Our Very Own Delegate Correspondent
Sharon Swan Tiezsen, Kerry delegate from North Dakota, has been kind enough to let me interview her and check in with her periodically for the delegate's perspective.
She gave me some insight into the North Dakota delegate selection process. In North Dakota, if you get over 15% of the vote, you take delegates to the convention. There are 22 total delegates, 14 of whom are elected, 8 of whom are super delegates (party people). Most of the delegates are Kerry delegates but since Clark got 18% of the vote there, he has some delegates as well. He did quite well in North Dakota due to the fact that North Dakota has the highest per capita of National Guard volunteers in the country.
Here's a bit of the interview:
SHARON: I told my kids I feel like a rock star groupie at a festival.
TODD: Except you're actually arguably the stars, you're the ones doing the voting.
SHARON: I think the real stars are the people who put in all the time before this on the platform committee. I've read most of the platform at this point. It's beautifully written, well-constructed, easy to read.
TODD: Do you think it's too moderate? Does it compromise too much?
SHARON: You need to make a platform to reflect everybody's values. We're such a wide variety, I think they did a nice job of being inclusive without being too divisive. I would have liked to see more on the environment but I think by and large it's really well representative of the people I've talked to this week.
TODD: So on Thursday you'll cast your vote for John Kerry. Will the entire North Dakota delegation vote for Kerry?
SHARON: You know we haven't actually discussed it as a group, so I don't know. And I don't know if Clark has asked his delegates to cast for Kerry. I believe I heard rumors that there's a movement from the candidates to try to get this to be unanimous. I read this morning that Kucinich released his delegates [to vote for Kerry] but a lot of them still want to vote for him, so it should be interesting.
Look for more from Sharon over the next two days.
She gave me some insight into the North Dakota delegate selection process. In North Dakota, if you get over 15% of the vote, you take delegates to the convention. There are 22 total delegates, 14 of whom are elected, 8 of whom are super delegates (party people). Most of the delegates are Kerry delegates but since Clark got 18% of the vote there, he has some delegates as well. He did quite well in North Dakota due to the fact that North Dakota has the highest per capita of National Guard volunteers in the country.
Here's a bit of the interview:
SHARON: I told my kids I feel like a rock star groupie at a festival.
TODD: Except you're actually arguably the stars, you're the ones doing the voting.
SHARON: I think the real stars are the people who put in all the time before this on the platform committee. I've read most of the platform at this point. It's beautifully written, well-constructed, easy to read.
TODD: Do you think it's too moderate? Does it compromise too much?
SHARON: You need to make a platform to reflect everybody's values. We're such a wide variety, I think they did a nice job of being inclusive without being too divisive. I would have liked to see more on the environment but I think by and large it's really well representative of the people I've talked to this week.
TODD: So on Thursday you'll cast your vote for John Kerry. Will the entire North Dakota delegation vote for Kerry?
SHARON: You know we haven't actually discussed it as a group, so I don't know. And I don't know if Clark has asked his delegates to cast for Kerry. I believe I heard rumors that there's a movement from the candidates to try to get this to be unanimous. I read this morning that Kucinich released his delegates [to vote for Kerry] but a lot of them still want to vote for him, so it should be interesting.
Look for more from Sharon over the next two days.
posted by Todd at 4:57 PM
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