Nothing has been communicated to individual delegates, but there was speculation in the media tonight that Hurricane Gustav could “delay” the RNC, whatever that means. Perhaps organizers would compact events into two or three days rather than four. Who knows. But there is certainly potential for upheaval in the lives of delegates, though nothing like that facing those residing on the Gulf coast tonight.
August 2008
Monthly Archive
The Xcel Energy Center (yes, that’s how they spell it) will be the host of the 2008 RNC. Here’s a link to the official site. The arena seats 18,064, was built in 2000 for $130 million, and is the home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and the NLL’s Minnesota Swarm. It hosted the NHL All Star Game in 2004.
People tend to think Oklahoma doesn’t get much Presidential campaign attention because we aren’t big enough. That’s not nearly as important as you might believe. Oklahoma has seven electoral votes. Minnesota only has 10. But Minnesota is a swing state, meaning it could go either way in November. Oklahoma, on the other hand, hasn’t voted Democratic since 1964 in a Presidential election, so one party takes us for granted, and one party gave up on us long ago.
So the Twin Cities are hosting for two reasons – they’re a swing state, and they asked for it. Will Oklahoma City ever host an RNC? Well, not unless we swing to the Left a little, or we elect a President from Oklahoma who decides to do us a favor.
Several of Oklahoma’s delegates have already arrived in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Some of them are involved in committee work.
Some of the delegates are making a vacation of it, and are driving up. Most, especially those flying (including this author), will arrive Sunday.
The convention festivities kick off with a party for all delegates and alternates Sunday night. The first session at the Xcel Center in St. Paul is Monday afternoon.
Here is a list of the 79 folks representing the 810,675 Oklahoma Republicans in St. Paul. If this doesn’t make sense, see the last post. I’ll try to introduce you to as many of these people next week as I can. Each of them has a story to tell. Gary Jones, state chairman of the GOP, is also serving as delegation chairman.
Oklahoma’s delegation is made up of 79 Oklahoma Republicans, including 41 delegates and 38 alternates. The 41 delegates include three automatic delegates who do not have alternates: the State Chairman (Gary Jones), the National Committeeman (Lynn Windel) and the National Committeewoman (Bunny Chambers). All three of those officers are elected at the state convention and may vote for whom they please at the RNC. And why 41 for Oklahoma? Too complicated to go into here, but if you really want to know, here you are.
The other delegates and alternates came to the convention in one of two ways. Each congressional district elected three delegates and three alternates, and those delegates pledged to vote at the RNC for the candidate who got the most votes in their congressional district on Feb. 5, 2008. Failure to vote that way is a misdemeanor in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, John McCain won the 3rd, 4th and 5th districts, and Mike Huckabee won the 1st and 2nd districts. Huckabee’s delegates are now free to vote for their personal preference, because he has released them to do so.
To win their slots, those district delegates and alternates gave speeches at their district conventions this past spring, which followed precinct and county meetings, and preceded the state convention. The voters who selected them were Republicans who attended their precinct, county and district meetings. The Fifth District, for instance, had a couple hundred voters present and about 20 candidates for delegate.
The other 23 delegates and 23 alternates were selected by a group of activists that come together from all over the state and consider applicants for those at-large slots. The slate they select is then ratified at the state convention. The at-large delegates must cast their votes by Oklahoma law for the candidate who won the state on Feb. 5, 2008. That was, of course, John McCain.
It is never a given that a person elected as a delegate is necessarily a supporter of the person they are supposed to vote for at the RNC. That was never more true than in 2008, when supporters of Ron Paul made a run at trying to control the delegation. They mounted efforts at the district conventions that were successful in some cases, and an effort at the state convention that was not.
Delegates and alternates pay their own way to the RNC.
The Republican National Convention arrives every presidential year, and primarily serves the purpose of nominating the Republican Party’s candidates for President and Vice President of the United States.
It also, however, serves as a forum for adoption of the party’s platform and rules to govern party functions, like the next presidential primary. Conventions are also one of the few times that the entire Republican Party – elected officials, activists, lobbyists, and pundits – come together in one place (the only other occasion would probably be presidential inaugurals). This then becomes an occasion to party – 1,000 times over. Conventions in the modern era have largely become a series of parties, interrupted by speeches.
That section in between the parties used to be a lot more dramatic. Both political party conventions have slowly evolved into elaborate Broadway shows for Political Science majors, but not so long ago, before voters got more of a say in the matter, conventions were drama-filled meetings that lacked the pre-ordained conclusions we expect today. 1976 was the last convention where the nomination was still in doubt.
The first RNC (not to be confused with the Republican National Committee) was held in 1856.
The RNC has four major committees - Permanent Organization, Credentials, Rules and Platform.
U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner is the permanent chair of the 2008 RNC (sort of an honorary role), and Maria Cino has served as the President and CEO of the Committee on Organization. In modern times, once a candidate secures the nomination, it becomes his show, and that’s been the case here. Everything is geared towards John McCain.
The Convention starts Monday (Labor Day), with a long session starting in the afternoon, followed by three nights of sessions culminating with the acceptance speech of the nominee, John McCain, Thursday night. Networks like C-SPAN will show gavel-to-gavel coverage, while networks like MSNBC will cover a few minutes here and there when they’re not showing replays of Keith Olbermann sobbing at Mile High Stadium.
The Republican Party started in the 1850s, first meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin. In 1856, the Republicans emerged as a third national party, and elected its first President, Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. The Party has remained a force in American politics ever since, and has won 9 of the last 14 Presidential elections.
Though whenever a party holds the White House, their President is their de facto leader, Mike Duncan, a longtime Republican activist, serves as the official Chairman of the Republican National Committee (usually called the RNC, not to be confused with the Republican National Convention).
In Oklahoma, there are 810,675 registered Republicans, compared to 1,029,334 Democrats and 225,602 independents. In Oklahoma’s two largest counties, Oklahoma and Tulsa, Republicans hold a plurality.
Oklahoma’s Republican Party has been in the minority on the state level for most of the 101 years since statehood, taking control of the State House for only the second time in 2004, and still looking for its first majority in the State Senate (likely to occur this year). Three Republicans have served as Governor – Henry Bellmon, Dewey Bartlett and Frank Keating. Currently, on the state level, Republicans control only two Corporation Commission seats.
On the federal level, however, it’s been the exact opposite, with no Democrat winning Oklahoma’s seven Presidential electoral votes (one for each congressional district and one for each senator) since 1964. In 2004, George W. Bush won all 77 counties in Oklahoma. Republicans have controlled the Congressional delegation for many years now, and at one point in the 1990s, held every single House and Senate seat.
Gary Jones, a CPA, is the Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party.