Any messages to be conveyed to the NH Democratic Party?

[Tesha]

So on Saturday next, Mr. Tesha and I will be attending the NH Democratic
convention as delegates; does anyone have any messages they'd
especially like conveyed to the state Party?

Tesha

[Tesha]

1. So, is everybody going? Or doesn't anyone have any issues? (NT)

[maxanne]

2. I'm going - thanks anyway! n/t

[Tesha]

3. Well I knew *YOU*'d be going. Going to the Feingold breakfast...

Well I knew *YOU*'d be going ;-). Are you also going
to the Feingold breakfast or the Warner lunch?

(For me: Yes on 1, no on 2.)

Tesha

[maxanne]

4. snicker

I'm not going to do either. I'd love to see Russ Feingold - but I'd have to really
haul to get there in time - it's a long drive for me. Also - the cost of the convention
is shamefully high.

[jf24]

5. Are you a delegate?

Miss Maxanne, you have spoken about running for office as an Independent. Are you going to the convention as a delegate? If you are, have you decided to remain a Democrat?

[maxanne]

7. good news

I'm neither a delegate nor a candidate.

I can do more effective work on the outside.

[Francesca]

6. my husband and I are delegates as we are the chairs

of our local party but have just made the decision that we will not be going.
We are working every day and evening of the week and will be through the end of the month.
We are very disappointed with the timing as we were looking forward to going but are working
on so many projects right now with work and our various local volunteer commitments feel
like we have to do what is only absolutely necessary the next few weeks.. I hope you
will share your experience at the convention after wards here. The other 2 members of our
committee will be going.

[Tesha]

8. Well, *THAT* was fun!

We couldn't stay through the whole thing, but we stayed through
the "Resolutions" phase of the convention where Mr. Tesha was
at the front end of a wave of adoptions of very progressive resolutions
that the State Party's "Resolutions Committee" had deemed to be
just too much like taking an actual stand on any issues and therefore
was not supporting.

When all was said and done, *ALL* the progressive resolutions
had passed, save the one calling for the immediate repeal of
NAFTA, CAFTA, and our WTO obligations, And even that would
passed if the sponsors hadn't over-reached a bit by calling for
immediate abrogation of the treaties.

So the NH Democratic Party is now on record calling for:

o The end of torture by the US
o The immediate closure of Gitmo
o The end of the war *NOW*
o The Feingold censure-Bush resolution
o The impeachment of Bush
o The nullification of Judd Gregg's U.S. Senate election in 2004 due to the Republican phone-busying scandal

Unfortunately, the Resolution process ran quite long so we couldn't stay
for the Platform Amendments.

But both Russ Feingold and Paul Hodes (NH CD-2 candidate) called
for Democrats to show some backbone and I think it's fair to say
that we just may have caused the NH Democratic Party to actually
have a little backone.

As Hodes said in his stem-winder of a speech: "A spine is a terrible
thing to waste!"

Tesha

[jf24]

9. Judd Gregg??

I think it was John Sununu.
I disagree with you on causing the party to have backbone. NH Democrats have always shown backbone - look at how they went after Craig Benson and defeated him after only one term. They also passed a number of "progressive" resolutions at their 2004 and 2005 conventions.

[Tesha]

10. Benson was universally hated.

He wasn't really a Republican; he was a Libertarian.

Tesha

[jf24]

11. whatever

Whatever he was, as Benson was elected, the Democrats attacked him over and over again - in a way that the Democrats in Washington could have learned from. As a result (and as a result of Benson's own shortcomings, admittedly), John Lynch was elected.

[maxanne]

12. ABB

Anyone But Bush proved to be a failure as a campaign strategy, but Anyone But Benson actually worked. Lynch won by virtue of not being Benson.

[jf24]

13. Maybe

It was enough for Kerry to win in NH, correct? And, if the stories are correct, then maybe it was enough for Kerry in Ohio, too.

[maxanne]

14. doesn't matter

It didn't make him a good candidate, nor did it get him elected. It did, however, cause deep divisions within the Democratic Party. I don't see that as positive.

[jf24]

15. Divisions?

What divisions? Democrats and progressives were very united in 2004. I don't know what you are talking about.

[maxanne]

16. really

Somehow that doesn't surprise me.