California Faultline

Last week I spoke with City Councilperson Janice Hahn on her winning one one of the spots as a Hillary Clinton delegate representing the 36th Congressional District. Over 200 people had shown up at the caucus to choose between 25 candidates vying for four spots - two women, one man, and an alternate

At my Obama caucus visit, numerous candidates had insisted that their convention votes wouldn’t be swayed, and seemed disturbed that anyone would try to change it. They definitely have reason for concern: Hahn unabashedly told me she cemented her win by telling caucus voters that she’d be able to persuade Obama delegates to vote for Hillary on the floor of the Democratic Convention.

I also asked Hahn why Clinton would be good for Los Angeles, and her thoughts on running for congress… (more…)

Field Report from the Barack Obama delegate caucus for Congressional District 28, April 13th, at the North Hollywood Community Center.

Erikson Albrecht, left, who went on to win delegate spot, outside the caucus. At right, candidate Anne Johnson with supporter, actress Pauley Perrette from Navy CIS.

353 registered voters braved 100 degrees temps at the Delegate Caucus yesterday to decide which two of 33 candidates to send to Denver in August to help represent Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention.

As constituents arrived, candidates and friends were on hand to appeal for their vote. Unlike a traditional election, campaigning took place even inside, just feet away from the ballot box. Some even took advantage of the scores of people playing in nearby parks, advising them of the caucus and successfully bringing them over to vote.

Candidates shrugged off questions and indicated no hard feelings about the debacle earlier in the week when all but a handful of candidates were “disqualified” for less than 48 hours, then requalified to caucus by the Obama campaign.

Inside, voters were able to select two candidates, although the two delegate spots would be given to one man and one woman.

While most votes were cast by 3pm, at 3:15 candidated were permitted to each give a 30 second speech. Many used the time to assure the audience that they wouldn’t switch their vote to Hillary Clinton at the convention

Estee Chandler won the woman’s delegate spot with 77 votes (Anne B. Johnson had 71, and Pamela Broadous 63). Erikson R. Albrecht won the men’s spot hands down with 106 votes, trailed closest by Michael Jay with 62 votes.

I was told in case of a tie delegates would be decided with a coin toss. In fact, over in Council District 31, Yosi Sargent told me he lost to the flip of a coin: “No joke… 61 votes to 61 votes. He (an opponent) picked heads… He is going to Denver…”

Read on for more pics and commentary… (more…)

UPDATE (6:51pm): The Obama has reversed it decision and is reinstating delegate candidates, rendering the rest of this piece moot. More here.

Over the past few months, hundreds of loyal Obama supporters applied to be and were confirmed as candidates to represent his share of primary delegates at the Democratic Convention. Unfortunately, hundreds of these candidates received letters over the past couple days informing them that they have been disqualified… just days before this Sunday’s delegate causus. The Obama campaign has dodged numerous media and personal requests for an explanation of not only why, but how they decided which candidates to cut.

Among those Obama booted from running as his delegates this weekend were the president of the California Young Democrats, a blogger for Calitics and the University of California, Davis campus coordinator for Obama. [Capitol Alert, reg. rq'd.]

To be fair, I was a little surprised when I saw that dozens of people would be running for the handful of delegate slots in each Congressional district, but as I wrote two weeks ago, any California Democrat with a fax machine could have applied and been accepted as a delegate. (see the current list here)

It seems like common sense to want a more manageable process, but this was clearly handled without foresight, and now risks alienating hundreds of Obama’s strongest supporters.

Hoping for an explanation, I called the number listed on California Democratic Party website specifically set up to address the delegate process. Here’s a little of how the phone call went:

Me: I’m calling to find out what criteria was used to cut delegate candidates in California?

OS (Obama staffer): Oh, um, I really don’t know who can answer that for you.

Me: Really? The California Democrat website lists this as the number for questions about the Obama delegate process.

OS: Oh, well, yeah. But the people in California would have to answer that. This is the National Obama Headquarters.

Me: Huh, well, California Democrats expressly has this number on it. Can you give me a number for who can answer the questions then?

OS: Well, sir, whats happened is there were a lot of people who signed up to be delegates, and they wanted a more manageable list.

Me: Okay. So you do have some answers.

OS: Oh, um, you really should talk to a spokesman about this.

I left a message for said spokesman, who, undoubtedly will call me back ASAP.

While the Huffington Post has enlisted the help of its readers to find out who the mysterious cadre of “super delegates” are, Frank D. Russo of the California Progress Report was naming names over three weeks ago - at least of those in the Golden State.

Among his results:

Democratic National Committee Members from California:
Steven K. Alari CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Joe Baca MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Jeremy Bernard MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Rachel Binah CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Mary Ellen Early CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Maria Echaveste MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Edward Espinoza CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Alexandra Gallardo-Rooker CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Eric Garcetti NAT’L DEMOCRATIC MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS CONFERENCE
Kamil Hasan MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Inola Henry CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER

Mike Honda OFFICERS
Alice A. Huffman CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Aleita J. Huguenin CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Carole Migden CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Bob Mulholland CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Mona Pasquil MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Christine Pelosi CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Nancy Pelosi CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
John A. Perez CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Robert Rankin CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Mirian Saez MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Garry S. Shay CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Christopher Stampolis CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Crystal Strait YOUNG DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA
Art Torres CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Norma J. Torres MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Keith Umemoto CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Alicia Wang CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Maxine Waters CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Vernon R. Watkins MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Rosalind Wyman CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER
Steven Ybarra CALIFORNIA DNC MEMBER

His page also provides instructions on how you too can become a delegate (not a “super” delegate, but you have to start somewhere) in time for August’s Democratic National Convention.