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DFL City Convention (Minneapolis)
Jun. 16th, 2013 01:19 pmSpent 12 hours there yesterday. We did manage to endorse a park board candidate (Brad Bourn) for Park District 6. Mayoral race ended in no endorsement (as it usually does, come to think of it) but had some entertaining twists and turns. Judging from the convention results, Mark Andrew is in the lead but by no means a slam dunk, with Betsy Hodges and Gary Schiff as the other two viable candidates. Don Samuels and Jackie Cherryhomes are marginalized (both washed out of the endorsement fight on the first ballot with about 4% each).
It was the usual combination of fascinating immersion and paralyzing boredom. I got to meet all the candidates, chat with neighbors that I see once a year at the precinct caucus, and listen in on all sorts of interesting campaign strategizing. As always, everything revolves around small modifications to the convention rules that only reveal their importance 6 hours in.
In this case, one of the key rule modifications had apparently been engineered in the Rules Committee before the convention started - candidates were no longer allowed to make a concession speech when they dropped out of the endorsement race. This is important because they often use this short speech to throw support to one of the remaining candidates in the hopes of blocking the front-runner's endorsement. The Andrews campaign apparently knew they would be in the lead and wanted to short-circuit this tactic. So when Gary Schiff announced he was dropping after the 2nd ballot, his supporters made a doomed attempt to modify that rule on the floor. This required a 2/3 majority, which was not achievable (although close - those of us not in on the real game are bored and tend to vote in favor of more drama). We got the drama anyway. When Gary didn't get to make his speech on the floor he adjourned to the cavernous lobby of the Convention Center, hopped up on a table and made his speech right there. This was way fun, as we got to chant "Ga-ry! Ga-ry! Ga-ry!" for about a minute while somebody rushed in with a portable microphone.
Gary started with a surprise announcement. Although he had declared his intention to abide by the endorsement before the convention, he now seemed to be saying that he would run no matter what because "IRV changes everything." It always angers the party stalwarts when candidates say they will abide by the endorsement and then change their minds, but it's fine with me. Someimes I want an endorsement, but this year I want my top 3 candidates in the running in November so I can vote for ALL OF THEM. In fact, I was hoping for no endorsement (and had been changing my vote back and forth to help make that happen). Anyway, Gary then continued on to throw his support to Betsy Hodges, as the crowd clearly expected. At the appropriate moment, Betsy was produced and hoisted onto the table along with Gary so we could chant, "Bet-sy! Bet-sy! Bet-sy!" for a while. It was all great fun. The Andrews people sulked and fumed around the edges of the crowd.
Then we went back to vote again and then wait for the unspeakably incompetent Teller Team in the back room to count the vote. This normally takes 30-45 minutes. This time it took 2 and a half hours!!! Apparently they screwed up the data entry into their spreadsheet and couldn't get it straightened out. After an hour or two of that they finally did what they should have done all along: recounted all the ballots and tallied them manually. There were only 2 candidates left at this point, so this wasn't exactly rocket science. Oy. The DFL tends to run every convention as if they were doing it for the first time. I often wonder if the Republicans are any better at this, but don't know very many Republicans (and none who are committed enough to attend even their precinct caucuses, let alone a convention).
Anyway, I waited for third ballot results (Andrews 47%, Hodges 45%). At this point it was pretty clear they were headed for No Endorsement, so I left, thus missing the post-4th-ballot "walkout" and pizza party in the parking lot. If you read the story in the paper you may get the impression that there is something unusual and unethical about this tactic. That's not true - it is standard practice. The Andrews campaign would have done exactly the same thing if it were to their advantage. Pizza in the parking lot was a nice twist to get the building cleared quickly, and thoughtful for the exhausted delegates.
It was the usual combination of fascinating immersion and paralyzing boredom. I got to meet all the candidates, chat with neighbors that I see once a year at the precinct caucus, and listen in on all sorts of interesting campaign strategizing. As always, everything revolves around small modifications to the convention rules that only reveal their importance 6 hours in.
In this case, one of the key rule modifications had apparently been engineered in the Rules Committee before the convention started - candidates were no longer allowed to make a concession speech when they dropped out of the endorsement race. This is important because they often use this short speech to throw support to one of the remaining candidates in the hopes of blocking the front-runner's endorsement. The Andrews campaign apparently knew they would be in the lead and wanted to short-circuit this tactic. So when Gary Schiff announced he was dropping after the 2nd ballot, his supporters made a doomed attempt to modify that rule on the floor. This required a 2/3 majority, which was not achievable (although close - those of us not in on the real game are bored and tend to vote in favor of more drama). We got the drama anyway. When Gary didn't get to make his speech on the floor he adjourned to the cavernous lobby of the Convention Center, hopped up on a table and made his speech right there. This was way fun, as we got to chant "Ga-ry! Ga-ry! Ga-ry!" for about a minute while somebody rushed in with a portable microphone.
Gary started with a surprise announcement. Although he had declared his intention to abide by the endorsement before the convention, he now seemed to be saying that he would run no matter what because "IRV changes everything." It always angers the party stalwarts when candidates say they will abide by the endorsement and then change their minds, but it's fine with me. Someimes I want an endorsement, but this year I want my top 3 candidates in the running in November so I can vote for ALL OF THEM. In fact, I was hoping for no endorsement (and had been changing my vote back and forth to help make that happen). Anyway, Gary then continued on to throw his support to Betsy Hodges, as the crowd clearly expected. At the appropriate moment, Betsy was produced and hoisted onto the table along with Gary so we could chant, "Bet-sy! Bet-sy! Bet-sy!" for a while. It was all great fun. The Andrews people sulked and fumed around the edges of the crowd.
Then we went back to vote again and then wait for the unspeakably incompetent Teller Team in the back room to count the vote. This normally takes 30-45 minutes. This time it took 2 and a half hours!!! Apparently they screwed up the data entry into their spreadsheet and couldn't get it straightened out. After an hour or two of that they finally did what they should have done all along: recounted all the ballots and tallied them manually. There were only 2 candidates left at this point, so this wasn't exactly rocket science. Oy. The DFL tends to run every convention as if they were doing it for the first time. I often wonder if the Republicans are any better at this, but don't know very many Republicans (and none who are committed enough to attend even their precinct caucuses, let alone a convention).
Anyway, I waited for third ballot results (Andrews 47%, Hodges 45%). At this point it was pretty clear they were headed for No Endorsement, so I left, thus missing the post-4th-ballot "walkout" and pizza party in the parking lot. If you read the story in the paper you may get the impression that there is something unusual and unethical about this tactic. That's not true - it is standard practice. The Andrews campaign would have done exactly the same thing if it were to their advantage. Pizza in the parking lot was a nice twist to get the building cleared quickly, and thoughtful for the exhausted delegates.
