Colorado Gets More Delegates for Kucinich

[Kanary]

At the state convention yesterday, Dennis got 14 national delegates for Dennis Kucinich.

Their goal was to get as many delegates as Minnesota. I don't have the figures right in front of me, but my understanding is that this amount even surpasses Minnesota.

Go, DK!

Please, this message is for Dennis supporters and well-wishers. No need for posting nasty comments, please.

Kanary

[Rationality]

1. Kucinich better take his campaign back to Cleveland

If he wants to be influential, the House is all he has left at this point. Every minute spent on the Presidential campaign is a wasted one.

[no name no slogan]

8. Sour grapes

unlike other candidates who are members of Congress, DK only missed a few votes while on the campaign trail. He's very popular in his home district, because he does his job first and foremost and delivers excellent constituent service.

Dennis won his district last time with 75% of the vote. I doubt he'll have any trouble winning it again this year.

[MuseRider]

2. KANARY WTG!!

:hi:

I have not seen you around much. This is great news and you should be very proud of all the hard work you did to help this happen. I promised myself that I would read only one more thread before I sign off and get some work done. I am so glad it is this one. Take care, I think of you often and GREAT JOB!

[WI_DEM]

3. how many delegates total does DK have to the national convention?

at this point.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. Hi Kanary,

how are you doing?:hi:

I was at the Convention as both a Kucinich and Miles delegate. DK got just a hair short of 30% of the vote at 29.8%, apparently winning a total of 14 delegates to Boston. It looks like the Colorado delegation will be the largest of any state. The Colorado people are really organized and committed, I've been really impressed.

From this article here, it looks like this bumps his delegate count up to around 65, http://www.kucinich.us/misc/big_week.php#colorado (scroll to the top for delegate count info).

The biggest surprise of the Convention was Mike Miles, who has been marginalized and dismissed in favor of Ken Salazar, coming out on top. He won 1376 votes to Salazars 1269, 52% to 48%, so he gets to be on top of the ballot this August, and Colorado voters will have a real choice.

By the way, how do you like my new sig line?

Edited to add: :toast: to Kucinich and his supporters.

[goodhue]

5. 14 delegates is amazing!

Minnesota had been leading at nine, but Colorado moves rapidly out front from 5 to 14. Way to go! And also great news about Miles.

In Minnesota, we are locked in at nine since our caucus preference poll results were binding as to number of national delegates. So MN state convention was unlike CO, ME, and AK, which had processes that allowed DK to increase his delegate numbers this weekend.

Thanks for posting this Kanary!

[no name no slogan]

7. Judging by the convention, I bet we could have got more....

I bet we had at least 33% of the convention behind us this weekend. We were DEFINATELY a force to be reckoned with on the floor!

And it wasn't just the regular DK supporters, either. We were pulling in progressives from ALL the campaigns to carry on a progressive agenda to Boston. This is definately a good year to be a Democrat!

[goodhue]

9. indeed

If Minnesota national delegate numbers could have moved (as they could under the old rules prior to 2000), we certainly would have picked up more DK delegates in Minnesota this past weekend.

[no name no slogan]

6. I think you're right Kanary!!!!

We elected another 5 Delegates/1 Alternate at our state convention this weekend. Plus, we have four more from our various Congressional district conventions, and I know of one "stealth" DK delegate who got elected as an Edwards delegate from one CD.

Congrats to Colorado!!!! Glad to have more Kucinich folk going to Boston!!!!

:toast:

[LWolf]

10. Wonderful, Kanary!

:toast:

:thumbsup:

[eridani]

11. Email note from Teresa, who was also there

It was a wonderful day. There were Kucinich posters and tee shirts everywhere. All of us made a point to "drag" around additional supporters that would otherwise not be able to attend. The Convention was in a city over 2 hours away from Denver. We brought along Senior citizen and disabled supporters that would have been a hardship for themselves to attend, if they had to make their own way. The video that was used had parts of "this is the moment". It was like the audience was transformed. They were cheering and applauding the video image like it was "live". I was actually taken back when people applauded Ed Asner appearing and then the collective gasp when he rips the "constitution". Afterwards, one of the best speeches I have heard given in place of DK. The point that was best made was, the Anybody But Bush rhetoric is silly, when was the last time the Coca Cola company used the ad technique of "anybody but Pepsi", the crowd roared and heads nodded. Sidewalks outside the building had been chalked with DK messages. All in all, the message seemed to get out, It is okay to vote for DK.

We also had a senatorial race going. Mike Miles is a progressive, that has also been written off by our state DNC. Most of the Kucinich supporters have also been working on the Miles campaign. This race overshadowed what happened in the presidential race. Mike Miles took 51% over another candidate that the DNC and Media had already given the position to. When the senatorial numbers were announce, the place went wild!!! This strategy seemed to work well out here, over time, the Miles supporters became Kucinich supporters as well.

The Dept of Peace platform was included and finally cut away at the state level, just before the convention. It was brought up again by a number of Kucinich supporters and it went to a verbal vote. Surprisingly, the yeas and the nays seemed to be tied. When the crowd heard the loud nays, the supporters seemed so shocked, many of us looked around and asked out loud, "What is wrong with you people?" So we went to a stand up count. By the time it way the naysayers’ turn, many seemed embarrassed and didn't stand up, they were only a small fraction of the yeas. The nays were the same group that was against the abolishing of DU and other nuclear weapons. I am suspecting that the same is happening out here as in Texas, the Repug, party is infiltrating the Dem party.

Speaking of Texas, we also got the treat of hearing ex Governor, Ann Richards speak... a true delight.

Many Kucinich supporters are now in local races. It is a small step, but never the less, a step forward for the progressive movement.

The saddest part of the Convention, was watching the Dean supporter lady.... she placed her yard signs and tried to hand out material, and just scowled at anyone sporting a Kucinich shirt.

Theresa

[goodhue]

12. what a great report!

Thanks for posting.

[no name no slogan]

16. Wow, great report!

Sad to see the part about the Dean supporter though. In MN, we actually worked WITH them to move our progressive agenda forward, and they were quite supportive. They even attended our pre-convention party (www.progressivecaucus.net/photos.asp)!

Great news from CO. Keep on keeping on!!!!

[eridani]

13. Another eyewitness report

by Walt Kramarz

Coming in to this weekend the Kucinich campaign in Colorado started with 5 delegates, 2 from CD1, 1 from CD7 and another 2 from CD2.

Then came Pueblo!!!

Friday night were the CD3, CD4 and CD5 convnentions in Pueblo where the Kucinich campaign recieved one from each of the congressional districts, bringing the count to eight delegates for Kucinich.

But it wouldn't stop there. The passion and committment of the Kucinich supporters going to the state convention brought six (6) more delegates, sending a total of 14 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July for Dennis Kucinich from Colorado, the most from any state!!!! Dennis Kucinich received 29.8% of the vote at the state convention, up from the state-wide count of 12.5% at the precinct caucuses. This increase shows just how strong people feel about this campaign, just how passionate people are for the message represented by Dennis Kucinich, just how willing people are to stand up and speak out for what they believe in.

I spoke with Dennis Kucinich shortly after we received the vote count, and told him the good news. He was extremely pleased with our continued support, our continued committment to creating change in the Democratic Party, in this country and in the world. He wanted me to pass on his appreciation to all of you, all Kucinich supporters here in Colorado. It was because of all of you that we did so well.

Below is information from the Kucinich national web site about the Colorado victories! Note ... Chip Grandits created the video that was shown at the Boulder County Convention as well as the State Convention with input from Walt Kramarz!

We are still awaiting the results from the delegate votes to find out who our new delegates are, but we will send out a message soon.

In the Senate race, Mike Miles won! He received 51% of the vote compared to Ken Salazar's 49%. He will be on the first line of the primary ballot in August. His presentation was very moving and inspiring, and he has shown the ability to be what the Democrats need to take back a senate seat in Colorado. Thanks to all you Kucinich supporters who have supported Dennis Kucinich ... on to the primary in August, supporting Mike Miles for US Senate.

And the party platform, previously watered down, had many, many progressive amendments added back in! The Colorado Democratic Platform now includes the creation of a cabinet level Department of Peace, as well as other progressive positions on the issues ... a great job by all in attendance to get these amendments into the platform.

No one can accuse us of a lack of dedication or passion. Let's keep it going. Stop and rest a few days or so, but let's keep our momentum going.

Let's keep our MeetUps on June 3rd. There's a lot that we can consider doing, even after the Boston Convention, and perhaps even forming an issues group within the Colorado Democratic Party, the Progressive Caucus? Let's try to rally people to go to Boston for the non-convention activities--and raise some funds to get them there. And let's keep putting our efforts and enthusiasm into making Mike Miles our next senator.

We have all made so many good new friends through this campaign, We don't want to lose that! Let's stick together.

[otohara]

14. I Was A CO Kucinich Delegate

at state convention - we also put Mike Miles on top of Dem senatorial ticket...

We were referred to as left-wing wackos as usual - in the newspapers

[MrSlayer]

15. I voted for DK in my primary.

Clark was long gone and Kerry was going to win easy so I voted for the Kooch. It's a shame he isn't taken more seriously, he really seems to care about people and you believe him when he includes everyone. It's good to see him getting delegates, his message should be heard.