HOw does one become a delegate

[greenbriar]

I want to be one in 2008

[Bluebear]

1. Me too.

[greenbriar]

2. of course

this is the convention to be at!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I were there!!!

[jdj]

3. This is all I could find that wasn't state specific

Delegates to National Party Coventions
These are the steps required to become a delegate in the national parties conventions: - A. Attend the informational meeting of your Congressional District or County Democratic Party to be held in early 2000. For locations call the party in your state. B. Any qualified elector (18 years of age on or before April 4, 2000) who resides in the county or assembly district and completes a written statement declaring party preference may participate in the first tier county caucuses. C. Attend the first tier caucus for delegate selection at the county level. The location will be available from the party. Delegates will be elected to serve at the Congressional District Caucus. D. The delegates elected at the first tier must attend the Congressional District Caucus. Declaration Of Intent must be filed with the party. E. If you are not elected a national delegate at the Congressional District Caucus, you may still run for an at-large delegate or alternate position at the State Administrative Committee meeting. You may also run for a slot in the Pledged Party Leader and Elected Official category in you hold a position or elected office which qualifies you for that category.


http://www.political.lifetips.com/faq.asp



edit: it seems like the best thing to do is google on 'how to become a (insert state) delegate"

[benddem]

4. Get involved

with your local county Democratic party. The delegates are chosen from the members of the Central committee who attend the state nominating convention held a few months before the event. Every Congressional district has a certain no. of people who are selected. But if you don't belong to the party you can't go. So JOIN UP. We need all the volunteers we can get.

[gmoney]

5. I went to the Ohio caucus...

in my district, probably 500 people showed up, crammed into a school lunch room. When you signed in, you had to declare what candidate you supported (I registered for Dean). Then they divided up the big group into smaller groups by candidates. Then about 10 people who had registered with the local Dem party as candidates to be delegates stood up, introduced themselves and gave maybe a two-minute speech. Based on the population of my district, they picked three women, two men, and one man as an alternate. So, the Dean attendees selected six people to be Dean delegates, the Kerry people picked six Kerry delegates, etc. Then, based on the result of the primary a few weeks later, the winning candidate's delegates would be the ones to attend the convention representing our district. Of course, in Ohio, the point was moot, because everyone had basically dropped out by the time our primary happened. (Of the 500 people in the caucus, I'd bet 400 of them stayed in the Dean room... Oh Howard, we hardly knew ye...)

Word is that around here, the candidates for delegate are usually honchos within the local party, or frequently the unions would pick somebody and then bus in a bunch of union people to the meeting. This time, at least in the Dean group, the guy who ran the Dean meet-ups managed to get enough people there to be selected as a Dean delegate.

It was a little arcane, but if you do want to be a delegate next time around, it doesn't seem to be TOO difficult, if you really want it. Oh, and I think the delegates have to pay their own way to the convention and for their own lodging. (One candidate dropped out because he doubted he'd have the money to attend.) Delegates also have a say in determining the local and even state party platform, hence the heavy union participation.

Of course, the arcane rituals where you live may be different, and your mileage may vary.