American Dreamer, at the convention: Roll Call
Steven T. Jones and Kid Beyond are driving to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, stopping by Burning Man on the way there and back, reporting on the intersection of the counterculture and the national political culture.
By Steven T. Jones
San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly was giddy when I joined him in the two-thirds full California delegation this afternoon during the nominating speeches for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It was partly because he was finally an official delegate, having gotten called up from his roll as alternate a couple hours earlier. But an even bigger reason for his joy was that he’s a serious political wonk and just loves the Roll Call, the only official business of the convention.
“This is the best part of the convention, roll call. It’s cool,” Daly, the consummate vote counter, told me as we watched the chair ask each state for their votes. “The speeches are OK, but this is what it’s about.”
And pretty soon, this kid in the candy shop was losing his mind as we watched a series of genuinely newsworthy developments in an otherwise scripted convention: California party chair Art Torres saying “California passes” rather than reporting our votes, states like New Jersey and Arkansas awarding all their votes to Obama and causing the room to go nuts, and the series of states yielding to others that culminated in Clinton herself, after a dramatic entrance into the hall, making the motion to end the count and name Obama as the nominee by acclimation of the whole convention.
When Torres called Daly just after noon to say he needed to replace a California legislator as delegate, one of many that had to head back to Sacramento to deal with the ongoing budget impasse, Daly headed downstairs from his room in the Sheraton to vote in the state party’s war room. “I raced over there and voted as soon as I got the call,” said Daly, an Obama supporter.
He was happy to be out of the cheap seats and onto the floor: “I’m looking to get up out of the chair and do some dancing when the band plays.”
San Francisco delegate London Breed, a friend of Daly and supporter of Obama, joined us as we spoke. “I feel very fortunate to be here,” Breed said. “I’m still wondering how the hell I won. But I feel like I was meant to be here. Everyone should do this once.”
After last night’s Clinton speech and the ongoing statements of support for her by many delegates, the room was starting to show its most enthusiastic support for Obama yet. “It feel like it’s just switched from being Hillary Clinton’s convention to Barack Obama’s convention,” Daly said. “We’re getting close to unity.”
It was also getting close to California’s turn to report its 441 votes, by far the biggest payload here, and Daly was nervous about how many votes Clinton would get, particularly given that many Clinton delegates said they intended to vote for her.
Sen. Barbara Boxer spoke for California, making the usual statements of pride in state and party, before passing the mike to Torres, who said, “California passes.”
“What!?!?” exclaimed many delegates, and there was bedlam among the delegation. What the hell was going on? Immediately, Daly and other speculated that Hillary had gotten too many votes and the state party was passing in the name of party unity. “It’s probably because of Hillary,” Daly said.
I left my seat to go interview Torres, who told me that he passed because they were still awaiting the votes of about 31 alternate delegates, a number made particularly high when Assembly member Fiona Ma and most of the California legislators (most of whom are delegates) flew back to Sacramento this morning.
“There’s a process we have to follow to make the vote legal and get it close to 441,” Torres told me. I asked whether it had anything to do with the number of votes Clinton got, and he denied that was a factor, saying Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger deserves the blame more than anything else.
As the chair worked alphabetically through the states, Obama’s home state of Illinois became the second state to pass. Very interesting. Indiana gave 75 of its 85 votes to Obama. Minnesota gave 78 of its 88 votes to Obama and then erupted in a spirited cheer of “Yes we can,” and Daly and Breed were on their feet, cheering, chanting, pumped.
With Obama seeming to be getting close to the number of delegates that he needed to win the nomination (there was no tally on the floor and I later learned Obama had 1550 of the 2210 votes he needed), New Mexico’s representative announced that they were “yielding to the land of Lincoln.” Anticipation built that they were doing so to let Illinois be the state to put their candidate over the top.
But then Illinois yielded to New York, and the screens showed Clinton entering the hall and joining the New York delegation. “In the spirit of unity and with the goal of victory,” Clinton said, “let us declare right now that Barack Obama is our candidate.”
She made the motion to suspend the vote count and have the whole hall nominate Barack Obama by acclimation. Nancy Pelosi took the podium and asked the crowd, “Is there a second?” And the room erupted in thousands of seconds to the motion on the floor. She asked all in favor to say “Aye,” and the room rumbled with ayes. To complete the process, Pelosi said those opposed could say no, but she gaveled the motion to completion at the same time and the room erupted with cheers and I heard not a single nay.
The band broke out “Love train” and everyone danced.
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Comments (1)
The energy must have really been flowing. I would of loved to have been there. But your story made me feel as though I was. Great work Steven.
Posted by Jerry | August 28, 2008 12:06 AM