May 31, 2008 - 1:28pm
Maine Democratic Convention update: 1:15 p.m.
By Jessica AlaimoSome drama has broken out, first between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton supporters, and then another fight in the credentials committee.
According to leaders from the Cumberland and Kennebec county delegations, paperwork for upgrading an alternate delegate to a regular delegate is disorganized. As a result, the Credential’s Committee couldn’t upgrade delegates fast enough.
Now county caucuses have broken out to commence voting on delegates and other issues. A person claiming to be a lawyer for the Obama campaign approached convention chair Beth Edmonds and threatened to challenge the results.
According to both sides, a resolution has been reached. Alternates who were supposed to be automatically upgraded will be, and alternates will be randomly selected to fill the remaining slots.
In the room for the alternates, it was chaos. A very angry Rita Moran, the chair of the Kennebec County Democrats, told the group of about 100 that it was a frustrating situation but a solution was in the works.
A Hillary Clinton supporter in the group stood up and demanded for Moran to make it public that she was a Barack Obama supporter. She was wearing an Obama button, and had no problem doing this. Then another committee member stood up and announced he was a Clinton supporter and was making sure things were fair.
This came after presentations by both the Clinton and Obama surrogates – video and more details on those to come.
After the presentations, a group of Clinton supporters was upset that those rallying for their candidate were forced to go back to their seats, while Obama supporters were allowed to stand in front of the podium.
Edmonds said the convention officials never made that decision, and that the organization was determined by the Clinton coordinators.
Counties are caucusing right now. The convention will reconvene at 3:00 for speeches by Congressional and Senatorial candidates.
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I attended today...
...and I gotta tell ya, the Hillary supporters were nothing but a bunch of babies! They were pissed when they waited out in the foyer before going in the Convention to show their support of Hillary. Having to wait is something (apparently) the 'hard working white people' don't like to do! How ironic is that!
I'll be posting my experiences tomorrow on my blog. You won't believe what else the Hillary supporters did. *rolling eyes*
respecting one another
I also attended today, it was chaos, disorganized,mayhem,tiring, and sometimes entertaining, but I would not have missed it for anything. We are fortunate enough to live in a world where we can stand up be heard and be counted, no matter who we support. I was there for Hillary but was happy to share this DEMOCRATIC process with all, without "rolling my eyes" I think I'll skip your blog, I think we know where you stand.
GO DEMOCRATS!!!!
Hilliary Supporters
That wasn't the only place the Hilliary supporters were nasty! Did you watch the Democratic Committee's Florida and New Hampshire decision events today? Ickes got all upset when the committee presented the 1/2 count delegates for NH; he was downright rude and kept using the word a@@ and attackinhg the committee members!! Talk about throwing a temper tantrum!! Her supporters kept interrupting the proceedings by shouting while the committee members were talking. I have never before seen such disrespect and anger in such a forum!
The Finish Line
It is good to be reaching the end of this primary season. It would have been a lot better for Democrats if the Clintons had not been so divisive and false. But that is who and what they are. It is why Molly Ivins couldn't support Hillary. She also supported the Bush war on Iraq and repeated that horrible choice by voting for Kyl-Lieberman. And as if her history (being fired from the Watergate inverstigation for unethical conduct, etc.) were not enough, she showed anyone cfoncerned her ability to faantacize and lie with her tale of sniper fire. Or was that a delusion? Did she believe her repeated (4 times!) story that she excused by claiming to have been tired and misspeaking? She was also rascist in her appeals to "hard working voters, white voters" which should have been enough to turn any true American away from her. But she is not the only problem with the Democrats. The whole DLC bunch is a disgrace. Without their Neocon actions, the Republicans couldn't have continued to do their damage to the nation after the rest of us began to become wise to their criminal game. We began here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006//POLITICS/01/20/ivins.hillary/index.html/
Thank God it is ending rightly.
convention
From my vantage point the convention was hopelessly unorganized! I was terribly disappointed. I realized from the get-go that attending as an alternate I would be in a "holding tank". HOWEVER, there appeared to be no coordination of planning, the venue was not sufficient (poor food, dirty bathrooms, poor air), and there was no "traffic pattern" in case of an emergency. Many older folks attended, and I am sure it was a hardship for them, especially if they wanted to retrieve their box lunch. I left at 2:00 without my $20 lunch, and after being weeded out in a seemingly random manner. I tried to be positive about the situation, but after the first 2 hours I lost my sense of humor!
During the Kennebec County
During the Kennebec County alternate upgrade, it was not the Vice Chair who declared himself a Clinton supporter, but another committee member. The First District Vice Chair is an Obama supporter.
Content re: Kennebec incorrect
The mentioned "Clinton supporter" was not me (I'm the 1st CD vice-chair), but Ellis McKeen, one of our deputies. Our county had Rita as Chair, who was overseeing but leaving the work to us. We had two Obama deputies and two Clinton deputies doing our upgrades.
All fixed, thanks for
All fixed, thanks for pointing that out
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