CALLING ALL DEMOCRATS

Legislative District Caucus and County Convention
(42nd and Whatcom County 40th LD precincts)

April 5, 2008 • 9 am to 5:30 pm

Whatcom Community College, Bellingham
42nd LD — Pavillion
40th LD — Syre Auditorium


Printable Documents: Offical Call * Running for Delegate * What to Bring * Map * Candidate Promos * LD Agenda * Convention Agenda * Rules * Platform

Who may participate:

Didn't we already have the Precinct Caucuses? What's this about?

Order of the Day

8 - 9 am Delegates and Alternates sign in and "vote" for your candidate (just like the precinct caucus)
9 am Legislative District Caucus (40th & 42nd separately) begins with informal activities, while the Credentials Committee figures out who's there, which alternates need to be seated as delegates, tallies the vote, and calculates the delegate allocation.
Election of Delegates -- Obama and Clinton Sub-caucuses will convene separately, by LD. People running for delegate to the next level (see below), will give their very brief speech, and then everyone votes for delegates and alternates.
Noonish Box lunches will be distributed to those who have purchased them. Those not interested in purchasing lunch should plan to bring their own. There is no practical way to get a lunch elsewhere. [See Ordering Lunch, below]
After lunch Continue with election of delegates. Those sub-caucuses that finish earlier than 3 pm will have time to discuss Platform issues informally before the convening of the County Convention.
3:30 pm County Convention Convenes, in the Pavillion. Main agenda: adoption of County Platform
[ATTENTION ALTERNATES: the proposed Rules for the County Convention allow Alternates as well as Delegates to vote on the Platform]
5:30 pm Adjourn

Lunch Orders

We are providing a boxed lunch to anyone who wishes to purchase one. In order to have an accurate count of the number of lunches needed, please email us at volunteers @ whatcomdemocrats.com and indicate how many lunches you plan to purchase. WE NEED YOUR ORDER BY APRIL 1st! You can pay for lunches at the door in the morning, using cash or check, or in advance via Paypal, using a major credit card or your paypal account. The boxed lunch (vegetarian or turkey) includes sandwich or wrap, cookie, fruit, and drink, for $10.00.

Committment to Diversity

Equal number of men and women delegates will be selected. Other delegate goals to include:

  • African Americans
  • Hispanics
  • Native Americans
  • Asian/Pacific Americans
  • Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender
  • People with Disabilities
  • Youth (17-24)

What's Next — Running for delegate to the State Convention and Congressional District Caucus

The major task of the Legislative District Caucus is to elect delegates and alternates to the next level--Congressional District Caucus and State Convention. Delegates elected April 5th go to both of these events.

If you want to be a national delegate, and participate in the National Convention in Denver in August, you should plan to be at the Congressional District Caucus on May 17th (to be held somewhere between here and Everett, location TBA). The State Convention is June 14th in Spokane.

IF YOU WANT TO RUN – we recommend that you notify your local campaign coordinator (above) that you intend to run and prepare some written information about yourself and why you want to be a delegate.

The campaigns run the sub-caucuses where delegates are elected. We are encouraging them to gather and make available ahead of time information about individuals running for delegate. Their plans are not finalized yet, and they could probably use some help organizing advance publicity for the delegate elections.

Some of the sub-caucuses, particularly the Obama groups in both 40th and 42nd LD, are very large, and must elect a large number of delegates to the next level. The sub caucus may need to limit the amount of time you may have for a speech to promote your candidacy in order for the vote to proceed in a timely manner. Details in printable form

Election Year Dates — Washington State

February 9 – Precinct Caucuses
February 19 – WA Presidential Primary (a “straw poll” only)
April 5 – Whatcom County Convention & Legislative District Caucuses
(These dates are different in Whatcom County than are published by the WA State Democratic Party)
May 17 – Congressional District Caucuses
June 14 – WA State Democratic Convention, Spokane
August 19 – Primary Election
August 25-28 – Democratic National Convention, Denver, Colorado

Get Involved — Support Your Candidate

The Whatcom Democrats will provide Presidential Candidate campaigns with equal access to our resources to organize for the LD Caucus and Convention. So step up and get involved.

Sen. Hillary Clinton: Local Contact, Maggie Hanson, 733-2539, email: maggiemhanson -at- hotmail.com
Sen. Barak Obama: Local Contact, Stephanie Kountouros, 734-2686, email: whatcom4obama -at- gmail.com

Volunteers Needed

Please contact us at volunteers -at- whatcomdemocrats.com if you can help out on April 5th. Let us know when, for how long, and what type of work you can help with. Here's a list (times are approximate):

All day: Floor managers
7 am - 10: Set-up, parking attendants, information tables, sign-in, lunch sales
8 am - 11: Runners, Credential Committee helpers, tech support, Secretaries & Parliamentarians (all day)
11 am - 1 pm: Lunch helpers, more runners, tech support (all day)
1 - 5 pm: Runners, Ballot counters
2 - 5:30 pm: Platform support, runners, tech support, Secretary, Parliamentarian
5:30 - 6:30 pm: Clean-up

Obviously, if you are a delegate, you will want to focus on that role between 9 am and 5:30 pm, although some roles will keep you in the process, such as secretary, tech support. Alternates are encouraged to help during that period.