Mock Convention 2008

I am currently watching the final session of Washington and Lee's 2008 Mock Convention on Channel 18 (Lexington's public access channel), and taking notes on what the speakers are saying to write up a full report later.  Va. Sen. Jim Webb is speaking right now and he'll be followed by Harold Ford, Jr., chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and West Va. Gov. Joe Manchin III.  Speakers yesterday included Va. Gov. Tim Kaine, Charles Wilson, Jesse Jackson, and others.  I only heard Tim Kaine.

W&L hosts a mock presidential convention every four years, in accordance with the democratic primaries.  Since 1948, the only nomination we've predicted incorrectly was in 1972.  We chose Ted Kennedy for the Democratic nomination.  Our picks don't always get elected, but they usually get nominated at least.  ;)  And it's understandable, since we're always picking a non-incumbent nominee.  It's a generally-known fact that incumbents tend to win over nominees that are new to the position.

To cut to the chase (I'm writing this background after the close of ceremonies), W&L chose Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination and Harold Ford for the vice presidential nomination.  A lot of people don't think that we'll get it right this year because the race is so close, but we'll see.  There's still some time before the official conventions in August.

The convention is held over a period of two days.  Happily, our classes on Friday were cancelled for the festivities.  ;)  Over 90% of the school participates in some fashion, usually by joining a state delegation.  I was a member of the Virginia delegation...state pride, ya know?  Each delegation does research to figure out how their real delegates are likely to vote in August, raises funds to support the convention, tries to find good speakers, and designs a state float to be trailed in the parade on Friday morning of the convention.  I'm sure they do more work than that also, but those seemed to be the most important responsibilities to me.

As for the convention schedule, there's the parade Friday morning.  The floats were pretty good -- I watched from the warmth of my office.  The convention officially convenes at 1 pm on Friday for a series of speakers.  I went to the first hour and a half or so of this, and saw Tim Kaine.  That was really cool.  He's a very dynamic and engaging speaker.  He spoke about voter participation and his support for Barack Obama...his speech compelled me to call up the Virginia voter registration office and order my absentee ballot and nearly compelled me to vote for Obama.  Nearly.  I didn't attend any of the other Friday speeches because I had things to do, and I wanted to call my Mom.  :)

This morning I would have attended, but it was cold, and I didn't want to get all dressed up, so I have been watching the proceedings on TV, while sitting on the couch in my pajamas.  It would have been cool to have actually been there, but...I'm still happy with my decision.

My impressions on this morning's speakers:

• Jim Webb: not as engaging as I had hoped, however he had some interesting points; tendency to ramble and to jump from topic to topic; was surprised by his statistic that the Republican party filibustered 62 times last year; agreed that the current administration doesn't have an exit strategy for Iraq and that's really not acceptable; some quotes: "You don't take out a hornet's nest by sitting on it, it's time to do something else;" "This issue is not going to turn around until we have new leaders...we have these leaders, we will work toward solutions;"
• Harold Ford: very dynamic and engaging, a lot of people I have talked to liked him; I felt that he mostly talked about things I already knew, so I actually didn't pay very much attention to most of his speech; did like his point that we're the only generation that has ever financed two sides of a war (we support our "enemy" with our dependence on oil); memorable quotes: "We have asked our military men and women...to go fight while at the same time you and I subsidize those who seek to kill them day in and day out." "Pick a Democrat who the nation will wrap their arms around, pray for, and believe in...a tall one for the world."
• Joe Manchin: talked a lot about blessings and being thankful for what we have, and giving back; really emphasized his West Virginia roots; pointed out that a good leader has to look past party lines and unite groups of people; we have to be careful to preserve the nation for future generations; every child should have a safe place and a healthy start; on 9/11, did it matter what was in your bank account?  did your house or car matter  did your race matter?  or were you more concerned about your family, friends, and fellow Americans?  that's what you need to think about today; memorable quotes: "If you think you can come from right or left and govern, you're wrong." "We as a nation came together as a country for this one day like never before, as Americans." "We need a change from the top to the bottom, and the change starts here...the greatest generation sitting before me now has the power to do that...not only for this nation, but for the world."

I feel extremely empowered.  This was an interesting and fun experiment, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this all pans out over the next year.