Hey, folks!
I'm exhausted, so this will be heavy on the photos and light on the context. I spent a lot of the day running around with a clipboard so I missed a bunch of stuff, but I will do my best to recollect. Other folks from Travis Co., feel free to chime in. Also, add your photos!
Unfortunately, the lighting in my pictures is not so great, because my camera lacks a setting for "crappy flourescent lighting in a rodeo arena." Oh well.
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Sign ins, after it had calmed down. | People inside the Expo Center, upper decks. | A delegate from the BEST precinct in Austin, TX, Pct 136!! |
The reports are true: there were insane lines to sign in. Here is the sign-in for half of SD-14, the line still long well after 10:00. They had to extend time for sign-ins because the traffic was so bad. That was cool. That they extended it--that was cool. The traffic? Not so much.
This is the line for Alternates to sign in, for just one half of the precincts, around 10:30 a.m. Sign-ins for Alternates took forever because there were so many alternates and so few windows.
This next section is entitled, "kath25 with other DailyKos members!"
And other people who are not DailyKos members, or pictures without me in them at all. I like how my gigantic cup of coffee is in some of these. One of our delegates brought me coffee. He happens to be my close friend and I roped him into this against his will. But still, he brought coffee! That's a great delegate, folks! (He also took a lot of these pictures. Thank you!)
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Shareholder, kath25, krikkit4 | kath25, lirtydies, and our mutual friend Tina |
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kath25 and sccs. sccs is running for office here in Texas soon, and I plan to vote for her. Well, after I find out what office it is, and when the election is, and that she's the most qualified. | Here's our Obama campaign staffer Juan, who helped educate all of these Delegates. Thanks, Juan, for all of your hard work! Good luck in your next state, and enjoy your t-shirt! |
This next section is called "Meet the Delegates!"
The absolute best part of all of this was getting to know so many wonderful, active Democrats in my neighborhood. Precinct 136 has 80% voter turnout, on average, and we're pretty hard-core Democratic voters, to the tune of 95%! These folks are just fantastic, not in the least because they returned all of my emails and phone calls, and showed up at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday to support Barack Obama!!
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Here's Elizabeth and Howie. They've been active since the beginning of the campaign. Both were precinct delegates, and Howie got voted to the State Convention, June 6-7 in Austin. Here they are fueling up for a long day of waiting. Mmm, concessions! | Hey look, it's Alex Ferraro, an officer with the UT Dems and the State-Wide Texas College Democrats. He's another state delegate, seen here performing outreach on a young co-ed. |
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One of my delegates and I. This woman is a former Republican who finally "saw the light," as she puts it, and is now a hard-core Democrat. She was so happy to be there. She spent a lot of the day calling and texting her friends to brag about being a Delegate for Barack Obama! |
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Here are some of the 68 Delegates and Alternates from my Precinct. Though we sat around until 3:00 p.m. or so, they stayed in great spirits. | Three members of this family served as delegates together! They also rented the bullhorn, which was key to our success on March 4th and today. It was also great to see families of all sorts bonding over Barack Obama. |
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kath25 gettin' it done in the one-three-six. | Look at these happy Delegates proudly display their yellow Delegate badges! Thanks for all of your enthusiasm, folks, and for not wandering off too far! |
| Here's Marti Bier, another great Delegate from Precinct 136. She's managing Randi Shade's campaign for City Council Place 3. She's convinced me to vote for Randi. Find out more about Randi Shade at her website. |
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This was the view from our seats on the floor, right in front of the podium. There were a LOT of speakers. Really, a lot. There are a lot of Democratic officials in this state. They like to give speeches. Some are even good! | This is the view from the floor of the upper levels of the rodeo arena. |
More Great Texas Democrats:
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Lots of Texas Democrats in one big room. | Slightly blurry photo of Lloyd Doggett giving a speech, taken with lots of zoom. Yaay Lloyd!! |
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Ian Davis, head of Texans for Obama and Val Benavidez of the Texas Freedom Network flank another young progressive. Do you know about the Texas Freedom Network? They're a mainstream voice to counter the Religious Right, working to remind us all that progressive values are Texan values. Check them out! | This group managed the biggest Obama precinct delegations from here in Travis County. (Mine was second. Meh.) Here they are crafting strategery. |
| This one just about says it all. |
This next section is entitled, "Great Shirts!"
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Texas Environmental Democrats. The shirt ink is green, though you can't see it. | Precinct 135, which for some reason thinks it is better than Precinct 136 (feh!) also had great shirts. |
And at the end of the day, what are we left with? Sore feet, new friends and neighbors, a yellow piece of paper with our names on it, and the sense that we've participated in a remarkable (if, um, time intensive) Democratic process... Hmm. Anything else?
One More Thing! While I have your attention... We're totally having a meet-up for State Delegates and Austin DailyKos readers and lurkers alike around the time of the State Convention this June. Don't forget!