Obama People Win Conventions

I'm not surprised that Obama managed to pad his expected national delegate lead at the Iowa county conventions, but I am really impressed that he managed to increase his national delegate margin above Hillary by 10.  Most of that was at John Edwards' expense.  But it's quite something that Hillary both failed to pick up any of the Edwards delegates, and lost one of her own. 

Here in Texas, the Obama campaign has been very proactive about making sure that the people who were named delegates to the county convention are aware of what they're supposed to do at that level.  We had a well-attended delegate training at Obama headquarters on Saturday after the caucuses, and there are going to be Obama house parties on the Thursday before the March 29 county convention where we all get straight on what to do at the next level, who's going to be named an alternate if one of the delegates can't make it, and how we're going to vote for delegates to the state convention.  A large number of Obama staffers are staying in the state until the end of March so they'll be able to help with county convention preparations.  I wouldn't be surprised if Clinton delegates show up to the convention in lower numbers than Obama delegates, causing an even further swing towards Obama than the March 4 caucus results would suggest.

(On a mildly related note, I was at Amy Lavere's excellent SXSW show on Friday night, and I was surrounded by about 10 Obama staffers, many of them in campaign T-shirts, enjoying a night out on the town.  I chatted with some of them, and then a few of them took pictures of me dancing like a maniac.  Most of them were field staff, but one works on new media, and on the off chance he sees this, hi!)

Comments

[Stephen]

dancing like a maniac

That seems to be something you do.

[Tony V]

That's good to hear. Although I'm curious about your use of the first person plural. What are you up to with these people?

[Stephen]

I'm pretty sure Neil's a convention delegate.

[Neil the Ethical Werewolf]

That's right -- I got named a delegate to the county convention. Nothing more exciting than that.

[Lin]

I've been an Obama supporter because I appreciate his message for change. I am completely sick and tired of Bush and the same old washington politics! I want to extend a personal thank you to all those working hard toward an Obama nomination.

By the way, when Amy Lavere was asked to perform for Bush, who brought the Japanese Prime Minister to Memphis to visit Graceland last year, she refused to perform for Bush. For a struggling artist, that says a ton about her character.

Lin
Memphis