(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

I’ve spent the past few days both recuperating from this past weekend and focusing again on getting some money-generating work done for my clients. But I did stop long enough to attend a Fremont County Dems Central Committee meeting Monday night, and fielded a ton of questions and concerns about the State and Congressional District meetings on Friday and Saturday. Before I get to my thoughts on those, however, I want to be sure you all have the latest news on the results of the balloting this weekend.

State Party staff and volunteers have been very busy counting ballots for the past three days. We finally have results from all seven Congressional Districts. Here are the results we have so far, courtesy of the CDP website:

Barack Obama:
8 At-Large National Convention Delegates, 2 National Convention Alternates
5 Pledged Party Leader / Elected Official (PLEO) National Convention Delegates

Hillary Clinton:
4 At-Large National Convention Delegates
2 Pledged Party Leader / Elected Official (PLEO) National Convention Delegates

DNC Members:
Debbie Marquez, Anthony Graves, Mannie Rodriguez

At-Large Electors:
Polly Baca, Margaret Atencio

Obama PLEO National Convention Delegates:
Veronica Barela, Terrance Carroll, Vivian Stovall, Paul Lopez, Rosemary Marshall

Clinton PLEO National Convention Delegates:
Mona Merchant, Jessica Clark

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CD 1 CONVENTION

Barack Obama:
4 National Convention Delegates, 1 National Convention Alternate

Hillary Clinton:
2 National Convention Delegates

CD 1 Presidential Elector:
Wellington Webb

CD 1 Obama National Convention Delegates:
Anthony Graves, Crisanta Duran, Seth Masket, Allegra Haynes

CD 1 Obama National Convention Alternate:
Mark Thrun

CD 1 Clinton National Convention Delegates:
Awilda Marquez, Daniel Kagan

CD 1 ASSEMBLY

U.S. Congress:
Diana DeGette

——————————————————————————–

CD 2 CONVENTION

Barack Obama:
4 National Convention Delegates, 1 National Convention Alternate

Hillary Clinton:
2 National Convention Delegates

CD 2 Presidential Elector:
Terry Phillips

CD 2 Obama National Convention Delegates:
Jessica Wittmer, Shawn Coleman, Richard Gardner, Sarah Kihm

CD 2 Obama National Convention Alternate:
Wendy Wilson

CD 2 Clinton National Convention Delegates:
Odell Barry, Sacha Millstone

CD 2 ASSEMBLY

U.S. Congress:
Joan Fitz-Gerald 61%
Jared Polis 39%

CU Regent:
Joe Neguse

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CD 3 CONVENTION

Barack Obama:
3 National Convention Delegates, 1 National Convention Alternate

Hillary Clinton:
2 National Convention Delegates

CD 3 Presidential Elector:
Camilla Auger

CD 3 Obama National Convention Delegates:
Blanca O’Leary, Brian O’Donnell, Jayne Bilberry

CD 3 Obama National Convention Alternate:
Neil Isenberg

CD 3 Clinton National Convention Delegates:
Joe Torres, Mary Beth Pyle

CD 3 ASSEMBLY

U.S. Congress:
John Salazar

State Board of Education:
Jill Brake

——————————————————————————–

CD 4 CONVENTION

Barack Obama:
3 National Convention Delegates, 1 National Convention Alternate

Hillary Clinton:
2 National Convention Delegates

CD 4 Presidential Elector:
Pam Shaddock

CD 4 Obama National Convention Delegates:
Sharon Malloy, Nathan VanDerSchaaf, Paul Anderson

CD 4 Obama National Convention Alternate:
Pam Shaddock

CD 4 Clinton National Convention Delegates:
Stan Matsunaka, Kathleen Ensz

CD 4 ASSEMBLY

U.S. Congress:
Betsy Markey

——————————————————————————–

CD 5 CONVENTION

Barack Obama:
3 National Convention Delegates, 1 National Convention Alternate

Hillary Clinton:
1 National Convention Delegate

CD 5 Presidential Elector:
Jennifer Trujillo-Sanchez

CD 5 Obama National Convention Delegates:
Mike Maday, Benjamin Taber, Lynn Young

CD 5 Obama National Convention Alternate:
Jason DeGroot

CD 5 Clinton National Convention Delegate:
Brenda Krause

CD 5 ASSEMBLY

U.S. Congress:
Hal Bidlack

——————————————————————————–

CD 6 CONVENTION

Barack Obama:
3 National Convention Delegates, 1 National Convention Alternate

Hillary Clinton:
2 National Convention Delegates

CD 6 Presidential Elector:
Don Strickland

CD 6 Obama National Convention Delegates:
Robert Kihm, Marzette Bedford-Billinghurst, Paula Noonan

CD 6 Obama National Convention Alternate:
Carmine Iadarola

CD 6 Clinton National Convention Delegates:
Rebecca McClellan, John Petty

CD 6 ASSEMBLY

U.S. Congress:
Hank Eng

CU Regent:
AJ Clemmons

——————————————————————————–

CD 7 CONVENTION

Barack Obama:
3 National Convention Delegates, 1 National Convention Alternate

Hillary Clinton:
2 National Convention Delegates

CD 7 Presidential Elector:
Ann Knollman

CD 7 Obama National Convention Delegates:
Joe Beaver, Allison Cotton, Dorian DeLong

CD 7 Obama National Convention Alternate:
Saorise Charis-Graves

CD 7 Clinton National Convention Delegates:
Monisha Merchant, Jere Kennedy

CD 7 ASSEMBLY

U.S. Congress:
Ed Perlmutter

CU Regent:
Patrick Mulligan

State Board of Education:
Jane Goff

So, congrats to the many winners over the past few weeks that will comprise our delegation to the National Convention in Denver in August. There was a lot of furious campaigning, and a lot more people ran who were deserving of a position than the number of positions that were available, but I’m confident we are going to have a great delegation to the Convention in August.

The State numbers are still being tabulated as I type this; however, I have learned that the vote at the State Convention was approximately 70% Obama to 30% Clinton, creating an 8-4 split in the At Large delegation for Obama (with 1 alternate to each campaign At Large), and a 5-2 split in the Pledged Party Leader and Elected Official category for Sen. Obama.

The Party is still tabulating / has not released results for the individual At Large delegate races. I just received word that they are looking for more Obama volunteers to count the Obama At Large ballots.

———————–

Now, on to the meetings this weekend.

I spent the bulk of the day Friday at the World Arena, as my job in preparing for this weekend was to deal with most everything that went on inside the arena bowl (i.e., the actual program of the State Convention and Assembly). I worked with the campaigns in dealing with space issues, and supervised the installation of the sound, lighting, and video systems. At about 2:30, I headed back over to the Doubletree to register for and attend my own Congressional District meeting (the 5th CD). As soon as I arrived, I wished I was back at the much less chaotic World Arena.

For those of you who were there, you know that it was a complete mess — lines around and out of the convention area and into the hotel room hallways. I do want to make sure that some explanation is made — this was not what the Party had in mind, nor was it what was proposed to the Site Selection Committee when we selected Colorado Springs. Instead, the original plan was to use both the Sheraton (now the Crowne Plaza) and the Doubletree for the Friday meetings. Under that plan, two of the Congressional Districts would have met at the Sheraton at very ample and spread-out meeting room spaces, while the final of the three Congressional Districts would have still met at the Doubletree. Those of you who attended the State Party Summit in 2005 in Colorado Springs likely remember the Sheraton, as that is where we held that event — and it worked quite well.

Unfortunately, in a turn of events that has never been fully explained, the Sheraton / Crowne Plaza backed out of a commitment to host the Friday meetings about two months ago or so. At that point, it was too late to move the State Convention and Assembly from Colorado Springs — and pretty much any venue we would have chosen would have still had space issues. The Party explored using other last-minute venues to replace the Crowne Plaza, but the solution would have cost tens of thousands of dollars more — money that the Party simply could not afford (the State Convention and Assembly was already costing much more than planned). So we were stuck not only with holding everything at the Doubletree, but also with holding three Congressional Districts back-to-back-to-back.

In a normal year, that would be a daunting proposition. In 2008, that was a recipe for chaos. At the CD assemblies in previous weekends, we had already seen where some bottlenecks lay, and the Party staff worked quite valiantly to try to address those issues before the 16th. But some institutional bottlenecks remained, and those simply drove the process into a process that doubled the amount of time alloted to hold the 5th CD meeting, making everything else run even later.

Compounded on all of this was the fact that, in the 5th CD and in the 4th CD, the numbers coming out of the caucuses and county assemblies were such that the Clinton and Obama campaigns were within a couple dozen votes of gaining or losing a national delegate position. That focused an awful lot of intense heat on Party staff and volunteers, as campaign staff scrutinized every decision and every delegate credential awarded. How alternates were seated was, quite literally, going to decide how many national delegates each campaign was awarded. In 2008, in our national atmosphere, that slowed everything down even further.

With all of that in mind, though, I don’t want to make you all think that I believe what happened on Friday night was excusable. It was not. But I also want folks to realize that there isn’t a single villain or a single problem that caused all of the registration and alternate seating issues. The issues were caused by an amalgam of issues and mistakes — and I do know that the State Party officers and staff are well aware of those issues and mistakes. Dana Barker of Garfield County has rightly suggested that Chair Pat Waak form an ad hoc committee to review the state convention procedures and to make recommendations for changes in future years. I know Pat is going to work on doing that, and that is to be commended. The best thing that can come from this past weekend is a review and self-analysis to figure out how to ensure that — even though we may never see the same kinds of crowds again — we never subject Democrats to what happened on Friday night again.

As for Saturday, I must admit that all I’ve heard about are second-hand reports. I spent the entirety of the day stage right, handling the production (yes, the music and videos were all my doing (except for the Udall presentation), so address any complaints about those to me). I never got out onto the concourse to see what was going on. We heard occasional reports, and I assure you we were very frustrated with the slow pace of seating alternates, but it sounds like that process ran a little more smoothly on Saturday than it did on Friday. Many delegations organized to have their alternates sit in the arena until they were called back for seating, but I understand that some others were stuck out there most of the day. Again, for that, I don’t think there is any good excuse.

Enough about the problems.

If you missed the State Convention, I think you missed a really great event, even with the alternate issues. I loved how the crowd reacted to the music, and to the speakers. Both the Clinton supporters and the Obama supporters had plenty to cheer about — and everybody there had plenty to cheer about when Mark Udall came in the room from the back. The Udall campaign did an outstanding job re-introducing Mark Udall to Colorado Democrats, and Maggie Fox brought a tear to more than a few eyes in the room when she talked of her love for her husband.

You may not be aware of it, but we actually draft a “script” for these things. No, the votes aren’t scripted, but most of the day is pretty well timed out and scripted. In the past, we kind of have hoped to stay no more than an hour behind the script. Saturday, we finished the program and got to the balloting nearly an hour AHEAD of the script! For most of the day, indeed, we were running ahead of schedule. I know many of you appreciated that we started on time (actually, Pat ribbed me that we technically started with Rep. Merrifield and Rep. Morse going on stage four minutes late, at 10:04), and that was a big goal of mine.

In fact, some of you may recall that the last state assembly to be held at the World Arena went much, much worse. In 2006, the rancor and division within the Republican Party caused the Republican State Assembly to run well into the evening. Voting began by around 4 pm for the Democrats this year, and the last vote was cast by around 6 pm — and that was with us running out of Obama ballots!

Oh, yeah, we couldn’t end the State Convention without one last crisis. We ran out of Obama ballots. It appears from the preliminary analysis that our printer mixed up the orders for Obama and Clinton ballots, as the Party ordered several hundred more ballots of each than we would conceivably need. Thankfully, Billy Compton has worked in elections before (he was the head of the Secretary of State’s elections division before coming to the Party), and had some one-page write-in ballots ready just in case of a worst-case scenario. The last few hundred Obama supporters were given these write-in ballots and shared a few lists of candidates to ensure they knew who was running for each office.

Was it messy? Yep. Did it seem disorganized? You bet. Did we get through it and elect everybody we needed to elect? Absolutely.

Thanks to all of you who participated in the messy business we call democracy this weekend.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 2:40 pm and is filed under CDP, National Convention, US Senate Race, DNC, Presidential Campaign. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.