Caucuses and Crowds at the DNC

I headed downtown on the LRT to the Convention Center for the First Americans Council (American Indian) and the LGBT caucus meetings. Most of the delegation purchased five day passes for the rail.

First Americans Council

At the First Americans Council meeting there were more Native Americans attending this year than ever before. The meeting was called the First Americans Council. There was some discussion among delegates about names; are we Native Americans, American Indians (common in Minneapolis), or First Americans. My guess is that this will continue to evolve.

In our country’s history Native American people have suffered from state and federal anti-Indian programs. This has grown a distrust of government. A lot of the speakers stressed the importance of educating other American Indians about the importance of being involved in politics to improve our condition.

We heard from our Indian DNC members. Elected leadership, both Tribal and US government were introduced (including me). There was some nuts and bolts organizing training. My guess is that we will get more regionally and strategically specific when we meet again Wednesday.

Howard Dean made a surprise visit to the caucus. He is well known for supporting Indian country and he was very welcome. Again he brought up footwear, telling the crowd about some cowboy boots he picked up in Oklahoma. He talked about his history and relationships with the Tribes – always a good strategy if it’s for real. His message was about unity, registering new voters and getting out the vote.

The mood in the caucus was hopeful, with quiet excitement. I learned that the Native American Caucus of the DNC is not officially recognized. There are threshold criteria to be met, like having eight caucus members on the Democratic National Committee. One of the goals set at the caucus meeting was to become fully recognized in two years.

LGBT Caucus

The mood at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender caucus meeting was upbeat and festive. There are 41% more delegate members that in 2004. The national caucus chair is Minneapolis’ own Rick Stafford. He did a great job.

Nearly two- thirds of the LGBT delegates are committed Clinton delegates, so this was a test for the unity theme of the convention. The reasons for this still remain something of a mystery to me. Rick Stafford, a major Clinton supporter, was masterful at bringing every together.

The message of unity definitely included inclusion, as in transgender inclusion in the Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA). This has been a hot button issue in the LGBT community. One of the celebrated inclusion leaders in Congress, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI-Lesbian) spoke. She was a big Hillary supporter who urged unity until the delegates cheered.

Chair Stafford gave us a thumbnail history of the DNC’s LGBT Caucus. The first meeting was in 1972 with five people attending. In the following years the caucus met in closed cafeterias or other unused spaces. It was not until 1996 that the LGBT Caucus was officially recognized, this was after recognition was granted in 1984 only to be withdrawn by Party leadership a year later. It was good for us, and especially the young delegates to be reminded of the history of the fight.

A state by state role call of LGBT delegates was called. Not surprisingly, California and New York have the largest delegations. Only a few states had zero out LGBT delegates and a few states had delegates ‘come out’ and add to their numbers during the role call.

We had speakers address us about anti-LGBT ballot initiatives and how to fight them. Using the “3 M’s” was recommended - Message, Messengers and Money. We meet again on Wednesday. Lesbian Arizona State Rep Kyrsten Sinema said, “Their time (Repub’s) is ending, our time is coming”.

This sense of a being at a pivotal point in our nation’s history pervades the convention. It’s not just from the speakers and pundits where you might expect it, but in conversation among delegates and other convention goers. I like that people are consciously putting themselves within the current of history.

I had about an hour free before heading to the Pepsi Center for the start of the actual convention. I walked around downtown and grabbed a coffee. The streets were packed with pedestrians. Vendors sold convention bling on the sidewalks and there were scattered individual demonstrators with signs – lots of anti-abortion/Bible stuff.

There was a McCain demonstration in the street. His supporters carried his campaign signs and shouted pro-McCain stuff. The demonstrators were surrounded by people chanting “Obama, Obama”. Cops showed up quickly and people moved on, nothing to see here.

I heard about a couple of other protests. Anti-abortion protesters interrupted the African American Caucus. They were scattered throughout the room and interrupted the proceedings at intervals. Police arrived quickly and escorted the protesters out peacefully. One of the caucus attendees told me that after the second interruption all of the white people present became suspect as potential protesters.

I was told that at a women’s event with Speaker Pelosi speaking, Code Pink demonstrated blaming her for not ending the Iraq war. This was a loud and extended protest that took some time to bring to an end.

I lined up with hundreds of other delegates to catch the shuttle to the Pepsi Center and the start of the actual DNCC ’08.