I'm sitting in the South High School auditorium next to a self-employed construction worker with a journalism degree. Overeducated and underemployed is how Brad Wilkerson puts it.
He was a Dennis Kucinich man while that presidential campaign lasted, and he's now a Barack Obama supporter. Should there be any doubt, Obama's face occupies the position of honor on his cell-phone's main screen.
Aren't you supposed to be one of those "hardworking Americans, white Americans," supporting Clinton, I ask him.
"Like hell," he says. "I'm elitist and freakin' proud of it."
The woman in front of us turns around. I'd picked her out of the crowd earlier, which says something in this group, but it's not often you see an elderly woman carrying a Hillary Clinton doll. She hands the doll to me. It's wearing a black suit and does not do Clinton justice, particularly the pre-Indiana, North Carolina Clinton, the vivacious, glowing, hungry woman just waiting for you to challenge her to an arm wrestling match so she could whip you, pound down a beer and then talk trade agreements.
Wilkerson presses a button on the doll's sleeve and HRC starts to boogie. Scary, isn't it, he says. Right about then, an Obama supporter and a Clinton supporter stride down the aisle together, both of them grinning. The Obama supporter, a woman named Laverne Hillig- Hughes, sings: "Take a turn for La-verne. I am for Ba-rack Obama."
Practically skipping they were, two delegates of Colorado's 1st Congres- sional District convention following the yellow brick road to the Democratic National Convention.
I don't know about you, but February seems like a million years ago. That's when this started, remember? The state caucuses. The tens of thousands who showed up. The thousands among them who had a dream: to represent their neighbors' votes for Clinton or Obama at the national convention, to take part in the history that will be made here in Denver in August.
Oh, the slow and painful realization among the newbies that the journey would be difficult, that even the best of them, the most dedicated, the phone- bankers, plane-hoppers, sign-wavers, fundraisers, might not make it. That it is, like the nominating process itself, a matter of mathematics.
And so 261 delegates to the convention of the 1st Congressional District, encompassing Denver and part of Arapahoe counties, arrived at South High Saturday. Each hoped to be elected by their delegate peers to the national convention. Had there not been confusion over filing deadlines, there would have been more candidates. Still, 261 is a sizable field considering the number of slots available out of this district. Which would be seven. Six, actually. The seventh is an alternate position. But seven in all. Four men. Three women.
The announcement of the gender breakdown provokes boos. "Hey, I'm just the messenger," says district chairman and state legislator Terrance Carroll. "It's a man's turn. Those are the rules."
"Written by a man, no doubt," the woman behind me says.
You get the picture. A competition is under way. Fasten your seat belts.
More than 1,000 people in all. Standing- room-only. Obama and Clinton campaign signs flutter in the air. Obama delegate Anthony Graves, ever dapper in suit and tie, arrived at 5:30 a.m., 41/2 hours early, to campaign. Artiesha "Tish" Maes, Clinton delegate, is passing out burritos and a Clinton-inspired CD she burned. Track 2: She's a Brick House.
"Will you vote for me and my daughter, Micaela?" Adrienne Benavidez calls out.
Carmella Lewis, the Clinton delegate seen alongside singing Laverne, carries a framed photo of her and President Clinton taken recently. Justine Lopez, also campaigning as a Clinton delegate, is handing out key chains with tiny blue flashlights. She tells me she's related to my neighbor, grouchy nonvoting Eddie. We conspire to get him out to vote.
The Hart clan, wife, cousin, in-laws, is working the crowd on behalf of Obama delegate Jeff Hart. "Jeff is my nephew. He's perfect," his aunt announces.
I see no friction between the Obama and Clinton camps - none of the hissing that marked the county convention, though Myra Rieger says her Democrat husband told her he'd rather vote McCain than Clinton.
"'You vote for McCain and I'm not cooking,' " I told him. " 'I'm not doing the laundry, either.' "
Former county Judge Jackie St. Joan, campaigning as an Obama delegate, offers two words for such stubborn Democrats. "Supreme. Court."
This convention falls after Indiana and North Carolina, as the call for Clinton to exit grows louder, the math all but insurmountable. Yet, the Clinton delegates I find here are unflagging in their enthusiasm. They are not naive. They know the numbers. But they still believe in her candidacy, in what she represents, in her right to run to the end, to the convention floor if she so chooses. "It ain't over, till it's over," says Michael Kadovitz.
This is what you get when you infuse dry parliamentary procedure with the fervor of a church revival: former Denver Mayor Federico Pena commanding the crowd like a preacher; delegates stumping from their seats, and U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Mark Udall shouting from the stage: "My plea, my call is remember we have two phenomenal candidates. We will coalesce around a candidate in the next 30 days, I think, and then NOTHING CAN STOP US."
People leap to their feet, yes, all right, tell it, and a forest of signs springs to life. Oh, Carmella Lewis says as she leaves, it's a fine day, isn't it?
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May 12, 2008
8:32 a.m.
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HolierThanThou writes:
At the end of the Bush era, America will stagger out of bed with terrible hangover, penniless, in debt, unemployed, disgraced, abandoned by her friends, bruised and bloodied and abused, still half-drunk and with a mind suffering painful delusions, panic, fear, frustration, and bewilderment.
With Obama or Clinton at the helm, America may be on the difficult but ultimately rewarding road to recovery.
With McCain, America will be reaching for that bottle all over again.
May 12, 2008
9:22 a.m.
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ochis writes:
Well said.
May 12, 2008
5:15 p.m.
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JCS1958 writes:
Actually, I doubt if either Democratic candidate would be unable to beat McCain next fall. If you have seen himlately he seems so much like a bewildered old man being led around by others it is actually a shock.
I am a "Pre-W-Republican" who should have voted for McCain several years ago, but I don't think he has it in him any more to be president. He is the GOP's choice simply because he has this reputation of being a liberal Republican. I still think that if he was the president in stead of W the GOP wouldn't be in this prediciment now. Actually, none of us would. But at this stage, it is 8 years too late and he should be retiring.
May 14, 2008
7:14 a.m.
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HumanBeans writes:
Just say no to Obama and his typical white Grandmama!