Colorado's snow-show convention
Last night, during pre-registration for today's Colorado Democratic Convention, there were concerns that we might not meet quorum due to the incoming snowstorm. As if! Yes, some delegates didn't get here, some due to weather, others due to calving (it is Colorado, after all). But we had more than enough alternates to make up the shortfall, and our numbers nudged close to 3000.
Given the events of the last few weeks, and in an effort to preserve absolute transparency, state party chairman Rick Palacio brought aboard two co-chairs pro tem: former Denver mayor Wellington Webb representing the Clinton campaign, and state legislator Jonathan Singer representing the Sanders campaign. The arrangement was applauded by the convention.
One of the highlights for many of us was the opportunity to hear Senator Michael Bennet. His wife gave a delightful talk, accompanied on stage by their three daughters. We were startled when, as the Senator came to the stage, there were loud boos and catcalls among the louder cheers. To be sure, Bennet is not perfect, but he is definitely one of the good guys, eminently approachable, and very receptive to any of us who call on him. Most startling was when he was booed for speaking of working on and passing bi-partisan legislation; then he was twice shut down by prolonged crowd-chanting of "Change your vote!" The big screen was showing a close-up of the kids who were quite obviously unsettled by what was going on. The man standing next to me echoed my own thought of "When did we start acting like Trump people?" He was wearing a Bernie shirt, and was clearly upset that all of the people shouting were waving Sanders signs. I caught the eye of a couple of friends, both Sanders supporters, who were not participating in the shoutdown and were trying to get things calmed down.
Those of us who volunteered to work at credentialing and registration strove to maintain an atmosphere of encouragement to everyone participating; we made sure to welcome the Sanders and Clinton camps equally, and until the shoutdowns, conviviality was the rule, so much so that many attendees remarked on it. Until the shoutdowns.
The preference poll broke along expected lines, about 3:2 for Sanders.
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