Mixing personal and political

This column originally appeared in the Williston Observer on June 5, 2008.

Mixing personal and political

It isn't often that the ordinary citizen gets to represent his or her town, but a couple of weekends ago, that's just what I, and other fellow Willistonians, did.

The Democratic primary held on Town Meeting Day was not the end of the delegate selection process. Several weeks after the election, in towns throughout Vermont, Democrats met to select delegates for the state convention. In Williston, less than two dozen people congregated in the library's Community Room. We mingled and sipped coffee until it was time to tend to business.

That business was the selection of some of us to go to Barre in May, to be town delegates at the state convention. Turns out, Williston was allocated more delegates than there were people at the meeting, meaning that if we wanted to go, we could all go.

We separated into two camps, one for Obama and one for Clinton, signed our names to a sheet of paper, and left to go finish whatever weekend chores we had to do.

When I got home, I announced that I was an official Obama delegate from the town of Williston. My family's reaction was underwhelming, but I was excited. I had gone to the meeting to see what it was all about, and walked out a delegate. For a political junkie like myself, this was heady stuff.

I went to mark the date on the calendar and I quickly spotted a nexus between the political and the personal -- that weekend was when my sister was getting married, and family from all over the country would be descending on Vermont for the event. Since I was not in the wedding party, however, I figured the timing would work out.

As the time for the convention grew near, I started getting a new kind of email in my in-box. Other delegates to the state convention were vying for one of ten positions in Vermont's delegation to the national convention in Denver. The trickle of emails soon turned into a flood as delegates from around the state tried to get their name out there.

I'd already met one of these candidates in the library back in March -- Taylor Bates had been festooned in Obama regalia and made it a point to meet and greet each person who came into the room. He was already campaigning to be a delegate at the national convention. Though just barely old enough to vote and not even yet out of high school, he has been active in Democratic politics since he was 14.

The way the statewide voting went, Vermont was to send six Obama-pledged delegates and four Clinton-pledged delegates. Half of the delegation would be male, the other female. Bates, then, would be competing for one of three seats, against over 60 other men. There were so many candidates at the Obama sub-convention that candidate speeches were limited to 30 seconds each.

Based on the emails I'd already received and read, I'd made up my mind on the three men and three women I'd be voting for. When the results were read, three of my six choices had been elected. One of them was Taylor Bates. In fact, Bates was the second highest vote-getter, so he had more than just the Williston delegation pulling for him.

We heard speeches that day from former governor Madeleine Kunin, Senator Patrick Leahy, Representative Peter Welch, and Speaker of the House, and gubernatorial candidate, Gaye Symington. From my seat in the tenth row, it was inspiring to hear them speak, to call for action in the party, and to rally the troops to fight for Democratic candidates in the fall.

After a long day in Barre, I headed home, happy that I'd been able to do more for the Democratic Party than I ever had in any other election cycle. I enjoyed the quiet of my car trip back to Williston, knowing that when I arrived home, I'd be swept up in the excitement of seeing cousins, aunts, and uncles, and in the happiness of a nuptial weekend.

Though I was very proud of my town that weekend, and of Taylor Bates in particular, it all shadowed in comparison to the pride I felt for my family that next day. I got to escort my mother down the aisle. My brother officiated the ceremony wonderfully. And my only sister married a wonderful man. Congratulations, Kristin and Nick.