440 people will determine the future of the Democratic Party

[Walt Starr]

440 people determine the future of the Democratic Party:

Kos has 'em all listed here:

http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Democratic_National_Commmittee

or you can view the delegates state by state here:

http://www.dems2004.org/site/pp.asp?c=luI2LaPYG&b=107686

At any rate, I find it frightening.

:scared:

[sangh0]

1. What was frightening?

I looked at the list for my state, NY, and the names I recognized were anything BUT frightening.

[Walt Starr]

2. Your state is cool, so is mine

What troubles me are the red state delegations.

[sangh0]

5. I see

You didn't really think you were gonna see people like Kucinich in Alabama's delegation, did you?

[Walt Starr]

7. No, but I expect Lieberman will sway them

and we move to the right.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sangh0]

10. Jealous?

Too bad I'm attracted to brains

[Walt Starr]

13. WTF

We're having an intelligent conversation about the direction of the party.

WTF are you doing?

[Lone_Wolf]

3. For a party that calls itself Democratic... it is not very democratic.

IMO, everybody should be able to vote... not a select few.

[Walt Starr]

4. This is how party politics works

Basically, if you have an opinion, express it to the delegation from your state, and even then they don't have to give a shit about how you want it to work.

[scarletwoman]

8. Not quite.

Party politics works by people getting involved. I got involved, I got elected to be a state delegate in 2002 and 2004. I am also an officer in my county party unit. All it takes is being willing to jump and do it!

sw

[Walt Starr]

15. Yeah, but you aren;'t one of these 440 people

;)

[scarletwoman]

22. I could have been -- I was encouraged to run.

I decided not to because of the travel involved -- can't afford it, nor the time off work. But I do know the people who were elected, and I fully intend to lobby them. Not only that, but I'll recruit other state party members to lobby them also.

I'm a party activist because I truly believe that we CAN make our voices heard by being involved. :D

sw

[sybylla]

21. Yep, me too

And while I'm not one of those 440 people, I got to vote for them and I have met most of them. I have no problem speaking with them about their vote and how they will approach the selection of a new DNC chair.

That's how you make a difference in the Democratic Party.

[scarletwoman]

24. Good going!

Thanks for adding your voice! :hi:

sw

[HereSince1628]

11. Yeah, like delegates care about the base...

Sorry, but I understand representative government. Did you know that representative government is what a REPUBLIC is?

Now, democracy where one person has one vote and all votes are equal..._that_ is PROGRESSIVE.

Indeed, it is SO progressive that no DLCer or professional politician would get close to it.

[Walt Starr]

16. You had a chance to choose who these people were

I bet most people voted for Kerry in their primaries anyway because he was winning.

Oh well, those Kerry delegates will now choose anybody but Dean for DNC chair.

And on it goes...

[sybylla]

25. This is different, HS1628

Of the six representatives for Wisconsin, our state, four of them are regular citizens just like you and me who are active in party politics. These people have to campaign to win their seat. And they worked hard convincing delegates, a very progressive group in our state, that they were going to act progressively on our behalf as delegates to the DNC.

I've met all the Wisconsin delegates. One of them was quite high up in the Feingold campaign. One is a 16 year old who is very progressive and very active in his party. Another is a regulary speaker at Fighting Bob Fest, a progressive chatauqua. These people think like you and me. They are fence-sitting moderates. And I certainly plan to contact them regarding the selection of DNC chair. Though, with the exception of the party chair and co-chair I expect to be preaching to the choir.

I should point out, though, that the first website in the original post lists two past members for Wisconsin. The second website lists delegates to the national convention, not only to the DNC. Though the DNC delegates were automatic delegates to the national convention and do appear in the list alphabetically.

[HereSince1628]

29. just a minor clarification...

You wrote "four of them are regular citizens just like you and me... "
"These people think like you and me. They are fence-sitting moderates."

Ouch!You don't have to throw insults at me.

I am progressive.

I can accepting moderate progress in the realization of our dreams, but only as a consequence of the difficulties of the task to accomplish them.

I don't accept moderation as a state of mind that says there is no hurry to get to goals that "maybe shouldn't be so progressive anyway."

[scarletwoman]

6. The 440 DNC members were elected

by delegates to each state's Democratic party convention, who themselves were elected from every precinct in their state.

It's representative democracy. I know who my state's DNC members are because I voted for them. :D

sw

[crispini]

12. Hey, I know who about 6 of the Texas delegation are!

That's kinda cool! Of course, they're, like, famous. But still.

[democratreformed]

14. Thank you, thank you , thank you, Walt. I have asked this question a

couple of times. Thanks for answering it for me.

[Walt Starr]

17. Yep, saw your question

That's why I posted this thread.

Basically, Kerry delegates will determine the direction of the Democratic Pary.

[democratreformed]

20. Thanks again. BTW, I know a couple of the Arkansas ppl. too.

Will do what I can for Dean.

[sybylla]

26. No, no, no.

The delegates to the DNC were unpledged delegates to the National Convention in July. They had to run for the delegate seats and were elected by members of their state party,hopefully, on a platform of supporting the goals and platform of the members. They were automatic deletates to the convention in July and could vote for any candidate they wanted to. If they voted for Kerry, it wasn't necessarily because he was their candidate. You know, party unity and all that crap.

In my state, we have very progressive and left of left delegates. There's no reason that it wouldn't be true in your state as well. It just depends on how "left" your state party members are.

[scarletwoman]

23. Well, dangit. I posted this same list a couple days ago.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1351596

Timing is everything, I guess... ;-)

sw

[Walt Starr]

27. Yep, but at least a few people are now seeing it

and can lobby their delegates.

Rod Blagojevich will hear from me for certain!

[democratreformed]

28. Sorry I missed yours. B/C I really have been wondering and haven't

had time to look it up.

[BuelahWitch]

18. Larry Tenopir of Topeka KS was a Dean supporter

Hopefully he's not pro-DLC

[w13rd0]

19. Well, Missouri...

...I'm going to try and contact/write those I can and express my opinion, but seeing the pledges, I'm sure Missouri's delegation will opt for more "triangulation into irrelevance"...