This Obama fan applauds the Clinton supporters lobbying the DNC Platform committee

[Dems to Win]

The people attending the platform committee meetings to voice their opinions and grievances are doing exactly the right thing. They are asking for the grievances to be redressed, and they are addressing their concerns to the appropriate people.

If the long primary has exposed what you see as flaws in the system, get involved and try to change it for next time. Anyone willing to travel across Pennsylvania to attend a platform meeting gets my respect.

Even though I disagree with them on the issue of winner-take-all (small states would likely be neglected), I admire and respect their speaking out.


*********************newstory:

Posted on Saturday, August 9, 2008
Aggrieved Clinton fans attack caucuses as Dems meet
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers


PITTSBURGH — Devoted Hillary Clinton supporters urged the Democratic party Saturday to get rid of caucuses, the town hall meetings in states such as Iowa where Clinton's presidential campaign stumbled and Barack Obama launched his march to the nomination.

"We need to get rid of caucuses," said Melissa Whitener, a waitress from Conneaut, Penn., who traveled to lobby the Democratic National Committee as it prepared its party platform.

"Caucuses are inherently unfair," she said. "I work in a restaurant. I can't take off a whole shift to go sit in a caucus. We need to all be on the same primary system. Why should 2,000 people in Iowa have the same say as 2 million in Pennsylvania?"

Whitener and a small group of Clinton supporters planned to press the Democratic National Committee's platform committee Saturday to call for an end to caucuses. They attended as guests.

They also hoped urged the committee to amend the party platform to adopt a winner-takes-all system of primaries and an end of the proportional allocation of nominating delegates.


more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/47083.html

[anonymous171]

1. OK, she can take a whole shift off to lobby the DNC, but not to caucus.

:wtf:

[sniffa]

2. At least she has her priorities in order

I wonder if Harriet Christian was in attendance.

[vaberella]

3. I think the irrationality of these supporters is what we're seeing more and more.

This just makes no sense.

[Dems to Win]

6. She lives in PA, a primary state. She was speaking in general principles. n/t

[Top Cat]

4. If Hillary had done better in the caucuses there would be no discussion. Very sad...................

[Frustratedlady]

5. You took the words right out of my mouth.

[chiefofclarinet]

7. I agree, to a point

I'm happy to see some of Clinton's supporters do the right thing: lobby to the DNC about revising the system. Clinton's supporters are getting a bad name, with PUMA and the similar groups attacking the process from the outside rather than confront it from the inside.

However, wanting to remove caucuses is the WRONG idea. As an Iowan, I may be a bit thin-skinned about this issue, but I think the caucus system works. It works because we voters in Iowa are passionate about this. We did our best job vetting them for the rest of the process, asking the right questions, and giving them feedback about what is working on the small scale. And yes, caucuses take time. But, isn't it worth the time to see grass-roots campaigning in action? That, and the ones that care the most will make time to go.

The way I think about it is this. Iowa's caucus is like a small-scale experiment. Using a "small" amount of money, resources, etc., candidates can see which strategies in advertising, speech content, and ideas work and which issues is America concerned about. It also lets the lesser funded candidates have a chance, even if it never worked. (like Biden, Dodd, Richardson, etc.) After a couple more small experiments, (NH, NV, SC) then the best strategies will be used for the large scale. (Super Tuesday and beyond)

Is the system we have now perfect? No. Can it be fixed? Yes. Will removing caucuses fix the system? No.

[Dems to Win]

11. I might visit Iowa on vacation, I'm so grateful to them for starting us on the Obama path

If Iowa wants to caucus, it is fine with me. I'm a caucus agnostic, since I live in a state with a primary and thus don't know much about them.

As I noted, I don't necessarily agree with the sentiments being expressed by the Clinton supporters. I just admire that they are taking appropriate action to air their concerns.

It is correct that each state chooses how to pick their delegates? Can the DNC dictate "No More Caucuses", even if they want to? Would a DNC platform plank be unenforceable, just an expression of the party's preference?

[Hansel]

8. Self delete. Moved to another thread. n/t

[Peacetrain]

9. The caucus system

is part of the selection system of a canidate. Sometimes I think we get the primary and GE seasons confused. How a state chooses to implement its selection process, is the province of the individual state. Until the 60's this selection process was done in back rooms by party big wigs.

Most likely, the primary voting system would work better for larger states, the caucus system works just fine for smaller states.

The caucus system involves much more than just voting for a canidate, but is the opportunity for the individual voter to particapte in the decision process of the state party.

In that sense it is democracy at its finest.

The secret ballot for the General Election is an entirely different animal. Sacred and untouchable.

[NYC_SKP]

10. If caucuses are unfair, then the Electoral College is REALLY unfair.....

We really need to get rid of that fucked up system.