In Vienna, We Hold Our Breath
(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)
We are now just about a month out from the first actual votes in the Presidential race (maybe even sooner - I understand that some absentee ballots in Feb. 5 states may be in voters’ hands as early as December). Iowa is revved up for January 3, and the Democratic Party is anxiously awaiting the results of the early primaries and caucuses (including Colorado’s Feb. 5 caucus) to see who our nominee will be.
I’m here in Vienna, Virginia — a suburb of Washington DC — for the Winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Several other Coloradans are here, as well. Last night, I enjoyed a couple of drinks with DNC Members Mannie Rodriguez and Maria Handley, as well as CDP Executive Director Sherry Jackson and DNC members from Kansas and New Mexico. Pat Waak stopped by on her way out to dinner to say hello, as well. No matter where you go around here, the talk is about the Presidential race; Mannie was doing everything he could to talk up his candidate, Senator Clinton, while the New Mexico folks were pressing hard to get in some of the finer points about why supporting Governor Richardson was so critical.
The meetings start slowly with a few this afternoon: the Association of State Democratic Chairs will meet, followed by the Resolutions Committee and the Youth and Senior Coordinating Councils. I spoke to the Senior Coordinating Council a couple of years ago about what we’re doing in Colorado, and I’m a member (at least until next July) of the Youth Coordinating Council.
Tomorrow, though, is the big show. Hopefully, you will get a chance to catch some of the meeting on C-SPAN. I believe the coverage will start around 8 am Mountain time. Nearly every Presidential candidate will be here to speak to the DNC; Governor Richardson and Senators Edwards, Dodd and Obama will speak to us in the morning session. In the afternoon, we’ll hear from Rep. Kucinich and Sens. Biden and Clinton. Speaker Pelosi will also be addressing us, and the DNC will also hear from a very special guest — Colorado Governor Bill Ritter — about the work we are doing to prepare Colorado for next August’s nomination of the next President of the United States.
Tomorrow is filled with a number of other meetings, as well. The Rules and Bylaws Committee will be meeting in the morning, and they always have interesting news. The Rural Council will be meeting, as well, and the Hispanic Caucus will be electing a new chair. We will conclude on Saturday morning, with a few more caucus meetings and other trainings.
I’ll write about today’s meetings this evening. Again, though, try to record the DNC meeting tomorrow — the candidates really work hard to put together a good speech for the DNC meetings, since all of us are automatically delegates to the national convention and they want our votes.