I decided a few weeks ago that I might take a shot at running for one of the Obama delegate slots to the Democratic National Convention from my congressional district (OR-3).
I knew the odds were against me. The Fightin' 3rd is a strongly Democratic district, with a large activist population. We had six Obama delegates and one alternate (4M, 3F) to elect, and almost 120 candidates in total registered (among 300 Democrats registered to participate as delegates to the 3rd CD convention).
The Democratic Party of Oregon did a great job with an online registration site that made the whole process as painless as possible.
More below the jump.
I appointed my husband Mike (who was a delegate in LA in 2000 and who is the son of a former New Hampshire Democratic state chair) my campaign manager. I went online and registered, then decided to pay $25 for an expanded candidate statement to help me become better known among the 300 or so Democrats who were signed up as delegates to the Obama caucus of the 3rd CD convention.
Mike strongly recommended that I send a mailing to everyone, so I drafted up a letter. We decided to reprint my delegate page in color on the reverse. We mail-merged the letters and I hand-signed every one. I also hand addressed every envelope, on the theory that at least they'd get opened. The letter included my email address and mobile phone number and invited recipients to make contact with me. I did get some calls and emails, and even today at the caucus I got a lot of favorable comments on my mailing.
I've always hated cold calling people, even those who have provided their numbers for that express purpose. So in advance of the registration deadline I concentrated on asking friends to sign up to attend and support me, and after the registration deadline I contacted people primarily in person and by email.
My husband told me early on that the best strategy would be to form some alliances with other strong candidates and work together to get us all elected. Eventually four of us got together (two male, two female) and decided we could help each other effectively. Each of us asked our friends to vote for all four of us.
Two days before the caucus I sent a reminder email to all the friends who had signed up to be 3rd CD convention delegates at my request.
One day before the caucus (that is, yesterday) I sent out a very brief followup email to all the strangers on the list. I reminded them that I had written to them in postal mail, said I would be honored to get one of their female votes, and included my email and mobile phone number again.
After dinner Mike and I gathered all our supplies together and put them into the car. I had 700 Hershey kisses and mini Reese's cups with tiny stickers on them, donkeys in the center with my name and "Fired Up! Ready to Go!" around the edge. I also had larger stickers with the same artwork to hand out to my supporters and anyone else willing to wear them. I had 300 half page flyers listing "Top Ten Fun Facts" about me. I had a couple of plastic bowls for the candy, a carrying basket to enable me to circulate while dispensing treats, and a card table to keep it all organized.
This morning we got up and watched Hillary's speech before heading over to the 3rd CD convention. When we arrived at the Floyd Light Middle School cafeteria at about 10:30 they were just setting up so we signed in, set up the table, and claimed two seats on the aisle. As 3rd CD delegates streamed in the schmoozing began in earnest. The convention was scheduled to begin at 1 pm and the time passed quickly. I handed out candy, stickers, flyers, and some little yellow buttons.
The CD chair convened the meeting at 1 pm and after a few minutes' plenary session to explain the rules, the convention split up and the Clinton caucus contingent headed down to the gym, while we remained in the cafeteria. A coin toss determined that the female delegates would go first. There were no speeches because there were just too many of us running, so we all got up on stage, waved when we were introduced, and hoped for the best. The ballots were marked and collected and six of us (including my female teammate and me) made it to the second round!
The men went next, and most impressively, our two male teammates won outright by getting a majority on the first ballot. Next the six surviving women gave one minute speeches and the female balloting resumed immediately. The four surviving men gave their own one minute speeches, we all voted on the remaining male slots, and then we waited for the results.
The bottom line: our strategy worked! All four of us were elected. We're going to Denver. Several friends were also elected in the Clinton caucus in our CD, and in both caucuses in some of the other CDs. We'll elect at-large delegates at the state convention in Monmouth in two weeks, and I'll be working hard there to help a couple of the deserving candidates who didn't make the cut today. But I already know that it's going to be a great group from Oregon this year.
Can't wait!