| You can see the actual apportionment of delegates by candidate by congressional district at the FDP website. (67 Clinton, 41 Obama, 13 Edwards). Now, this doesn't count superdelegates, a list of which can be found here (committed) and here (uncommitted). And it does not include those delegates which will be elected by state party officials. Many of those positions are for local and state elected officials (like CFO Alex Sink) who are not already superdelegates.
The purpose of the caucuses Saturday is to determine the actual people who will fill these predetermined slots.
For example, in District 2, (my district), we get six delegates. They are apportioned as one man and one woman for Clinton, one man and one woman for Obama, and one man and one woman for Edwards. That is, each of the three candidates gets two pledged delegates from my district. It's split up as "one man and one woman" to insure gender equity.
If you wan to see the list of people who want to fill these six positions look here. It is WAY too late to sign up to be a delegate, so don't even ask about it.
Here is a link to a list of all the districts. (Look at your voter registration card if you don't know which one you're in.) If you click on the appropriate link to your district you will find the location and times of the caucus in your district.
I bring all this up for two major reasons.
The first is that if you have been watching the Democratic presidential primary race and are all caught up in it, this is a good opportunity to physically participate in some of the excitement. It's sort of like going to a sporting event.
If you're an Obama fan (like me) you can go to the caucus and get an opportunity to chant "Fired up! Ready to go!" and "Yes We Can!" If you're a Clinton supporter you can chant "Hillary" and "Yes She Can!"
If (again like me) you're interested in volunteering for your candidate (assuming they win) after the nomination is decided, then this is a golden opportunity to meet and greet the local party infrastructure supporting your candidate (if you haven't done so already). Since there wasn't any campaigning for the Democratic primary here in Florida you'd pretty much be getting in on the ground floor.
To make this happen if you go, just keep asking everyone "who do I talk to if I want to volunteer for helping out to win the general election." Eventually you'll get to the right person.
The second issue I want to discuss is using these events to collect signatures for the FairDistrictsFlorida.org petitions for state constitutional amendments to stop gerrymandering. This issue is being sponsored by Common Cause and is to appear on the 2010 ballot.
Ultimately, it is a non-partisan effort. But, realistically, on a short term basis, it is CRITICAL for Democrats. If we don't get this measure on the ballot and passed than any gains in legislative and congressional seats will be taken away thru reapportionment and a more intense gerrymandering by the Republican legislature after the 2010 census.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO STATE PARTY CHAIR KAREN THURMAN IN 2002
After the 2000 census, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature reconfigured the 5th so it was virtually coextensive with the State Senate district of that body's President Pro Tem, Ginny Brown-Waite. Nonetheless, Thurman ran for reelection. Even though the redrawn district had gone narrowly for George W. Bush in 2000 (Al Gore had won her old district handily), Thurman just barely lost to Brown-Waite.
We've already seen how it works. We've seen how the egregious Tom Feeney drew his own new district so he could get a seat in Congress. If he loses to Susan Kosmas this year due to long Democratic presidential coattails you can be assured that he (or some other Republican politician in the legislature) will have the district redrawn with all new information from the 2008 and 2010 elections so that he (or another Republican) can win it back.
As an aside as to the extent of the gerrymandering in Florida you should read this DKos diary handicapping the Florida congressional races for the November elections. Here are some quick quotes:
A weirdly shaped district . . . An oddly shaped district . . . The most Democratic district in the South . . . Another weirdly shaped district. What is it shaped like? . . . ohh... go look at the wiki . . . This one is shaped like a ?. Folks, to appreciate southern FL districting, you really have to look at a map. Gerry would be proud of these guys, but the Republicans may have overdone it, as they now have several vulnerable seats. . . . One of the strangest shaped districts in the country. Go look. It's south Florida along the Atlantic....more or less.
I've been meaning to write about the FairDistrictrictsFlorida.org issue separately and was going to wait until the primary madness settled down, but this even is too big an opportunity to pass up. If enough people get involved we could collect 1,000 or more signatures in one day. I've personally collected 63 to date and have only been doing it for less than a month.
If you want to help out with this effort first go to the website and download the petitions (pdf), one for congressional districts and one for legislative districts. All each amendment does is set short, concise guidelines that the legislature must follow when engaging in redistricting.
These petitions are different from the previous amendment attempt by Common Cause which was shot down by the State Supreme court. A fuller description of this can be found in Corwin's diary from last year.
Next you need to make copies of the petitions, however many you think you can get signed. Then go buy a clipboard and a couple of good pens.
When I started out I bought two clipboards and put all the legislative petitions on one and all the congressional petitions on the other. I would then give one clipboard to a person, wait until he or she were done, and then give them the other clipboard to fill out. While they were filling out the second I put the signed petition from the first clipboard on the bottom of the packet and did the same with the second when they were done with it.
I figured this was a very efficient process, but I found out thru experience that it wasn't optimal. First, it's slow. Second, people get put off having to fill out the second, which tends to cause them to make mistakes.
It's not uncommon to find that someone has entered the day's date in the place to put their birthdate (or vice versa). After one collection spree I once found three like that on the second petition out of a total of twenty. If they put in their birthdate wrong you can correct it from the first petition and still use it.
What I now do is use one clipboard and alternate petitions. I get a person to fill out the first one, sign it, and then just sign the second one. I then put both petitions on the bottom of the pack and move on to the next person. When I get home I fill out the top of the second petition based on the information in the first.
Once you try it I think you'll agree it's the best procedure to use. After you get all your petitions signed you mail them back them back to the address on each on. Don't hoard them, mail them back on a weekly basis if you get into this.
Now I want to address any delegate candidates who might be reading this. If you want to show how you are a dedicated party activist and give everyone yet another reason to vote for you as a delegate, get one of your supporters to bring petitions and encourage all attending to sign them because of their importance for the future of the Democratic Party in Florida. (Remember Karen Thurman!)
I apologize for such a long diary, but there was a lot to say and only a short time to say it. I will continue to blog about the FairDistrictsFlorida.org effort in the future (along with a few other topics).
See you Saturday! |
