Kudos to the People of Texas from a Fellow Texan

[HopeforChange]

I applaud the people of Texas all they have done to show their support for Senator Obama.

I was a delegate from my precinct convention, a member of the credentials committee for my Senate District and am an Alternate Delegate for the State Convention.

Hundreds of Thousands of people in this great State did so much more that push a button for Obama.

First they voted early or in the Primary. (We all know how to do that)

Then they suffered endless long, frustrating and often agonizing hours to pledge their support in their Precinct Convention caucus. Many (as those in my precinct) stood in the dark in the cold in a parking lot for 4 or 5 hours... on their feet because there was nowhere to sit ... just to enter a cramped too small room to sign up for the candidate of their choice. Here they continued to stand for two or three hours more signing in and attempting to caucus. I saw handicapped and elderly people leaning on their canes waiting just to cast their votes. What dedication !

Many of us worked many long hard hours day after day and night after night to get data from these precinct conventions in order to attempt to speed up the sign in process at a Senate District convention where the 2500 delegates and 2500 alternates would show up to sign in. Imagine how long in would take 5000 people to sign in on the sheets that required each person to write their name, address, voter cert. no, and answer other question and then indicate who they were supporting. Let's assume 1 minute per voter and 10 tables. That is 500 minutes if there are no problems with people insisting they were delegate or alternates, etc... So computer rolls were created to help ease and shorten the sign in process.

I got to my Senate Convention site at 6:30 am after being up all night to get rolls printed and master indexes printed. There was already traffic backing up and Hundreds of people in line.

Patiently everyone waited. It was clear this would just be more standing so everyone was seating in the Arena and the sign in tables were arranged in the arena. We were able to process and sign in all delegates and alternates over the next few hours.

Again everyone waited for the credentials committee and a temporary roll and the minutes from the credentials committee.

Finally delegates and alternates were selected by each precinct and then at large delegate nominations were submitted to the nominations committee.

What dedication from the voters of Texas !

Now we will move on the State Convention to caucus again for the candidate of our Choice.

I am an Obama supporter and I applaud the people of this historically Republican State for stepping forward and fighting for the Candidate of their choice... And this goes for the Clinton and Obama voters.

Thank you Texas... I never thought you would do it and can't wait for November when you will all come back to vote as Texas Democrats.

Let's Turn Texas Blue !

GO OBAMA

GO TEXAS :yourock:

[dkf]

1. I thought my experience was tough, but it sounds like ours was a cakewalk!

To all you veterans of the '08 Texas Conventions...GOOD JOB.

:yourock:

[sorrybushisfromtexas]

3. Ours was long, but not tough.

Very few problems in Wichita County. We only had about 300 delegates and alternates.
Hillary won the county in the primary 59% to 39%
Barack won the delegates at the county convention 15 to 14.
My precinct had 9 Clinton delegates and 6 Obama delegates.
All 6 of our Obama Delegates showed up and our 2 alternates were seated to take the place of the four Clinton Delegates that did not show. They did not have any alternates show up.

We were able to send a delegate and an alternate to the State Convention from the 6 Obama Delegates.

Each precinct had some problems with paperwork and all were resolved without too much animosity.
We became very friendly with the Clinton delegates from our precinct.

I talked to at least 150 Clinton supporters and Obama supporters who said that it was important to vote for the eventual candidate. I didn't hear anyone say they wouldnt.

[dkf]

4. Whew. I was afraid Melody Townsel's experience was more common than not.

But maybe only certain strongholds were targeted with challenges.

[powergirl]

5. Thanks a lot for hanging in there!

I live in collin county. Our convention was today. Same experience. At the precinct convention, we came out with 6 Obama delegates and 6 alternates (12 total) and 4 Clinton delegates and four alternates (8 total). I knew for a fact some of the Clinton folks were Rush Limbaugh jerks and sure enough, out of the 8 possible people who could show up for Clinton, only 3 showed up. Obama had 100% attendance. So, all the 10 delegates go for Obama from our precinct, instead of just 6.

[DerekJ]

2. .

:thumbsup:

[VolcanoJen]

6. I take back everything bad I ever said about Texas!

Yes, it's true. I now hold a (likely temporary) affection for Texas. ;-)

[madfloridian]

7. Good for Texas Democrats for fighting for their rights.

Some of the stories curl my hair. And good for Obama.

[WolverineDG]

13. We're continuing the fight, MadFL

all the way to the convention if need be. :)

dg

[EmilyAnne]

8. From a former Texan, I thank you all!

[grantcart]

9. At the gym today in the steam room one guy was talking about a LA

newspaper that was reporting on the chaos.

I told him I had all of these friends who were actually at the conventions and could tell them the details - people were stunned.


I know that at some sites it was made very difficult by the voluminous credential challanges that dragged everything out even longer.


Think of the stories you can tell your grandchildren.


Thank you

Thank you

[LiberalAndProud]

10. Whoa! Almost missed this.

AWESOME!

[FrenchieCat]

11. I thank all of Texas that voted and worked and volunteered and

sacrifice to make Obama that much closer to the Presidency. History will thank you too! :hi:

[quakerboy]

12. Thank you to every voter who showed up

and Up yours to the lawyers and pseudo lawyers.

[HopeforChange]

14. Thank You Everyone

We are still recuperating.