Progressive Update--01/17/2008--Delegate Stuff & More

I would appreciate your help. I would like to serve as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, which will select the Democratic Party nominee to run for President in November. In this email I will describe how the process works, and, if you are interested, how you can help me go to Denver (at my cost) to participate in this process. (You can also use this to help yourself be selected to go to the national convention.)

There is a Delaware Delegate Selection Plan, which defines how Democrats in Delaware select their delegates to go to the national conference and actually elect their nominee to run for President in November? It is long and it is not as clear as it could be. I have (in my mind) improved the wording in this posting, at times diverging from the more confusing wording used in the Selection Plan. I will try to cover the most important steps.

Delaware will send 10 ‘Subdivision-level Delegates’ and 3 Alternates to the convention. There are also Unpledged Delegates and Pledge Party Leader and Elected Official Delegates, however amongst us mere mortals, the path to the convention is in the Subdivision-level delegates and alternates. These 13 slots are divided amongst Wilmington (2), the rest of New Castle County (5), Kent County (3), and Sussex County (3).

Your Role #1—Be a registered Democrat in Delaware, and vote at the Primary on February 5^th. I encourage you to vote for Barack Obama. The 13 slots are divided amongst the presidential candidates based on the percentage that each receives in the February 5^th vote of the public, so my chances of going will improve as Obama receives more of the vote of Delaware Democrats on the 5^th. Read on if you will consider participating further.

RD Caucus—Delaware has 41 RDs, Representative Districts. Each has one state Representative serving the district’s residents in the House of Delaware’s General Assembly. To find out what RD you are in, go to votesmart.org/index.htm and in the left side look for a box to enter your nine-digit zip code. After pressing enter, the page will fill with your national, state-wide, and local representatives. Look for your State Legislature > Representative. The district number is listed. Remember this number.

Each RD is holding a Caucus from February 8^th to the 29^th. Each RD will select 4 primary and 2 alternate people to attend the state convention/caucus on April 5^th in Dover. You can go to www.deldems.org and look for the entry for the caucus list. A partial list is available at http://www.deldems.org/ht/d/sp/i/1126873/pid/1126873 (I have no idea why the list is not complete, as these meeting dates/times were due weeks ago). If you wish to vote at the Caucus, you MUST complete a Delegate/Alternate Application Form, and turn it in by January 31^st. I have several (email me if you would like one), or you can contact www.deldems.org (302-328-9036, or Delaware@deldems.org) to request your own. Please remember to mark the State Convention box in the top, and not the National Convention.

Warning—If you complete one of these forms, you will be added to the DelDems database, and you will likely receive regular emails and mailings. Of course, most of you are already on their list, so this may not be a significant concern.

Your Role #2—If you wish to participate further, request, complete, and submit your Delegate Form by 1/31/08 at 5pm. With this accomplished, you can vote at your RD Caucus for a person to go to the state convention on April 5^th. If you wish to support me, then if you live in the 23^rd RD, then please submit your form with Barack Obama as your Presidential Preference, attend the 23^rd RD Caucus on 2/11 at 7:30pm at West Park Elementary, caucus with the Obama folks, and vote for me to be selected to go to the state convention.

If you wish to support me but do not live in the 23^rd RD, then consider if you are willing to go to the state convention. If so, submit your form with Barack Obama as your Presidential Preference, attend your own RD Caucus (by checking the schedule), caucus with the Obama folks, and ask them to vote for you to go to the state convention.

If you are selected by your RD, you will need to fill out another Application Form, and turn it in by March 5^th at 5pm (completing it as you did the earlier one, except marking National Convention in the box near the top this time).

State Convention/Caucus—On April 5^th the state convention will be held. Only those selected at the 41 RD Caucuses will be permitted to vote. All 165 or so folks will go to the caucus of their Presidential Preference, and in these subgroups they will vote on who goes to the national convention. Again, the number of delegates to the national convention that support any particular candidate will be determined by how many votes that candidate received at the February 5^th Presidential Primary in Delaware (so please vote).

Your Role #3—If you are selected by your RD Caucus to go to the state convention/caucus, and you selected Barack Obama as your Presidential Preference, then you are able at the state convention to vote for me (or anyone else in the caucus) to go to the national convention.

Delaware Civics class dismissed.

That was long enough, that I’ll keep my remaining comments fairly brief.

For local information on Barack Obama’s campaign, go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/dehome and find events and shortly volunteer opportunities. Now that Iowa and New Hampshire are behind them, the Obama campaign is really gearing up in Delaware.

For information on Jack Markell’s campaign for Delaware’s Governor, go to www.markell.org . Earlier this month I declared my support for both Barack Obama for US President, and for Jack Markell of Delaware Governor. Look at the recent posting at my blog for my rationale.

Wind Power—This is on hold at the moment. My frustration level (with how Dover operates) is over the top on this issue—every time BlueWater Wind, the winning bidder is asked to jump through a hoop, they do and then find yet another hoop presented—it never ends!! It sounds like the best approach for citizens to use for sharing their views are to write to Russell Larson, Controller General, Legislative Hall, Dover, DE 19901, or to the ‘leadership’ at General Assembly. Of course the leadership are those who don’t take calls, such as Thurman (I never met a desk drawer veto I didn’t like) Adams. I suggest that you remind Mr. Larson that while he supposedly serves at the pleasure of the ‘leadership’, the leadership supposedly serves at the pleasure of the public. You can also write to the Wilmington News Journal or other area paper, or call into WDEL and share your views. You can also contact your state Senator and Representative, and encourage them to (loudly) encourage their ‘leadership’ to represent your view, and to compel Larson to vote to approve the wind contract.

Presidential Forum in Newark—I am helping to organize a forum for each presidential candidate who will be on the ballot in Delaware to be represented, at the Unitarian church in Newark (www.uufn.org), on Saturday the 26^th (Democrats from 10 to noon, Republicans from 1 to 3pm). Please see the attached flyer, please plan to attend, and please tell your friends (and enemies). We have Rick and Brian from WDEL doing the moderating. We need a full audience to make this a screaming success. How else will your friends determine who to vote for on February 5^th? For the flyer, go to http://www.uufn.org/temp/080126%20Primary%20Candidate%20Forum%20Flyer.pdf

Paul S Baumbach