And The Winners Are …
Oklahoma delegates to the Democratic National Convention held their first caucus/breakfast this morning here in Denver, at 7:30 and no one looked like they had been partying too much … yet.
The first breakfast meant the first drawing for guest seats at the Pepsi Center tonight. Though all of the delegates and alternates have reserved seats every night, the guests don’t. Oklahoma was supposed to get five passes, but Monday morning, the delegation only had four for the convention center itself. There were also some for a watch party nearby.
A lot of the delegates brought spouses, and they’re among those who will be trying to get into the convention every night _ particularly Thursday night when Sen. Barack Obama accepts the nomination.
Among the winners of coveted passes tonight was Pete Regan, a former aide to Rep. Dan Boren who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2006.
Jay Parmley, who was chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party during the 2004 convention in Boston, and is now a superdelegate for Oklahoma, got the unenviable task of drawing the names for the guest passes.
“So he lets me do the bad part,” Parmley said of current state party chairman Ivan Holmes.
The breakfast this morning was sponsored by Conoco-Phillips, which in Washington parlance is Big Oil. Company executives attended the breakfast and handed out backpacks with the company logo. There wasn’t a lot of talk about alternative energy this morning or about repealing tax breaks for Big Oil.
In fact, the company got a warm welcome, and Holmes noted, twice, that there will be a big Conoco-Phillips sign behind the delegation in the Pepsi Center. The Williams Companies is sponsoring a lunch for the delegation downtown today so _ hey _ it’s energy company day.
Kalyn Free, a superdelegate and Native American activist who ran unsuccessfully against Boren in 2004, read a long poem she had written about the state party and its long-time leaders.
And delegates Tim Mauldin and Joe Carter discussed the Will Rogers platform they are promoting at the convention to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Okahoma humorist’s quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Carter donated books, written by his father, Joseph H. Carter, about Rogers _ “Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like.”
The convention kicks off early today with reports from the various committees. Former Oklahoma Gov. David Walters will be presenting the report of the Rules Committee, which is going to recommend that a special commission decide what changes, if any, need to be made to the party’s primary system.
Democratic Convention Notes
Photo by Chris Casteel
With relatively few delegates, and a not-so-good track record of voting for Democrats for president, Oklahoma Democrats usually get put in the upper reaches of the arenas that host the national conventions every four years. This year will be no exception.
The Oklahoma delegation will be seated well off the floor and up in the bowl of the Pepsi Center in Denver, where the Democratic National Convention begins on Monday. Not a bad view, even though it’s not close to the “action.”
The bigger problem on Sunday was that the section was 10 seats short of the 48 needed for the Oklahoma delegates. During a practice run on Sunday for the traditional roll call of the states _ which will occur on Wednesday when Sen. Barack Obama is formally nominated as the party’s presidential candidate _ Holmes made note of the seat shortage when Oklahoma was called on for a microphone check.
A convention organizer for the party went up to the section and assured Holmes that room will be made for the entire delegation.
Holmes and others had a long and unexpected wait to get into the Pepsi Center on Sunday because of a protest march that snaked through downtown Denver to the center.
Photo by Associated Press
The protesters had a lot on their minds and signs including the war in Iraq (against) and world trade (also against) and corporate media (again, against).
A huge line of delegates and media representatives (including this blog’s author) were forced to wait until the procession passed before the police _ and there’s a small army of them around the center _ were allowed through security and into the center.
Holmes said Sunday that he has been given only 35 extra tickets for Obama’s speech on Thursday at the football stadium. And this for a place that holds more than 75,000. He had requested 200 since a lot of Oklahomans who aren’t delegates want to attend the speech.
A lot of people are going to be very disappointed, he understated.
Many of the Oklahoma delegated used Sunday to shop or go sightseeing around Denver or attend activities related to the convention, including an Interfaith gathering. Sunday night, some of the delegates went to an event honoring New Orleans hosted by Democratic Party chief Howard Dean.
Oklahoma Delegates Feted at Historic Steakhouse
Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren, an avid sportsman who sits on the board of the National Rifle Association and is co-owner of a hunting ranch in Texas, found the perfect place in Denver to host a party for the state’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
The Buckhorn Exchange, which opened in 1893 and is both a restaurant and taxidermy museum, has rooms full of mounted heads of buffalo, deer, antelope and moose _ and a lot of that is on the menu as well. The Oklahoma guests had their choice of entrees among buffalo, steak and elk.
Boren rented out the entire restaurant for the party, and he and his wife Andrea greeted delegates and guests near the upstairs bar, where the state of Colorado’s first liquor license is displayed (along with aforementioned animal heads).
Among the guests: Gov. Brad Henry; former Oklahoma Gov. David Walters and his wife, Rhonda; former Oklahoma Congressman Brad Carson (who is a delegate) and his wife, Julie; state Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland; Oklahoma City attorney and Democratic Party fundraiser Mike Turpen; Chesapeake Energy executive Tom Price; and Boren’s sister, Carrie, who is the missioner for evangelism at the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.
I wrote a story a few weeks ago about how much money Boren’s congressional campaign has been raising, even though he doesn’t really a face an election challenge this year. A good chunk will probably have to go to pay for the lively party that kicked off the convention festivities for the Oklahomans.
Heading to Denver
Still waiting for my text message from the Obama camp as I prepare to leave for Denver and the Democratic National Convention, which officially begins Monday.
Will be staying with the Oklahoma delegation and plan to be blogging regularly.
The delegation is a mix of political pros and novices fired up for the historic nomination of Obama.
But a couple of the delegates are also honoring Oklahoma history, recognizing the presidential run of native son Will Rogers in 1928.
Delegates Joe Carter and Tim Mauldin will be presenting the Will Rogers Platform for America at the convention to honor the man who once said he didn’t belong to an organized party since he was a Democrat.
Gov. Brad Henry, who is also attending the convention, issued a proclamation designating this Monday as Will Rogers for President Day.
AWOL Federal Workers
Sen. Tom Coburn released a report today that there has been a rapid escalation of AWOL federal employees during the Bush administration.
In fact, nearly 20 million hours have been lost at 18 federal agencies and departments since 2001, according to the report.
Last year alone, employees were absent without leave for 3.5 million hours at the departments and agencies that responded to a request for information from Coburn’s staff.
“Everyone knows that rule number one for any job is showing up,” Coburn said.
“No private company would put up with its employees refusing to show up for work, let alone watch the problem grow year after year. These findings are an insult to the American taxpayer and should be of great concern to the agencies included and members of Congress.”
The report says that federal departments don’t have a standard definition for AWOL so it’s not known whether an employee is considered absent without an excuse if she or shows up 15 minutes late or just what the threshold is.
Coburn Speaking at GOP Convention
Sen. Tom Coburn will be speaking at the Republican National Convention, which begins Sept. 1 in Minneapolis, according to a Coburn aide.
Coburn had not been planning on going to the convention because one of his daughters is getting married the following weekend in New York.
But the Muskogee Republican, whose support for Sen. John McCain gave the Arizona presidential candidate credibility among conservatives, rearranged his schedule. He will be speaking on the second night of the convention, Sept. 2.
Coburn’s communications director, John Hart, said Coburn will likely be speaking about wasteful spending and earmarks, the Oklahoman’s signature issue and one on which he and McCain are in total agreement.
Note: The picture shows Coburn with the winter beard he was sporting when he endorsed McCain earlier this year. He’ll be clean-shaven at the convention.
Rice Camp Says Race Narrowing
State Sen. Andrew Rice, an Oklahoma City Democrat who is challenging Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, for his U.S. Senate seat, is nine points down in a new poll released by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
According to the poll, Inhofe leads Rice in Oklahoma by a margin of 50 percent to 41 percent, with 9 percent undecided. The poll was taken from Aug. 12 to Aug. 14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent; 600 likely voters made up the sample.
Rice’s campaign said the poll shows the race is narrowing.
“Jim Inhofe has been in Washington a long time,” said Rice’s campaign manager, Geri Prado.
“Having received more than $1 million in contributions from big oil, he has lost his way from when Oklahomans first elected him. It’s time for a U.S. Senator who represents his constituents, not his contributors.”
According to the poll, 62 percent of the respondents think the country is on the wrong track, compared to 23 percent that believe it’s moving in the right direction.
And 46 percent believe Inhofe, who has been in the U.S. Senate since 1994, is doing an excellent or good job, while 47 percent believe he’s doing a fair or poor job.
Inhofe’s campaign manager Josh Kivett wasn’t impressed with the results of the poll, saying Rice “remains uncompetitive despite spending nearly $500,000 on a statewide TV and radio blitz, coordinating a misleading media campaign against Senator Inhofe with a California-based political attack committee and having almost a full year of campaigning under his belt.”
Kivett made note of the fact that Rice’s opponent in the Democratic primary last month got 40 percent of the vote, despite not running a campaign. And he said that showing by Rice proves “that Democratic voters have not unified behind his message or his candidacy.”
Abba, Yes; Jackson Browne, No
Given that Jackson Browne is probably one of the most politically active members of the rock star set (and not for GOP causes), one might have thought that Republicans would have hesitated to use one of his songs in a television ad.
But one would be wrong.
Nothing in the southern California troubadour’s catalog even made the list of Sen. John McCain’s favorite songs, according to the September issue of Blender magazine. But two Abba songs did, and those 30-year-old chestnuts appear to be the most recent songs on his top ten:
1. Dancing Queen – ABBA
2. Blue Bayou – Roy Orbison
3. Take a Chance On Me – ABBA
4. If We Make It Through December – Merle Haggard
5. As Time Goes By – Dooley Wilson
6. Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys
7. What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
8. I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes – The Platters
Hard to argue with some of those songs, even if they’re not on your iPod running songlist.
According to the Blender story, Sen. Barack Obama’s list has a few more recent songs on it (you can be the judge if they’re hip or not and how man voting blocs he’s trying to appeal to), though his list also has some classic rock and Frank Sinatra:
1. Ready or Not – Fugees
2. What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye
3. I’m On Fire – Bruce Springsteen
4. Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman – Nina Simone
6. Touch the Sky – Kanye West
7. You’d Be So Easy to Love – Frank Sinatra
8. Think – Aretha Franklin
9. City of Blinding Lights – U2
10. Yes We Can – will.i.am
The U2 pick is kind of puzzling — is that his favorite U2 song of all time, or just the week he was asked by Blender for a list?
Not saying he should pick Pride in the Name of Love, since that would be kind of obvious (and on a sidenote: that’s one of my favorite U2 songs and I now have an unfortunate association with the song and Sen. Joseph Lieberman because they were playing it — full blast, and it sounded great — when he came onstage at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles in 2000 to give his speech as the vice presidential nominee. Not trying to dis Lieberman here; just don’t want to think about him when I hear a great song that has absolutely nothing to do with him).
So I’m assuming that when McCain comes out to give his speech at the GOP convention, we’re going to get Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” as background music. And when Obama takes the stage in Denver next week, it’s “Yes We Can.”
New Ad Targets Fallin
The liberal advocacy group moveon.org is running radio ads against some House Republicans, including Republican Rep. Mary Fallin, of Oklahoma City, who staged a “revolt” on the House floor over energy legislation.
The ad accuses Fallin and the others of being tools for “Big Oil” and says she has taken $250,000 in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies.
The ad says drilling offshore _ as Republicans are calling for _ is a “gimmick” that wouldn’t add oil to the supply for ten years.
“But Mary Fallin is more interested in political stunts than honest solutions to rising gas prices,” the ad says.
Fallin responded to the ad today, saying it shows that “leftwing radicals” are driving the decision by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to block votes on expanded energy production in the United States.
Fallin said she does support more drilling off the coasts of the United States but that the ad fails to mention she also backs legislation encouraging conservation and the use of alternative energy sources.
“I support this comprehensive approach to energy; MoveOn.org and Speaker Nancy Pelosi do not,” Fallin said. “I support policies that would fight rising gas prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil; they do not. Polls show a majority of Americans support deep sea drilling, but Nancy Pelosi continues to block a vote on any legislation that would make this drilling possible.”
According to moveon.org, the ad running is running in Fallin’s district and the districts of five other House Republicans, including two in Texas.
Coburn in Bethany on Aug. 5
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, is holding a town hall meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Bethany City Hall, 6700 NW 36th Street.
Coburn has had a busy few weeks _ he even had a bill named after him! _ so he’ll have a lot to talk about. And, though he recently had to have a procedure for an irregular heartbeat, he’ll probably be no less animated than usual.
Other members of the Oklahoma congressional, including Reps. Dan Boren and Frank Lucas, are holding town hall meetings while Congress is on summer sabbatical. Look for details in wimgo.com.
