There were roughly 1,400 Democrats (delegates, alternates, and active party volunteers) at the Boulder County Democratic Party Convention in Longmont, Colorado on March 15, 2008.

Wellington Webb, the popular former Mayor of Denver, was there in great form to speak for Hillary. By coin toss, I think, Mayor Webb was scheduled to go first.

Former Senator Gary Hart was scheduled to subsequently speak for Barack Obama; but for some reason he failed to do so. Instead, after some unusual maneuvering which I will describe shortly, former Congressman David Skaggs, Shawn Coleman, and Sarah Kihm, (campus coordinator for Obama) filled in for the missing Senator Hart.

Now the following may have been just co-incidental; but it was quite unusual; so I think it may have been attempted to purposely hide the fact that Senator Hart would not be speaking for Obama.

Just before Mayor Webb was about to be introduced, someone made a motion from the packed floor to suspend the rules, dispense with the traditional speeches, and proceed to the official vote since (according to her) the speeches wouldn't change anyone's minds. Her motion was quickly seconded by a number of voices from the floor. However, nearly as soon as the Chair called for discussion, someone else called the question. Nearly the entire audience rose to show that they were in favor of calling the question. Based on how we had voted on previous questions put to the whole floor during discussion of the party platform, I suspect the vast majority would have then voted against the motion; but before that vote could have taken place, our Parliamentarian informed the Chair that the Credentials Committee was still verifying the credentials of the assembled delegates, and according to party rules, no motions could be voted upon until after all credentials had been verified.

Our Chair then decided that we may as well hear the speeches, since we couldn't conduct any business at that point anyway.

Mayor Webb's brilliant speech was preceded by a large-screen video of Hillary speaking, I think, to Ohio supporters on the night of her great come-back. We Hillary supporters naturally cheered just about every sentence! It was great, until we started to hear boos coming from the Obama supporters in the room. Those boos grew louder and louder, until Mayor Webb got the people running the video to cut it off.

I wish I could remember exactly what Mayor Webb said and did next, because he was absolutely marvelous. Charming and commanding at the same time, he made it very clear to even the most dis-respectful of the Obama supporters in the audience that the long-time Democrats for Hillary would be there to support Obama for the Presidency if he gets the nomination; and it was incumbent on Obama supporters to reciprocate that support if she should win the nomination. Colorado Democrats owe Mayor Webb a great deal already, and now we also owe him for making it crystal clear to so many newly active Democrats that we must work together for the common good next November.

UPDATE: I guess some of the Obama supporters there really were impressed with Mayor Webb. Another Hillary supporter who attended the Convention sent me a link to a diary containing the following very interesting commentary made by an Obama delegate:

Obama

I saw no ground game there for Obama. On the flip side the Clinton campaign was there in force - big time. The Clinton campaign sent Wellington Webb in person (and boy is he good). I even had one person handing out some Obama flier tell me that they had it in the bag.

This is not won yet. I worry, not just for the primary, but for the general election too. Whichever candidate wins, they need to fight for the general nomination down to the last second and for every single vote. As an Obama delegate, worrisome...

Once we have a nominee...

There's a lot of people worrying about what happens once we have a nominee, be it Obama or Clinton. Every time someone spoke to this issue and how we had to line up and support the winner, the place erupted in cheers. I don't think we need to worry on this count. (One suggestion, regardless of who wins, put Wellington Webb up on the stage to speak to this issue - immediately.)

So what about Gary Hart? Why didn't he speak for Obama?

So far, I haven't heard or seen any explanation as to why Senator Hart didn't appear on behalf of Senator Obama. However, it's clear that he is still actively commenting on Obama's candidacy. Here is the most recent comment I've come across:

Former Democratic presidential candidate and Colorado Senator Gary Hart, noting that campaign aides, advisers and surrogates are playing a larger role in this election than ever before, said "the legitimate side of this is the desire to know the influences on the candidate. The unhealthy side is the imputation of guilt, blame, or evil to the candidate based upon some flaw in the increasingly wide circle of 'advisors'." Wright's conduct, Hart said, "is relevant only if Senator Obama had listened to this tripe and not objected or walked out. Otherwise, he cannot be held accountable for the excesses of a man, even a minister, who holds extreme and unacceptable views. Otherwise, what about his banker, or barber, or doctor, or shoe salesman?"

Years ago, I supported and contributed to Senator Hart's bid for the Presidency. So, naturally, I am all too familiar with the unacceptable single-incident behavior and the media storm that cost him all of his momentum and thus the nomination. Therefore, it has occurred to me that his failure to speak for Obama was intentional on this particular Saturday, just one day after Senator Obama found himself answering to a media firestorm questioning the acceptability of his behavior for some 20 years of his life. Perhaps Senator Hart didn't wish for parallels to be drawn. I don't know. However, it does seem to me that the parallels will be drawn nonetheless.

Outcome of the Convention Regarding the Race for the Presidency

Boulder County Hillary supporters should be proud of themselves for how well we did in holding our share in the voting, as well as how well we conducted ourselves at this second step in Colorado's delegate selection process. At the February 5 caucuses, we won 24.7% of the delegates to the County Convention. Although there were some exceptions, a great many of those delegates were significantly older than the vast majority of the Obama delegates elected to attend the County Convention. For the most part, all the delegates, whether for Hillary or Obama, had to leave their homes at 7 AM, pack a lunch and attend the Assembly and the Convention nearly all day long before the Presidential vote was taken. In spite of the long day, enough Hillary supporters stayed for the vote to win 24.3%, thus limiting the younger (and therefore generally sturdier) Obama supporters to an insignificant small increase in their vote share going to the next stage of our complicated delegate selection process.

After the overall vote was concluded, I participated in counting the ballots and verifying the overall totals. Then we broke out into State House districts where we held elections of our delegations to go to the State and Congressional District Conventions. That was perhaps the most complicated part of the day, as (in my State House district) around 50 Hillary supporters in attendance could vote (on a paper ballot) for up to 28 individuals from an eligible slate of about 50 delegates to the County Convention! Each of the 50, including myself, were given a chance to briefly speak to the group and say why they deserved to be elected! Also, our great local Hillary campaign leaders piped up when they thought someone deserved extra consideration to be elected - and I am happy to say that they did so for me. It was around 5:45 PM when we concluded all of that, and we adjourned because everyone was too fried to hang around and find out which of us had been elected. Also, needless to say, it will take the intrepid vote counters some time to sort out those results. However, I expect I will probably be one of the 28 winners due in part to the gender balance goals of the Boulder County Democrats which in the case of the most committed Hillary supporters (most of whom were female in my district) works (ironically) to the advantage of white males like myself.

UPDATE: Was just informed that I was elected a Hillary delegate to both the Congressional and State Conventions. Woohoo!

So, who knows? I may even have a slim chance of going all the way to the national convention for Hillary. I'm certainly going to give it a try, and however it turns out for me, from what I now know of my fellow Hillary supporters, I am very confident that the Colorado delegation for Hillary will be filled to the brim with outstanding and committed Hillary Clinton delegates.