My old friend Dyna said, <snip> > Peter led but did not win the race because he did a better > job of packing the convention with his supporters. Peter will face a > much more uphill battle in the upcoming elections, as voter's ask > "Peter who" and higher turnout in R.T.'s strongest precincts will win > reelection for him. > Although I agree with some of her comments, I think the delegates' demographics were less homogeneous than that. Although surely both candidates did their best to encourage precinct caucus turnout I think Peter had more of the "never dream of missing a precinct caucus" core democrats. At least that was certainly true in my ward, the 8th. We had a large number of great and great-great grandmothers and grandfathers that we seated on the floor at the front of the bleachers. And when we in the 8th were sent to the distance and the heights, we did so with heads held high and clear memories. Although I appreciate Alex Eaton's attempt to fall on his sword on this one, it's not Alex that will be remembered, it's all those names and faces at the front, Brian Melendez in particular. The reason that was given for singling out the 8th ward to move was that we had the largest number of delegates seated. This means that the party chose to punish those who turned out and those who registered and seated themselves in a timely manner. We had the center spot on the convention floor. Wouldn't it have made more sense to simply have those in the back move on back farther up into the bleachers and expand the space for everybody? The 8th Ward was seated in the bleachers last time, too. What kind of a party will evolve from decisions that punish those who show up in good numbers and those who show up on time? Most of those great-grandmothers and grandfathers do their devotions twice a day, some of them five times a day. They would no more miss their precinct caucus than they would miss services at their church or temple or mosque. Their beliefs prohibit them from cursing the people who forced us back but I will admit to wishing it wasn't so. With every step as I climbed up or down those bleachers, the pain in my ailing right knee screamed out. But I didn't let it stop me and the 8th Ward won't be stopped either as our youth and our elders and our labor and progressive and environmental activists unite to communicate to the entire city the following message: RT lost the convention for the same three reasons he'll lose the election. Education, Public Safety and NRP.
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