn’t make an appearance.
I suspect that I’m not alone here in my choice for a presidential candidate — undecided. I do not like Clinton; I sorta-kinda like both Obama and Edwards, and I bounce back and forth between the two like a ping-pong ball. So I think it’s safe to say that I was hoping for some sort of epiphany over the weekend.
On Friday evening, with delegates still arriving and checking in, there was a cocktail party on the terrace that really only semi-featured Sen. Mike Gravel, along with Rep. Jerry McNerney and Charlie Brown. Gravel rambled a bit, and, not realizing that this was his one chance to address the convention, I’m afraid I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have.
Sen. Hillary Clinton was the first to speak on the convention floor, on Saturday morning. And I have to admit that her speech had a remarkably palliative effect. She told several personal stories and made herself both very human and very appealing. The only problems arose when she veered into policy. And when she addressed immigration by alluding to the 9/11 terrorists, she was actively booed. All in all, though, the impression taken away by both me and most of my friends and colleagues was that if she wins the primary, we will be able to work for her in the general election with much less trepidation than we had previously imagined.
On Saturday afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama took the stage — and I mean he TOOK it. His charisma is undeniable; his oratorical skills send him into the stratosphere. I cheered, I clapped, I chanted “O-bam-a.” He gave a feel-good speech about — well, that’s the thing. A week later I can’t really remember what it was about. It was motivational and inspiring and all about unity, but there wasn’t much meat to it.
The afternoon ended with a workmanlike speech by Sen. Chris Dodd and a very odd outing by Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
That evening I skipped the big ($125) CDP banquet featuring Rep. Nancy Pelosi and instead went to a small dinner hosted by Take Back Red California and the Progressive Caucus. The featured speakers were DFA’s Jim Dean, Charlie Brown and Gov. Bill Richardson. There were about 70-80 people at the dinner.
It was in this intimate setting that I was introduced to Bill Richardson — someone I frankly had never considered supporting. And I was impressed. Really impressed. His resume is awesome; his policy positions are right up my alley; his persona is funny, down-to-earth, almost jocular. I left thinking I had perhaps found my candidate.
Next morning, with the crowd much diminished from the previous day, Sen. John Edwards took the stage and gave a stirring speech — not nearly as charismatic as Obama, but much stronger on specifics. Notably, he was the first candidate to that point to even mention Labor, something I found fairly shocking. The consensus among the delegates with whom I spoke was that Edwards did more in his speech to move them off the fence than anyone else.
The last of the presidential candidates to speak was Richardson, and the audience was dwindling fast. In the large setting of the convention stage, he seemed not nearly as appealing as he had in the smaller gathering the night before. All the policy stuff remained the same, but the energy seemed oddly diminished.
I hate to say it, but I left the convention still in a quandary. I don’t love anyone, but I suppose the good news is that I now know I CAN support whichever of the candidates emerges as the eventual nominee.
And I’ll leave you with one of the last speeches that was made at the convention on Sunday (you can scroll through the link and watch any of the others, as well). The inimitable Rep. Maxine Waters gave the most rousing speech of the entire weekend, ending with a standing ovation from a crowd that demanded an encore — one which she came back to deliver after the cameras stopped:
Not another nickel,
Not another dime,
Not another soldier —
Not this time.
I can’t get the video to embed, so you’re just going to have to follow the link to watch her speech. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
