The Colorado Independent » Delegates

Insiders Predict Chaos at State Dem Convention

Leslie Robinson — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:20:59 +0000

What is expected at the Democratic state convention in Colorado Springs Friday and Saturday besides 10,000 participants, political VIPs, vendors and media? Some delegates are planning for “chaos.” The convention and assembly are the pinnacle of the state party’s role in the political process leading up to November’s election. Of the event’s two components, delegates are selected to the national convention based on presidential preferences, and the assembly activities include nominating candidates for legislative, congressional and U.S. Senate seats for the Aug. 12 primary ballot and approving the issues platform.

State delegates come from all 64 counties, and delegation sizes are based on population and Democratic voting successes in the 2004 gubernatorial election. Because of the high interest in this year’s presidential election, counties will be sending full delegations to the state convention, something that has not always occurred in the past. Normally, attendance is closer to 6,000 delegates and visitors. Democratic conventioneers and visitors are expected to spill out of the World Arena into a tent in the parking lot since the Colorado Springs facility won’t be able to hold all of the expected crowd of 10,000.

Inputting thousands of names of all the delegates to the state convention has been a monumental task, too, and perhaps not all that successful since some delegates may not received their credentials or the convention agenda before they arrive in Colorado Springs.

“The party had volunteers input the delegate information from the county conventions and some people fell through the cracks, obviously,” said Harvie Branscomb, an Eagle Democrat who served on the platform committee. “At the Congressional District 2 convention last weekend, it was apparent that our delegate lists from the state were incomplete. Luckily, county chairs brought their own delegate lists, which had the correct information.”

Joe Beaver, a delegate to the CD7 convention held last weekend, too, experienced the same difficulties. “I have one word to describe what I expect at the state convention: chaos.”

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak admitted that state delegates may find the check-in process confusing. “We have had some complications sending out the information to delegates, so we’ve asked the county chairs for their assistance in contacting their delegates directly.”

Waak said some delegates may not get their credentials through the mail in time for the convention, so the party will reissue credentials at the check-in starting on Friday for Saturday’s event. County chairs are bringing in back-up delegate lists in case the state party’s records are incomplete. “I know people are getting a little anxious about what to expect at the check-in. I ask everyone to keep cool and calm.”

The Democratic state convention agenda and check-in information are available here.

Branscomb is also concerned about the national delegate selection process for the Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28. “The bar codes used to identify candidates create an optical illusion when placed on the ballot page on the computer screen. I couldn’t tell who I voted for because my “x” disappeared on the page.” For back-up, the party is planning to hand-count ballots for the national delegates – another monumental task since nearly 1,800 national delegate hopefuls have signed up to compete for 12 open at-large slots.

State convention delegate and longtime Democratic activist Julia Hicks also anticipates problems at the convention. “Things are going to be crazy, but what do you expect? We’re Democrats.”

State Dem Convention: Obama Takes Solid Lead in Delegate Count

Leslie Robinson — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:31:25 +0000

Last weekend, several Democratic congressional district conventions were held to select delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Sen. Barack Obama is holding the delegate lead in Colorado, as expected.The Colorado Democratic Party (CDP) was assigned 70 seats for the Democratic National Convention, which will be in Denver Aug. 25-28. Although state delegates were chosen from their county conventions in March based on the preferences for either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama, the delegates are not bound to their original choice — meaning Clinton and Obama could gain or lose delegates in this final round at the state convention. A survey of presidential preferences at the county assemblies indicated that Obama’s support ran almost 2-to-1 over Clinton.

The Colorado Democratic Party will hold its state convention and assembly this Friday and Saturday at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. Nearly 10,000 people are expected to attend.

Colorado Democratic Delegate Count Based on Presidential Preference

Obama delegates: 19
Clinton delegates: 12
Uncommitteed (or undeclared): 39

Colorado has a total of 70 delegate seats to the Democratic convention.

*The conventions for the 3rd, 4th and 5th congressional districts will take place May 16 to select 14 national delegates. At the state convention on May 17, the remaining 19 national delegates will be chosen, plus one add-on delegate (the competition is between former Denver Mayor Federico Pe

In High Stakes Money Race, CD2 Dems Focus on Primary Ground Game

David O. Williams — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:18:21 +0000

Both Congressional District 2 Democratic candidates Joan Fitz-Gerald and Jared Polis got what they wanted over the weekend at the CD2 assembly in Westminster, landing on the Aug. 12 primary ballot, but don’t expect their campaigns to agree on the implications.Fitz-Gerald, the former State Senate president, claimed 61 percent of the delegates Saturday at Ranum High School, more than enough to land on the primary ballot and hopefully then take on one of two Republicans vying for Democrat Mark Udall’s seat in Congress. Udall is battling Republican Bob Schaffer for retiring Wayne Allard’s seat in the Senate.

Polis, a philanthropist millionaire from Boulder who ran several successful Internet ventures, garnered 39 percent of the delegates. A third Democratic hopeful, conservationist Will Shafroth of Boulder, is trying to petition his way onto the primary ballot. He attended Saturday’s assembly, gathering signatures and addressing the gathering of approximately 800.

By winning the highest number of delegates, Fitz-Gerald earned the top line on the Aug. 12 ballot. Shafroth needs at least 1,000 signatures of registered CD2 voters by May 29 in order to make the primary ballot.

Two Republicans, Scott Starin and Rich Mancuso, have also announced their intentions to challenge for the seat that’s heavily favored by most analysts to remain in Democratic control.

The Polis campaign claimed an 8-percent bump in delegates from the Boulder County assembly March 15, in which Polis earned 30 percent of the delegates. Boulder accounts for more than 50 percent of the delegates in CD2, which also includes a number of rural Western Slope counties.

“You can make numbers say anything,” Fitz-Gerald campaign manager Mary Alice Mandarich said. “Going into this assembly there was virtually no change from where we had finished after all of the county assemblies. The thing (the Polis) campaign needs to look at is they spent a lot of resources on the CD2 assembly, and we feel very comfortable with where we ended up for being outspent the way we were outspent.”

Fitz-Gerald has decried the amount of money being spent on the CD2 race, one of the costliest in the country, including more than $600,000 of Polis’s own money injected into his campaign.

“We are the Democratic Party,” Polis told the crowd Saturday, according to a Polis campaign release. “But this election is not about us, it’s not about my opponent, it’s about the very future and soul of our country.”

A focal point for the Polis campaign is a plan to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. Co-authored by Polis and endorsed by a number of other candidates nationwide, the plan can be found at www.theresponsibleplan.com.

For Fitz-Gerald, Saturday’s result means the focus is now entirely on the primary. Mandarich said she isn’t sure if Fitz-Gerald will even attend the state Democratic convention in Colorado Springs May 17 since there is nothing at stake for the CD2 candidates. Fitz-Gerald may be out going door-to-door in the various districts, she said.

“Having gone through the caucus process, this is our foundation to move forward knowing we can move though any county districts and there are a number of people truly committed to Joan,” Mandarich said. “That was the reason we chose to go through the caucus in the first place, to build the foundation and the ground game moving into the primary.”

Shafroth has said that’s the same reason he’s going the petition route, because he feels it will ultimately put him in front of the highest number of potential voters, so he can hear their concerns and respond accordingly. He compares it to the vetting process going on between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama right now.

“In the same way for me it’s been a great experience because going door to door can be kind of tough,” Shafroth said. “These people are not easy on you. You have to have your message down … and be at your best.”

He added that attending an assembly where the majority of delegates had committed to Fitz-Gerald or Polis was somewhat daunting.

“I felt very warmly received by most of the people,” he said. “It was a little odd being in front of 800 people, all of whom had shown up to support somebody else. Having said that, I felt welcomed by my fellow Democrats in this process. Most people were fine and understood this is what Mark Udall did 10 years ago.”

Expected DNC Attendance Could Jump Up 30 Percent

Leslie Robinson — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:03:38 +0000

On Jan. 11, 2007, Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean selected Denver as the host city for the Democratic National Convention. With the convention only 15 weeks away now, the activities calendar is filling up fast and the guest list keeps growing.Sky Gallegos, the DNC convention deputy CEO for intergovernmental affairs, and Jenny Anderson, the event director for the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee, were on the Western Slope last week, talking to Democrats about the latest updates on the DNC Convention Aug. 25-28. One of their stops was in Glenwood Springs for a Garfield County Democratic Central Committee meeting. At least a dozen people from Garfield expressed interest in attending activities related to the convention.

Gallegos told local Democrats that convention organizers have raised their estimates by nearly 30 percent on how many delegates, media, visitors, volunteers and political VIPs the convention will draw.

“We now are estimating 40,000 to 50,000 people will be in Denver for the convention,” Gallegos said. The original estimate was 35,000. “We will have 6,000 delegates and at least 16,000 media – that’s three media for every delegate.”

According to Gallegos, convention organizers are pleased with the large number of volunteers planning to come to Denver to help. “We have signed up 21,000 volunteers, 6,000 from out of state. In comparison to the 2004 convention in Boston, only half that amount of volunteers had signed up,” she said.

Originally organizers estimated that 10,000 volunteers would be needed for Denver, “But we will split up duties to put as many volunteers to work,” Gallegos stressed to the Garfield Democrats. For instance, volunteers will be assigned recycling bins to make sure the correct items are being sorted. “We are still encouraging people to sign up,” she added.

Anderson said the host committee has been busy preparing for special events: “Our kick-off party for the media at Elitch Gardens Theme Park on Saturday, Aug. 23, will attract 10,000 to 15,000 people. Then on Sunday, there will be 24 different welcoming receptions in 24 different venues for the 54 delegate groups.”

According to Gallegos, there will be two main convention venues: the Pepsi Center, where the actual convention will be held; and the Colorado Convention Center, where meetings and events will be slated. Most of the events, other than the convention itself, will be open to the public.

Delegate hotels are grouped in three areas: the Tech Center, downtown Denver and at Stapleton. “We know some delegates are asking if they can stay with friends in the Denver area, but it is almost mandatory that delegates stay in their assigned hotels, because there will be special meetings they must attend to pick up their credentials and get special instructions,” Gallegos noted.

On July 7, the Pepsi Center will start its transformation into a presidential convention center. A false floor will be built above the miles of cable needed for the media, and special media pavilions will be set up outside.

“It takes a month and a half to install all the special convention equipment, but we will only have about a week to put the Pepsi Center back into its original condition,” Anderson said. “All improvements stay with the Pepsi Center, too.”

Anderson estimated that the Denver area would see a benefit of $150 million to $200 million from the convention. “Plus, we are encouraging delegates to stay in Colorado for the following Labor Day weekend.”

Gallegos said organizers are working hard to finalize plans with the convention less than about three months away. “We want to make sure everyone is happy there was a convention.”

Top photo: Sky Gallegos; second photo: Jenny Anderson by Leslie Robinson

State Dem Convention: Some Delegates Selected; Clinton, Obama Invited

Leslie Robinson — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:28:12 +0000

The state convention and assembly for the Colorado Democratic Party is 10 days away and preparations are being fine-tuned for the event, scheduled for May 16-17 at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. Among the guests invited are Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.Of the event’s two components, the convention portion concerns the selection of delegates to the national convention based on presidential preferences, and the assembly activities include nominating candidates for legislative, congressional and U.S. Senate seats and approving the issues platform.
The process determining the 55 lucky delegates selected to attend the Democratic National Convention has already started with the Sixth Congressional District Convention last weekend in Littleton. Five delegates were chosen, with Obama taking three and Clinton two national delegates.

Current Colorado Democratic delegate count including declared Superdelegates.
Delegates Superdelegates Total as of 5/5
Obama 3 4 7
Clinton 2 4 6
Uncommitted 51* 6 57
Total 70
*The CD 1, 2 and 7 conventions are scheduled for Saturday, at which 17 national delegates will be chosen. The CD 3, 4 and 5 conventions will take place May 16 to select 14 national delegates. At the state convention on May 17, the remaining 19 national delegates will be selected, plus one add-on delegate (competition between former Denver Mayor Federico Pe

Colorado Delegate Hopefuls Face Fierce Competition for Convention Seats

Leslie Robinson — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:07:25 +0000

The fax machine was humming and foot traffic into the Colorado Democratic Party (CDP) headquarters in Denver was brisk last Thursday up to the 5 p.m. deadline to hand in the delegate form. The end result: Competition to sit on Colorado’s national convention delegation will be fierce at the state convention May 17 in Colorado Springs. Nearly 2,000 out of the 5,000 Democratic delegates going to the state convention have indicated that they will run for one of the 55 national convention seats from Colorado.
If a Democrat wanted to qualify for a seat on the Colorado delegation to the Democratic National Convention, the first step was to go to the February caucus. Then, one had to fill out a delegate application form indicating interest and presidential preference by April 17. The final national delegate selection process will be completed at the congressional and state conventions in May.
Among other requirements, such as attending one’s local caucus in February, Colorado Democrats had to fill out a special form if they were interested in becoming a delegate to the national convention in Denver, Aug. 25-28. The tight competition between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, combined with the close proximity of the convention in Denver, has inspired a record number of Democrats to vie for a national delegate seat.
Colorado was assigned 70 delegate slots to the Democratic convention. Superdelegates and one unpledged add-on automatically take 15 slots, leaving 55 seats selected from three categories: congressional districts, at-large delegates, and party leaders and elected officials. A little more than 5,000 delegates will be attending the state convention at the Colorado Springs World Arena and they will elect who will fill the 55 seats.
Harvey Branscomb, a member of the CDP platform committee from Eagle, happened to be at headquarters to see the last-minute rush of delegate forms delivered. “I was there for a couple of hours and a hundred faxes must have rolled in.” Branscomb noted that Shelley Alonso-Marsden was the last applicant in the door.
I didn’t decide until this morning,” said Alonso-Marsden, 23, a researcher for the University of Colorado. The competition was a little overwhelming. “I’m a nobody at a grassroots level.”
Although she has been voting since the age of 18, this is the first year she has been active in politics. “I have been a Clinton fan since I was eight years old, so I was thrilled to go to caucus to support her.” By Thursday, friends convinced Alonso-Marsden to apply, but she had to meet with clients in Golden first. She said it was luck that she hit the deadline at the last minute.
CDP director, Bill Compton, said party officials worked over the weekend to determine an applicant’s eligibility and to sort the applicants into the different categories. Here are the results:

The 2-to-1 advantage that Obama has over Clinton was reflected at the county assemblies as well. Since delegates can change their allegiance, new presidential preference polls will be taken at the state convention and the congressional conventions, so ratios could change.
According to Compton, the breakdown of the 70 delegates is as follows:

Congressional districts: 36 delegates chosen at the congressional conventions in May
CD 1: 3 males, 3 females, 1 male alternate
CD2: 3 males, 3 females, 1 female alternate
CD3: 2 males, 3 females, 1 male alternate
CD4: 3 males, 2 females, 1 female alternate
CD5: 2 males, 2 females, 1 male alternate
CD6: 2 males, 3 females, 1 male alternate
CD7: 3 males, 2 females, 1 female alternate
State at-large: 12 delegates, 2 alternates chosen at state convention
Party leaders and elected officials: 7 delegates to national convention
Un-Pledged Add-On: 1, nominated by party officials and chosen at the state convention
Superdelegates: 14

Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns were given the list of delegate applications on Monday. They can whittle down the list to ensure steadfast supporters will be going to the national convention.
Clinton and Obama will be looking for delegates who have experience in the political process,” said former CDP vice-chair Julia Hicks, an Obama supporter. “You want old war-horses in your delegation if there is going to be a convention floor fight.”

Obama Leading Clinton 2-1 in State Delegates

Leslie Robinson — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:28:45 +0000

The Colorado Democratic Party has released a compilation of delegate presidential preferences from the county conventions held last month. Based on these figures, Sen. Barack Obama continues to retain a hefty lead — almost 2 to 1 – in delegate support over Sen. Hillary Clinton. Thousands of delegates attended their Democratic county conventions to express their presidential preferences. The state party compiled the results of the delegates’ presidential preferences by the seven congressional districts. See graphic below.

Approximately 9,895 county delegates participated in Democratic county conventions across the state. Across the board, Obama lead Clinton almost 2 to 1 in most congressional districts. Total state numbers were:
Obama: 6,199 delegates – 63 percent
Clinton: 3,270 county delegates -33 percent
Undecided: 426 county delegates – 4 percent
Popular support from the Feb. 5 precinct caucuses had Obama at 66 percent of the vote and Clinton at 33 percent. Over 120,971 people participated in the state Democratic caucuses.
Delegates to the congressional and state conventions slated for May were selected at the county level based on their presidential preferences. The state party will not make any official estimate of the breakdown of its 55 national convention seats. In a previous article, CDP Political Director Bill Compton explained why:

Colorado is a caucus state so we really won’t know the exact presidential delegate split until the congressional and state conventions are wrapped up by May 17. The party refuses to make any official comments until that time.

He also noted that delegates are not bound by their original preference and can change their mind about their support for a particular candidate.
However, based on the percentages above, Obama would theoretically capture 35 out of 55 national convention delegate seats; Clinton would have 18; and two would be undecided.
This does not include Superdelegate preferences.
Congressional district and state delegate preferences will be available soon, according to CDP Chair Pat Waak. Approximately 5,016 delegates will be attending the state Democratic convention May 17 at the Colorado Springs World Arena. Colorado has a total of 70 delegate seats at the Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28.

Democratic Party: National Delegate Preferences Unknown

Leslie Robinson — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:37:18 +0000

National news media organizations have divvied-up Colorado’s Democratic national convention delegates between the Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton – Associated Press has the number at 35 for Obama and 20 for Clinton. But guess what? There is no official delegate presidential preference count yet, according to the Colorado Democratic Party (CDP,) so the media estimate could be dead wrong.“Colorado is a caucus state so we really won’t know the exact presidential delegate split until the congressional and state conventions are wrapped up on May 17,” CDP Political Director Bill Compton explained. “The party refuses to make any official comments until that time.”
So where are AP, CNN, NBC and the others getting the state’s Democratic delegate breakdowns for the Obama and Clinton camps?
“We have no idea,” Compton stated.
CDP vice-chair Dan Slater did make an estimate on the delegate breakdown after the Feb. 5 precinct caucuses based on the caucus presidential preference support. Compton wasn’t sure if the media numbers could be based on Slater’s figures. From Slater’s website Demnotes.com:

I want to emphasize that my calculations are estimates only and due to the non-binding nature of delegates, the final numbers could be very different…Based on my calculations, Sen. Clinton will get 19 pledged delegates from Colorado, while Sen. Obama will get 36 delegates. None of these numbers include any of the unpledged “super delegates” allotted to Colorado….These numbers should not be interpreted to be anything remotely related to an “official” calculation from the Colorado Democratic Party.

The state party 70-member national convention delegates come from five different arenas and this group won’t be finalized until the May 17 state convention. Super Delegates are already in place, but some have not indicated their presidential preference. Delegates selected at the state convention will represent the party at the Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28.