Delegates set for Democratic convention

The suspense of this week’s Democratic National Convention may have evaporated in March, when John Kerry acquired a lock on his party’s presidential nomination.

But the excitement still lives, particularly for Inland Northwest delegates who are heading to Boston for four days of meetings, speeches, strategy sessions and parties.

There will be lots of all four.

“I’ve got so many invitations to so many things,” said Yvonne Griffin, of north Spokane, who will attend the convention as a delegate pledged to Kerry.

A self-described C-Span junkie, Griffin expects one of the highlights of her week will be casting her ballot for Kerry in the formal nominating process. But as the wife of a retired Air Force officer, she’s also interested in discussions about veterans’ issues. And health care issues. And Get-Out-The-Vote strategies. And she’d like to catch a scheduled talk by political adviser James Carville.

“I’ve got so many things to do, I don’t know if I can get to them all,” she said.

Jim Ramsey, a freelance writer from Sandpoint, is looking forward to Kerry’s acceptance speech and to seeing former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton on Monday night. A former Air Force pilot, he too is interested in discussions about veterans’ issues; as Bonner County’s Democratic state committeeman, he’s also interested in mobilizing voters.

“It’s been a longtime dream of mine,” he said of attending a national convention.

Ramsey supports Kerry and was elected as an alternate, which means he won’t vote on any party business unless one of the delegates is absent. But he’s the only person elected from the state’s northernmost counties, and he is “really proud to represent those three counties.”

Although Kerry is assured of the nomination, not everyone headed to Boston is a Kerry delegate or alternate.

Diane Schmitz, of Spokane, will be casting her ballot for Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the last of the candidates to leave the race. The Ohio congressman didn’t formally endorse Kerry until last week, and his supporters stuck with the long process of caucuses and conventions to receive their delegate slots even when it was clear their candidate couldn’t win the nomination.

“Dennis Kucinich has some progressive ideas I support, that I would like to see the party as a whole adopt,” said Schmitz, who works as a grant writer for Eastern Washington University. She’s particularly interested in a universal health care system and early childhood education programs that Kucinich stressed on the campaign trail.

While she’s eager to see Kerry elected in November, she believes it’s important for his supporters to consider the ideas of the candidates he bested in the primaries.

“I want to make sure I communicate with a lot of delegates in the party and make clear there’s a lot of visions … so it’s not a monotone party,” Schmitz said. “Kucinich and (former Vermont Gov.) Howard Dean have brought in a lot of people.”

One of those is JoAnn Kauffman, of Spokane, who met Dean when he campaigned at the West Central Community Center last September. She went to the precinct caucuses to support him. She was so energized by the heavily attended caucuses that she wrote a letter to the Washington state Democratic Party to express interest in being a delegate.

By the time national convention delegates were picked at the state convention in June, Dean was out of the race. But the state party still had Kauffman’s letter. Party officials asked if she’d be willing to be on the ballot for uncommitted delegates – even the undecideds had enough strength in the caucuses to rate a delegate – and she said OK. Kauffman said she didn’t really campaign for the spot and was happily surprised when she won.

“My priority is to see a Democrat in the White House,” she said.

Kauffman, a Spokane-based consultant, is excited about attending a workshop titled Revolutionary Women, which features former first lady and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and is designed to get women involved in the political process. She’s also one of four Native American delegates from Washington state, three of whom are from Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District. One of her priorities is to attend the Native American caucus meetings throughout the week to talk about races going on all over the country.

“There are some great networking opportunities,” she said.

Decades ago, when nominees were actually selected at the convention, an uncommitted delegate could be in a position of power. By pledging support to a candidate who was close to having enough votes for the nomination, they could negotiate some special favors or consideration for their state. Now, however, one candidate arrives at the convention with more than enough delegates to clinch the nomination on the first ballot.

Kauffman, who like the other four delegates interviewed for this story is attending her first convention, has been told an uncommitted delegate can still negotiate some advantages for her state. But she’s not exactly sure how.

“I need some guidance on this from party leaders,” she said.

All four said they became energized this winter when the party was holding its early primaries and conventions. Ramsey is one of only 26 Idaho delegates and alternates, compared with 114 from Washington. He is accustomed to people joking about the rarity of Democrats in Idaho, but he was surprised by the heavy turnout for the Bonner County caucus in February. “It has been lonely here sometimes,” he said.

Ramsey always wanted to attend a national convention but considered his chances of going to the convention a long shot. Schmitz never even thought of going until she attended her caucus and met so many people excited about politics and the upcoming election.

One of those was “a sweet little old lady” who talked about the fantastic time she had at a previous convention and how people could “make an impact in a way you think you never would.” That speech convinced Schmitz to work through the process to become a delegate.

The only thing Schmitz regrets is she didn’t get the woman’s name. “I wish I could talk to her and let her know: I’m going.”