1908 Convention
When you watch the convention this evening and the camera pans through the audience at the cheering delegates, just who are these people? In my home state of Minnesota where we still have a caucus system, the delegates are actually picked by the people. I’ve always thought it a great system because anyone who wants to be a delegate has to make a speech saying why the want to go to the national convention. For young people and potential future candidates it’s a great introduction to politics.
Unfortunately, most states are not caucus states. After this year in which the media especially dumped enough cold water on caucuses to freeze even a Minnesotan, there is a big movement afoot to dump the caucus system. You see the networks don’t like it because it is harder to cover and the results more difficult to analyze. You can’t just put your anchors in Chicago and send out a few reporters to random sites and run those exit polls.
In both primary and caucus states the delegates are selected at state conventions. The difference is in how they got there. In caucus states they had to survive the filtering system that begins at the precinct level. In primary states they may come from county or senate district conventions. Here is what the Democratic National Committee has to say about becoming a delegate:
If you want to be a delegate, your first step should be to call or write to your state party. The state party will provide you with the information and materials you’ll need to begin the process of running for a delegate position. These will include a copy of the state party’s delegate selection plan (or summary) and delegate candidate filing forms. All states require delegate candidates to file a “declaration of candidacy” in order to run. The deadline for this declaration varies from state to state but is specified in each state’s plan. In some cases, the declaration must be accompanied by signatures of registered Democratic voters from that area. All filing requirements must be precisely followed.
District-level delegates – These make up roughly half of delegates, and must file a statement of candidacy designating the presidential or uncommitted preference and a signed pledge of support for the presidential candidate the person favors, if any, with the state party by a date the state party specifies. They must run for election in the district they are registered to vote, and are subject to review by the candidate they support.
In short, becoming a delegate in a primary state is a lot different and a lot tougher than in a caucus state. You have all that paperwork to file and then you have to campaign. Now I won’t go into the Democratic Party’s complex proportional representation system, a system only a lawyer could figure out. For all its complexity it is designed to insure that people of color, the disabled, and women have a seat at the table.
We Democrats may sometimes have complicated ways of doing things, but one thing I can assure you is that when those cameras pan over the delegates you will see a much more diverse audience than at the Republican Party Convention. Democrats do walk their talk when it comes to making sure we have a truly diverse delegation.
This is reflected in the data we have for those delegates. Below is a chart showing delegate representation at the last three Democratic National Conventions:
The Democratic Party has not received enough credit for its efforts to increase the diversity of its delegates, because the above chart shows one of the genuine success stories in these times of cynicism about politics. Note that what I would call the diversity index has increased over the last eight years. There is now a higher percentage of people of color, the disabled, women and gay, lesbian and transgender delegates than at any time in history. For this the Democratic Party is to be congratulated.
Unlike the GOP Convention, the 2008 Democratic Convention will not be a “white bread” convention. The people you see on television will look like more like America than what you will see in St. Paul.
However, there is one sour note in the delegates in Denver–they are richer than the rest of us. Perhaps part of that is most of us can’t just take a week off work to go to a convention–and if we did it would come out of vacation time. The second chart below, courtesy of the New York Times, shows the delegates versus the Democratic Party and the general population:
Courtesy New York Times
The two figures that leap out are the percentages of college graduates and people with incomes over $75,000. The audience you see in Denver may be a diverse one, but twice as many of them will be richer and more educated than the average voter. When you have a convention where 70% of the delegates make over $75,000 and 83% have a college degree, it is not a good sign for American politics, especially for the Democratic Party.
But it gets even worse than that. The Times reports that the Democrats will house high rollers in special luxury boxes not unlike those favored by the corporate elite at sports events. Going for a donation of a cool $1 million each, these obscene monuments to the role of money in politics will sport catered food and well-stocked bars along with plush seating. Back in 1912 the wife of millionaire August Belmont sat in a plain wooden gallery seat in front of a young Eleanor Roosevelt, but today these luxury boxes looking out over the delegates below are visible symbols of who is pulling the strings.
My guess is that if a network reporter has any chutzpah at all they will try to wrangle a look at one of those luxury boxes and do a story on it. When that story airs in living color and is circulated on YouTube, it will not exactly be the kind of image the Democratic Party wants to project. After the story on the luxury boxes the reporter might want to also journey down to the Ritz-Carlton, which is putting up these high rollers and see if they can smuggle a camera into the special reception Howard Dean is holding for them there tonight or the reception Obama is holding for them immediately after he delivers his speech.
I have said many times before that in order for the Democrats to win they will need a large turnout by people of color plus they will need a large turnout and support from the less-educated and those with lower incomes. The Democrats have never won an election in this century without the support of these groups. The Party needs to broaden its diversity rules to insure this representation.
Why? Because of that old truth: those who show up get to make the rules. While you may not see a lot of it, there will be resolutions to vote on for the Party Platform and even suggestions of wording changes that will be voted on by these delegates. If those doing the voting are richer and more educated it will skew the results.
I believe this lack of economic diversity is what has cost the Democrats the last two elections. With the “limousine liberals” dominating the delegates much more emphasis has been put on noneconomic issues, giving the Party an image as Brie-eating, wine-drinking, BMW-driving “liberals” out of touch with America. One issue where this has played out heavily is gun control. The largely rich, educated and suburban delegates tend to be vociferously anti-gun.
This is not the place to get into positions on gun control; the point is that I think if the Democratic delegation were more diverse you might see a different position on gun control and less pressure to make it a litmus-test issue. As I pointed out in Strange Death, gun control is NOT a liberal issue. It has nothing to do with the cornerstones of social and economic justice, educational equity, media fairness and voting rights.
Curiously, as the rich and well-educated Democratic delegates gather in Denver, tomorrow the Census Bureau will release its latest study of economic equality in this country. It is expected to show that poverty has increased and family income decreased under the Bush Administration. These data are being held under tight wraps, but the timing of the release could not be more perfect for the Democrats. If they are smart they will make these data a key part of their Denver convention. Perhaps Obama is planning on using them in his speech.
I will bring the results as soon as I have them as well as other reports during the convention. As in keeping with the focus of this blog, you will see here coverage a bit different than elsewhere, as you did during the primaries. This site will have data, primary sources and try not to tell you what 10,000 other blogs are saying.
One more note: this blogger is not one of those privileged few (you know who they are) who has a seat at the table in Denver or is trying to take advantage of bloggers with a so-called tent. Let’s just say those bloggers are a lot like the delegates–richer, more educated. Their blogs make money and can afford to send people to Denver for a week. So remember when you read their reports you are reading first hand impressions from folks who can afford that Denver plane ticket, some place to stay and a week’s worth of meals.
Print Posted by: liberalamerican
