Attending my state party convention

At the New Bern Convention Center, as the festivities and business begin. Ninety-four counties out of 100 were represented at the convention.

I was in New Bern, NC on Saturday for the North Carolina Democratic Party State Convention. Of course I know that most Pandagon readers won't find this post scintillating, but I wanted to attend the state convention because 1) it is a landmark presidential election; 2) it's a way to see democracy in action, as well as my state's inner party workings; and 3) it's a micro-version of what I will experience covering the national convention in Denver as a credentialed blog. The reason I'm posting here is to give you an idea of how fitting bloggers into the mix is clearly presents a learning curve for the state party.

To start off, one bit of interesting business was that when I arrived, there wasn't a clear way to obtain press credentials. Actually, there wasn't any formal system at all to identify media that I could see. Thank goodness for blogmistress planning, as I had made up a "press badge" (L) before leaving home just in case.

When I entered the convention hall itself, there wasn't any set up area for the press to work (no tables or chairs in a convenient location to cover the activities). I fortunately ran into Jerimee Richer (R), who is director of online communications for the North Carolina Democratic Party. He quickly found the facilities coordinator for the center while I went out into the public area to check out the candidate and merchandise tables in the hall. When I came back about 10 minutes later, there was a table set up on the left side of the hall, convenient to power and a great view. You can't ask for better blogger accommodation than that. So far it's still not clear the DNCC will be on the ball regarding blogger access or accommodations. (One alarm is already going off -- we still haven't heard about where we'll be staying, and there isn't clarity over whether a credential allows one person at a time on the floor of the convention or even in the entire hall -- that's a big difference in terms of access).

Anyway, you can read the rest of the post at my pad, but I wanted to share one incredibly hysterical incident that occurred during the resolutions debate -- it's below the fold. 2:40: The Report of the Resolutions and Platform Committee is being discussed now. Guffaws of laughter from the body resulted when a motion to change this section of the document occurred:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that this convention proposes that the following amendment be added to the Constitution of the United States: 1. The word "Person, wherever it appears in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, means natural born persons only, and does not apply to any other form of legal entity. 2. Any legal decisions or legislative action made or adopted following the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which purport to extend the meaning of the word "person" in said Amendment so as to include any entities other than natural born persons is hereby declared void and of no effect.

The person wanted to change "natural born persons" to "human beings" to supposedly to avoid confusion regarding people who are born via artificial insemination, surrogacy, etc. I sh*t you not.

Needless to say, the proposal went down in flames. Ah, democracy in action.