I’d like to preface this by saying, I am not a prick… With that said, I’m wondering why it is that the Washtenaw Democrats are inviting me to a “Hillary Clinton for President – Friend Raiser.” I don’t recall getting notices from them about the other candidates for the Democratic nomination and their local fundraising events, and I’m wondering how it is that they make their decisions as to what to plan, sanction and promote. (As the invitation says, “not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee,” I’m assuming that this event is being led by individuals associated with the Washtenaw Democrats.) I know I have readers who are active members of the Washtenaw Dems and I’m hoping that one of them can tell me how it came to pass that they, as an organization, chose to support Hillary… Was there some kind of internal vote? Really, I’m not just being an angry Edwards supporter here. I’d just like to know the process so that maybe, in the future, I can be a part of it.
In related news, I got an email from MoveOn today saying that they had not yet decided who to endorse in the Democratic primary. They said that they were constantly polling their members, but that there wasn’t a clear favorite yet. According to their data, at last count, Edwards was in the lead by quite a bit. I believe he had upward of 30%. Clinton was somewhat behind him. According to the letter, they would not be picking a candidate until one of them was polling at 50% or better. I would assume that the Washtenaw Dems did something similar and that they chose to support Hillary because she had the most support of their members. I just can’t find any evidence of such a vote taking place.
10 Comments
Those interested in attending, the Clinton “Friend Raiser” is scheduled for Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at Arbor Brewing (5:30-7:30 PM).
Washtenaw Democrat is an oxymoron isn’t it?
Either way, you certainly cannot seriously campaign for office in this county wearing good shoes.
I’m curious about this instruction from a Washtenaw Dems’ email:
“Supporters of Joe Biden, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson are urged to vote “uncommitted” instead of writing in their candidates’ names because write-in votes for those candidates will not be counted.”
Urged by whom? Anyone know how the ‘uncommitted’ delegates will be chosen?
From this evening’s Washtenaw Dems’ email:
“The Washtenaw County Democratic Party does not endorse candidates during a primary, but it does encourage candidates to submit their activities for distribution in this newsletter. If you want your candidate’s event published, send e-mail to chair@washtenawdems.org.” /Big font, bold, and italicized/
Yeah, I just saw that in today’s message as well. Interesting.
And I’m still working on my post about the Michigan primary. I should have it done soon, Jim.
Big. Bold. Italicized. Sounds like they read your post.
On behalf of the Washtenaw County Democratic Party (WCDP) I would like to thank you for reading and commenting on the WCDP newsletter.
The WCDP has a policy of honoring requests from ALL primary candidates who wish to have their events publicized. This policy is in the interest of encouraging an active and robust primary process where ideas take precedence over money. I am extremely disappointed at the current status of the Michigan primary as it has suppressed participation significantly.
The Clinton campaign was the first campaign to request that we publicize an event. A mistake was made by me in not drafting and including the disclaimer / explanatory remark with the first message. I apologize. I am somewhat discouraged that I did not receive a flood of indignant correspondence from representatives of other campaigns demanding equal time. I earnestly ask that other campaigns request publicity for their events through the WCDP newsletter.
Finally, I would like to ask for your assistance with the WCDP web presence. Maintaining and upgrading our web site takes a great deal of time, more than the few volunteers we currently have can handle. Many hands make light work. If you have web development skills or would simply like to assist with generating content (no technical skills required) for publication please contact me at chair@washtenawdems.org.
Sincerely,
Jeff Souza
Chair, Washtenaw County Democratic Party
Jeff, thank you for the response. I appreciate it. As there was no mention that events from other Democrats would be shared, and as this was the first email I’d received from your organization asking me to come to such an event, I’m sure you can see how I might have been confused. Thank you for the clarification.
As for assisting with your web presence, I’m ashamed to say that I have absolutely no web skills whatsoever. I do the writing here, but I’m dependant on others to do almost everything else. I may, however, have a little time to assist with strategy and writing.
I STILL think that the phrase … Washtenaw County Democrat … is an oxymoron.
There aren’t enough sidewalks in the county to justify such an approbrium.
Most Dems I’ve met in my 35+ years in the county are quite conservative … perhaps social demoracts in a reformist center way.
Liberals? I’ve met none.
Libertarians … don’t tread on me … lots.
Republicans … lots … don’t touch my money and let’s meet at the Country Club and do lunch … lots of that crap.
Washtenaw County is still pretty conservative … more miles of highway than miles of sidewalks … IMHO.
The answer to my question about uncommitted delegates is here, I guess:
http://michigandems.com/2008DSP.pdf