SD Dem's Obamba Delegate Selection: Goofy Process, Good Result
I ended up helping the party staffers and officials with today’s Barack Obama delegation selection process in Pierre. I figured I might as well be helpFUL rather than sit there and send Twitters no one was probably reading.
I didn’t attend the Hillary Clinton selection at the other end of the Pierre Senior Center. I didn’t figure that gathering would ultimate matter. However, my boss, Mary Ann Giebink of Sioux Falls, was selected as the sixth overall SD Clinton delegate which is pretty cool.
But the real story was over the on the Obama side. Frankly, I have never see so much political postering in all my life. It was intense and at time cutthroat. One friend of mine was making calls at 6 a.m. to fellow delegates to line up support.
There were two main blocs of voters. One was a Rapid City/Pine Ridge/Sioux Falls group that ended up getting 9 of the 13 slots (10 delegates and 3 alternates). The other bloc was an Aberdeen/Sioux Falls/Others group that ended getting 4 slots.
Then there was Brookings, Clay, and Bon Homme and a couple other counties who were basically sitting there in amazement at the mega-politicking that was going on.
People sometimes left their bloc when it suited them. That provoked calls of “soulless” and “turncoat.”
As I noted yesterday, I knew there were coalitions with their lists and I was not happy about it. Some of the first time delegate participants were completely dismayed by the process. Unless you had worked the phones and the Internets, you were not going to have a snowball’s chance in July in Wall of winning.
But as it turned out, we ended up with an extremely diverse group of South Dakotans to represent the Man Crush. We have three Native Americans, four young white men under 25, a women over 70, a state senator, a young woman under 25, a teacher, and a women attorney. While I can quibble about some of the picks that made it over others, I think it is a group that reflects the new, energizing spirit of Sen. Obama’s candidacy.
Here are the Obama Delegates:
Slot 1. Russell Blacksmith, Pine Ridge
Slot 2. Cathy Piersol, Sioux Falls
Slot 3. Ned Horsted, Harrisburg
Slot 4. Shirley Halleen, Sioux Falls
Slot 5. Tom Katus, Rapid City
Slot 6. Kim Killer, Pine Ridge
Slot 7. Andrew Frank, ?
Slot 8. Lisa Engels, Hartford
Slot 9. Matt Thompson, ?
Slot 10. Arlette Blacksmith, Pine Ridge
Alt. 1. Barry Foster, Sioux Falls
Alt. 2. Katrina Jarding, Alexandria
Alt. 3. Lon Strohschein, Sioux Falls
Eric Abrahamson, legislative candidate from Rapid City, chaired the meeting and did and excellent job keeping things moving and fair.
Depending upon the June 3 primary results, probably only the top six slots and the first and perhaps second alternates will go to Denver for the national convention.
My congratulations to the winners. To those who lost, stay involved. We need you now and in the future. Don’t be discouraged. You are the future of South Dakota’s Democratic Party.
Top: Delegates in the Rapid City/Pine Ridge/Sioux Falls clique gather around State Senator Tom Katus.
Middle: SDDP field organizers Deb Knecht and Matt McClarty get the paperwork in order for the Obama selection process.
Bottom: Member of the Aberdeen/Sioux Falls cabal strategize during a break.
Technorati Tags: South Dakota Democratic Party, Barack Obama, delegate selection, Pierre, South Dakota, convention
Todd Epp
in S.D. Democrats and Related Groups, 2008 Presidential Election, 2008 Election
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Reader Comments (9)
Actually - the Mitchell area joined forces with the Olga/Rapid/ Sioux Falls anit-coalition coalition too. That group got 10 of the 13.
Matt McLarty is the Legislative Director
Andrew Frank is from Mitchell and Matt Thompson is from Watertown.
This was a good excersize. Some of us were first timers and were very successful, and there were others more seasoned politicos that looked like deer in headlights all day. This is good for the party.
and yeah it was 10 out of 13 :)
The Aberdeen/Sioux falls group came off as if they were entitled to the delegate slots. I’m sure they are still in shock – but that is really what drove the formation of the anti-coalition coalition.
To be completely fair Annon, as someone that had conversations with both groups, my feeling was that their was only one person who thought they were "entitled" to a delegate slot. And that person was from the SF/Rapid/Mitchell group. The rest were just aligning themselves with the group they thought would have the most influence or people they were familiar with. Sounds like politics to me. As in most cases one side did a better job of counting the votes prior, then the other. To the victor go the spoils.
I have never gone... It's my turn! Sounds like entitled to me. That was Aberdeen/SF.
That Matt McLarty is one bad mutha! Best in the biz, and when you see the Democrats' surge on the ballot this week, you're going to be seeking his autograph.
I'm just talkin' 'bout Matt. Right on.
Actually commander, it seems there were many with a sense of entitlement. If they had had their way, Brown County would have filled up the Obama slate with party leaders and the children of party leaders. That unfinished business will undoubtedly be accomplished at the state convention. The winning coalition brought in a much more broad spectrum of delegates than those proposed by Brown County.
Add in Lawrence Diggs and Martin Yeung at the state convention with the inevitable party scions, and we'll have a pretty diverse slate in Denver.