i L i n d . n e t

This report from Chuck Freedman, a once-upon-a-time member of the administration of former Gov. John Waihee and most recently on the staff of House Majority Leader Kurt Caldwell:

The prelims of the Hawaii State Democratic Party Convention are more than living up to the billing of biggest ever. The exhibition hall outside main conference room was filled with candidate booths and hobnobbing Dems by 5:00 p.m. Friday evening. Labor leader, lobbyist and once candidate John Radcliffe was agog and uttered to me, “There has never been anything like this here, not ever.” In terms of pure volume of people, John is, to use a political science term, correctomundo.

The biggest race is Annelle Amaral vs Brian Schatz for Party Chair. With Brian Schatz having the Obama winds in his sails, the buzz is that he will win that race and that Annelle will then run for vice chair, which places her in contention with Kari Luna, an educator from Maui. But almost every race, and there are lots of them, has a crowded field and is being contested like the earth will change as a result of vox populi. So there is lots of campaigning at the convention, which has already been prefaced by a heap of snail mail and email by people who want to be on the central committee or be delegates to the national democratic convention. (Some of us would just like to change the name of the “central committee” which sounds a tad Maoist, but not this year!)

Finally last night there were many committee meetings for reports, platform and resolutions that will be brought to the floor today. I have been going to these things since 1980 and am still in awe of how Democrats like to argue, be it for principle or re-splitting a hair. At my Rules Committee meeting there was long and heated debate over whether or not to begin charging party members $10 a year. Even with a very clear out-clause for those who could not pay, there was passion by the gallon from all sides. There was fervor and basic economics from those who have tried to raise money for the party, which has been running on broke for a long time. And there was emotional resistance from those who claimed that charging everyone is not “who Democrats are” and that there has to be a better way. As if scripted, the vote was 26-26, meaning the measure failed.

More coming today. You betcha.