The grassroots petition that roared, from Will Bower
When the Clinton and Obama campaigns announced last week that Senator Clinton’s name would be placed into nomination, a group of Clinton delegates cheered for a moment and went right back to work. With Hillary Clinton’s
name “officially” on the ballot, the petition signatures were no longer
technically needed. But this group of determined individuals pressed
on.
“When
we started this effort, it was the ONLY way for us to be able to vote
in Denver to represent the people who elected us,” said a Clinton
delegate from Texas. “We’re proud of what we did. We’re going to see
it to the end. Just like our candidate – we don’t quit.”
According
to DNC rules, a floor nomination petition needs a minimum of 300
signatures from voting delegates to be submitted. In July, a small but
determined group of Clinton delegates and volunteers started reaching
out to fellow delegates in true grassroots fashion – one by one – to
collect the signatures. This proved to be slow going since Democratic Party officials would not provide contact lists for delegates. The 300 Delegate Petition group was born.
After
national and international mainstream media attention, petitions
started pouring in. When they received the requisite number of
petitions, they once again took a breather and went back to work. DNC
rules state that no more than 600 petitions can be submitted. They’re
working on it.
“We’ve
got well over 300 petitions now in hand,” explained Sue Castner, a
Clinton delegate from Portland, OR. “Since we never consulted with
Senator Clinton’s campaign, we don’t know if ‘the petition that
wouldn’t die’ had anything to do with the two joint campaign
announcements made last week. We will probably never know but it
certainly made us feel good.”
Signatories include a governor or two, county Democratic party chairs, members of the diplomatic corps, and even some brave Obama
delegates. The names of those who signed the petition will remain a
mystery unless Senator Clinton decides to file the petition, in which
case, their names will be a part of recorded history.
As
a meager reward for those delegates who saw the nomination process as a
path to party unity and signed this historic document, a numbered
commemorative pin will distinguish them from fellow delegates. Rest
assured, the green pin, featuring the number 300 with a pen, will be
THE most coveted pin in Denver.
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If the parties won't uphold democratic principles, who will?
If the voters don't hold the parties accountable, who will?
