So Saturday I got to be a delegate to the Texas 16th Senate District (aka “The Fighting 16th”) Democratic Convention. What a fascinating experience. The convention was pretty much like the national conventions we watch on TV, but smaller. There were balloons, speeches, signs, funny hats and people dressed like Uncle Sam. It was a long day, and would have been longer if I had stayed until the end (which was evidently after midnight). The length was due to some shenanigans, which I’ll get to later.

The best thing about the process was getting to know thirty or so neighbors in my precinct. My fellow delegates included a sculptor, a painter, a college professor, three musicians, a playwright, a former Texas legislator and a poet, along with the usual bankers, nurses, lawyers, etc. There was a lot of down time, which led to some great conversations. We live in an interesting neighborhood! On a sidenote, I was walking through the corridors of the SMU basketball stadium where the convention was held when I heard someone singing behind me. I turned and smiled at him, and he laughed sheepishly. The woman I was walking with said, “oh, that’s Tim DeLaughter from The Polyphonic Spree (a band), and so it was. Here’s what he looked like when I caught him singing.

So what is a convention like? Well, it’s easiest just to explain the shenanigans. After all the delegates signed in (a long process, as there were many, many more this year than usual because of the high caucus turnout), they had to be verified. The Clinton people had decided to challenge as many of these as possible (and had announced this intent ahead of time). This took hours, and in the end each challenge had to be agreed upon by the contingent of about 3000 delegates! Not efficient at all, but eventually this was completed (at another convention, however, police had to be called in for this). Next was the caucus, where each delegate voted for a candidate, and then each precinct elected delegates to go to the state convention. Our precinct got through this stage quite smoothly, as we had met on Thursday to strategize. Other precincts had problems with this stage though. Next (and I use that turn loosely, as hours sometimes passed between these stages) was the passing of resolutions. I thought it odd that this did not happen until twelve minutes before we had to be out of the auditorium, until the resolution chairman announced that as we did not have time to review the forty resolutions, he moved that we just pass them without hearing them. After many objections, the auditorium availability was extended, and the titles of the resolutions were read. It then became evident why there was a delay until just before time was up: one of the resolutions, newly introduced, was to count the results of the Michigan and Florida as-is toward the delegate count. This is what took hours to resolve, and in the end, was decided in favor of by the resolutions chairman (a Clinton supporter) based on a voice vote. I was gone by this time, as were most people, but I am curious whether this happened state-wide. I wouldn’t be surprised. I could never be a politician.

Anyway, I learned a lot about the process, and am glad I took part this year.