My Convention Experience

All week last week, I worried about whether we would be able to pull off our Denton County Democratic Convention and keep the wheels from coming off. I’m proud to report that we did pretty well, I think.

{With photos by Amos)
I had requested, a couple of weeks ago, to volunteer in whatever capacity was needed, as long as I didn’t have to be in charge of anything. The reason was that I was over-committed on various things, and didn’t need one more thing to worry about. I ended up being the one to work up the robo-call that reminded people of the time and location, as well as working security on the night before and day of the convention.

Our convention was held outdoors in Quakertown park in Denton. It wasn’t the first choice, nor was it our 2nd through 8th choices, but it was what was available and affordable for such a crowd on such short notice. Since we had to have things delivered on Friday, someone had to stand watch that night to make sure nothing walked off.

It was somewhat relaxing to spend Friday night out in the park, with no wireless access and no way to do anything but my little guard duty. I had a good laugh at myself too, as “protector of the chairs” walking around with my flashlight and tin badge. (our party chairman – a lawyer, told me not to carry my nightstick) Thankfully, as I expected, there was no issue with security the night before. Other than a few giggling college students walking through the park on the way to the beer store, it was very quiet, and there was really nothing for myself or my other guard to do.

We had a few folks stop by to see where it was going to be, and get a lay of the land. One of my fellow bloggers stopped by and brought me a thermos full of coffee, and we sat around and talked for a couple of hours.

About 3:30 or 4 AM, I asked the other guard if he would mind if I took a little nap. He said sure, so I went back to the pop-up trailer and climbed in a sleeping bag. Around 5:30 AM on Saturday, the other volunteers started showing up, and it woke me from my light sleep. I looked over and saw that my other guard was asleep on the other bed. I was slightly horrified that our post had been unmanned. If this sort of thing had happened when I was in the Marine Corps, we both would have been hung. But all is well that ends well. Everything was fine outside.

It had rained a little in the early morning, so all the chairs were wet and the grass was wet.

I got out and helped the other volunteers set up the registration tables. Almost immediately, cars began to pull into the parking lot where we needed the vendors and sound truck to unload. Our convention producer had me stand in as parking-control until our parking chief showed up around 7 AM.


We soon realized that with such a large outdoor area, communication was going to be difficult. I gave one of my walkie talkies to the producer, and when our Chairman showed up, he got one too. Eventually several of our parking folks had them.


As the sign-in tables started up, (early, I might add) parking began to be an issue even earlier than I thought. I was dispatched to the Denton Senior Center to help them keep our convention attendees out of their lot. All of the spaces around the park filled up quickly, and it was difficult trying to turn people away. The next logical question they all had was “where do I park?” My answer was that I wasn’t sure. Eventually I got some answers on the radio, and we had people parking in various areas – probably up to a mile away.

What impressed me though, was that although I was bearing bad news to the drivers that came into this parking lot, they were all very calm, courteous, and appreciative, seeming to be glad to be there, and willing to endure what they had to in order to participate. I had volunteers eventually come over to help me. Once the senior center parking lot filled up with actual seniors (there for their weekly Dominoes and such) there was no need to stand guard, but I stuck around for a little while longer to help direct people and answer questions.


People came in wearing candidate t-shirts and buttons, and carrying signs for their candidate. I was honestly surprised at the number of Clinton supporters, and how vigorously they supported their candidate. I had known that Obama was the heavy favorite in Denton County. Most of the party volunteers avoided buttons and t-shirts – including myself. It’s not to knock anyone who did wear these things, but over the past couple of weeks, I came to realize that folks were paying close attention to who supported who, and using that as a basis to assume there were ulterior motives in every scenario.

I would have hated to have someone think that some decision or action I took was based on the candidate I favored. For instance, I had to turn a lot of people away from the parking lot. Every now and then, an elderly person would drive up, and I’d wave them through. How would it have looked if I were wearing my Obama button and waved a Clinton supporter off, then let someone else through? It could easily be construed as favoritism.

So, sometime close to 10 AM, I finally got signed in as an alternate.

The convention started off with the presentation of the Colors, by a local Boy Scout troop, then the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, delivered by a vocal group. I hate to admit it, but I’ve got to say that I became a little choked up during the national anthem. Though it was a bustling crowd, the vast majority of folks got to their feet and put their hands on their hearts. It was very moving to me to see so many fellow patriots gathered in the park that morning for a cause greater than themselves. And though there would be votes and decisions later in the day that would have some contention, I felt that this was a true expression of our ultimate unity.

After some go-fer-ing for the producer, the chair, and some other volunteers, I grabbed a jacket to cover up my uniform shirt, and I joined my Pct. 319 delegation.

Overall, it seemed that the crowd was pretty jubilant. Even though some were bored, and there was a lot of down time waiting on credentials rulings or rules interpretations, it seemed like people were making the most of it. Quite a few precincts had set up tents or circles of lawn chairs on the periphery, and a lot of people were involved in conversations. In my precinct, one of the Clinton delegates had brought a cooler full of drinks and sandwiches, which they shared with everyone. We sat and talked about issues local to our precinct in Lewisville. We shared strategies for how we would work together in the fall to get out our Democratic vote.

From our end, the procedural things went pretty smoothly, and quickly. The Chairman moved things along, and the body waived the rules several times to allow us to “get on with it” without reading many pages of things, such as the credentials reports. There were some points of order, some of which were sustained, some overruled, and some appealed and rejected by the body.

Certainly, there were precincts where not everyone was happy with the outcome. There were likely folks with legitimate concerns about whether we were properly following the rules. From what I saw, it appeared that all of the volunteers that put this convention on pretty much bent backwards to make sure every thing was fair. That being said, it felt like there were some people who felt it necessary to be disruptive, almost out of spite, because they disagreed with something. I’ve got no problem with the minority using parliamentary procedures to ensure fairness. I just get frustrated when I see it devolve into something emotional and divisive. I don’t want to over-emphasize that part though. Truthfully, though I wasn’t involved with Credentials or Nominations, it really seemed much more civil and cooperative than I had even imagined it would be.

When it was time to elect a permanent convention chair and secretary, we had folks run against our County Chair and Party Secretary. I can’t much judge their motives, but I think much of it was either in good fun, or naivety. I had a good laugh at some of the campaign speeches, for those positions, which I thought were intentionally funny – including “you can call me Jake”. Anyhow, my favorite moment was when our temporary secretary basically said that if someone wanted her job, they could take it. Even while the other nominees were giving their speeches, poor Kenna was up on stage busily scribbling her notes for the minutes! Eventually, our party Chairman, Neil Durrance was elected permanent chair, and Kenna Giffin was elected secretary. They both worked their tails off in preparation for all of this, and stayed way late that night. They probably still have a lot of paperwork to do. Most of the folks around us got a good laugh and had smiles on their faces though.

At around 4:30 or so in the afternoon, most of us had selected our delegates. My precinct was 10 Obama and 3 Clinton delegates, so we selected 1 Obama delegate to the State convention, and 1 Clinton alternate. They’ll hopefully carpool and paint Austin Blue while they’re in town. Thankfully I am not a delegate. If I go to the state convention, it will be to cover it for this blog. I need some time off from the worry, and I want people in my precinct to have those experiences.

When it was time to deal with resolutions, the majority of the crowd was too tired, and just wanted to wrap it up. A motion was brought to forward all resolutions to the State convention without recommendation, so that we wouldn’t have to read and vote on 45 resolutions. People spoke for and against this resolution, and honestly I could see both sides.

On the one hand, people had worked hard on these resolutions, and they deserved to be heard and voted on.

On the other hand, all the resolutions in the world that Denton Co. could pass don’t really mean anything unless we elect Democrats to implement them. Even if we had voted something down, some other county could still have sent the same one to the State convention.

I voted to have the resolutions read – at least the “resolved” parts. By voice vote, the chair ruled it was a tie, and called for a vote by division of the house. This was fun. Basically everyone had to get up and move to the right if they agreed, and to the left if they disagreed. My side lost, and the motion to forward them all to the state was approved. At that point, I went ahead and came on home after 25 hours or so of being on-site at the park.

I didn’t even know what the final delegate count was, (94-48 Obama) but I wasn’t too concerned. I was more happy that we had managed to pull this thing off without too much strife. As I understand it, business was conducted until about 11PM.

If you attended, I’m anxious to hear your thoughts and/or see your pictures. Post a comment or a photo!

Amos has some Great Photos of the Convention