A brief note first about Tim Russert’s death. He was the king of the "gotcha" interview style, and a force of nature in american politics for the past two decades. His loss is a huge one for our national discourse.

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State Convention politics is almost entirely different than the local legislative district politcs. It could be a sign of the primary fight being over and our now having a nominee, but almost every discussion I have had today has been about local state politics and congressional races rather than the larger national race versus John Mccain.

But first off a nice shot this morning of downtown Spokane and the convention center:

It’s a beautiful location, that’s the shot out of my hotel room window at the Doubletree.

Today was mostly a series of meetings and networking events. Starting off in the morniing there were breakouts for the party platform, rules commitee, workshops on community organizing, etc. Lunch consisted of "get your own" or a luncheon to support Congressional candidate Darcy Burner before a slate of afternoon sessions.

I wandered around a bit after lunch to snap photos, here’s one I like that’s of all the booths for all the candidates for all the state party and office positions people are running for:

I only peripherally hit the morning sessions, but there was one session I couldnt, as they say, resist:

The workshop was run as an ad hoc discussion with David Goldstein of Horse’s Ass and John Wyble. As a workshop I think it left a bit to be desired, I would have preferred even a 5 slide deck for people to take away on how to create your own blog, either as a sub blog of the various places like DailyKos or the Obama site, or in more traditional places like WordPress, Blogspot, etc.

Still the talk was extremely entertaining. Unfortunately due to its loose structure (perhaps a reflection of the speaker’s opinions on blogging) more than half the content was answering questions from the audience that led to a lot of disjointed discussion. I think, again, they would have been a lot better off starting with an explanation of blogging and its reach and how to do it. One person’s question late in the presentation, "How do I access the blogosphere" (an obvious neophyte question) was responded to with the cryptic "Check out blogrolls!" Well, if it is obvious they don’t understand the concept of the fact the blogosphere is simply a collective term for blogs, it’s unlikely they will understand the term "Blogrolls".At another point David kind of railed overlong against the Seattle Times for an editorial they wrote on him. No doubt that David and John know their stuff about blogging in the new world, but not sure they were the right guys to help this crowd.

I specifically (during the opening when they asked the rather large crowd what they wanted to learn about) mentioned Twitter and microblogging opportunities to react quickly to events and got a murmer in the crowd of "What’s Twitter" and the moderator just moved on quickly.

All in all it was a good talk, but a missed opportunity. I think there is a real shot in Denver of running a "how to blog effectively" workshop that has a 101 section for newbies and a 201 section to incorporate new technologies and tools. I’ve already found out that there will be no Internet access on the convention floor in Denver, something easily remedied by the smart enterprising blogger with a wireless broadband card from a cellular carrier.

But I digress.

After the late afternoon sessions I didn’t want to let the beautiful day go by without a drive around the city. A drive that had no purpose, no mission, no direction, just a leisure tour of…oh who am I kidding.

Ever since the 2005 bankruptcy of Schlotzsky’s closed almost all the stores in Washington state whenever I am at a place that has one I make it a point to get a regular original with extra mustard and extra black olives. It was tasty enough to be classified as criminal.

Tomorrow is going to be a very long day as the entire day is dedicated to official convention business and the casting of our state level delegate votes for the national delegates to reflect. I will be very interested to see if Barack Obama gains any over-all votes now that Hillary is allowing her delegates (if they wish) to vote for him.

One thing I can say, in the (very few) open Hillary supporters I have come across, there has been no acrimony or incivility. All said they would support Obama. But you do get a sense that they aren’t completely happy about it.

Oh and we originally were supposed to have John Kerry deliver our keynote address. Unfortunately he must have realized where he was being sent because we got word today he had canceled. heh. Spokane isn’t bad people!

I assume due to the sheer number of people that want to be national delegates to the convention as a result of the fantastic inspiration of the Barack Obama campaign, our original three minute speech segments have been cut pretty significantly. Now I think we get a minute. In the past two weeks I have received roughly 10 emails and 5 or so direct mails by people running for national delegate. They are all insanely qualified and awesome.

So tonight I sat down and wrote this to the delegate list, since I probably won’t get three minutes to talk to them. The below incorporates parts of my original three minute speech that I have been slaving over the past week, as well as some touches that I felt were at least relevant to the point. Anyways here it is, enjoy if that’s your thing:

(Bcc’d the delegate list so it’s easier just to reply to me.)

“The world is changing so fast, and we’re all running to catch up.”

– Jurassic Park

Hello everyone, My name is Stephen Toulouse. Everyone calls me “Stepto” (pronounced Step-toe)

Wow, I have been just humbled to the core by the passion and the qualifications of the delegates I have been exposed to that want to be national delegates, both in email and direct mail. I think I would be proud to have any of them serve to represent our community and our neighbors for Barack Obama. So impressed and confident in fact, I was tempted to withdraw… I’ve decided to stay in to make some points I think are critical to this election that I will share with you.

I think this election has changed so many dynamics that the above quote from the film Jurassic Park has a lot of impact. From fundraising, to primary and caucus processes and mechanisms, to organizing, to involving those that have had so much of their apathy and cynicism darkly nurtured by a broken political process; we can see now that the world today is different if we chose to make it so. Barack Obama and his campaign have inspired Democrats across the country to create this new world, and this primary season has provided a stark contrast to those that came before it. We as Democrats can evolve and thrive in a world without the crass politics of division and opportunistic cold calculations of momentary whim, or become extinct. And I don’t think we can afford to allow a single Democrat to become extinct in this election. It is our moment, right now, to bring everyone together into a world we believe gives everyone an opportunity for support AND dissent.

I view the role of national delegate in this unique election as not just someone who pledges complete faith to the candidate they represent the votes of and the platform for their community, as I do.

Those things are what got us all to this point, I would hope we all share them equally.

No, the role of national delegate in this election is probably far broader and more unique than at any point in modern electoral history for our party.

The national delegate must work hard to bring along all Democrats into this new conversation that has been started, a conversation where our candidate believes almost more in us than we in the candidate. This isn’t just a point about Barack Obama and presidential politics! The national delegate must remember that the work doesn’t end with the casting of a vote in Denver, but to be the helpful and watchful steward of this new politics that embodies our core values for all candidates for all offices.

A politics boldly, and for once truly, unsullied by the lobbyists or the special interests. The national delegate must remember that above all else they have been entrusted with the idea that in this new dynamic, our communities inform the greater whole.

The inspiration of Barack Obama is not about the man who is running. It is not about our platform. It is not about our passion for making America the beacon of a better world. All these things have been within us all this time and in our candidates. That is not what is groundbreaking about this election cycle.

Instead this is about our moment, our opportunity. In this time, in this place, we have the rare chance to forge anew the inspiration of leadership that for so many Americans died with Kennedy in 1963. To revive the dream of a grander world for all humanity that for so many Americans died with Martin Luther King in 1968. To earn, by example, the brotherhood and confidence in America that flared like a nova world-wide on September 11, 2001 and withered a little more than a year later.

To grab hold again the spirit of community focus and self determination that was born in 1776.

This is our task, I believe. It is something that I have seen in individual parts in each email and letter I have read from my fellow delegates.

Again I am humbled by all of our passion. I wish all of us the best of luck, and I could not be more proud of my community, my friends, our party, or our country as I have been in the past few months.

A word about myself, quickly. I was formally the head of crisis response communications regarding computer security for Microsoft. Whenever there was a virus or hacker attack against Microsoft products I was the one who helped coordinate communications to our customers regarding what to do and how to protect yourself and your computer. I served in this role during some of the largest virus outbreaks in the past 10 years. I’m at home in the pages of USA Today or the New York Times or on broadcast through CNN or MSNBC or NPR. Currently, I am the Program Manager in charge of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live, working to help make our online gaming experiences safe and enjoyable for all. My wonderful wife Rochelle and I live in the farming community of Duvall with our two Golden Retrievers, Adia and Buddy.

Rather than bore you with an even more long winded email, I thought perhaps I would list the most relevant links I have posted about my support of Barack Obama in this primary season (these are also duplicated on the main Barack Obama web site):

My endorsement of Barack Obama, in which I confess my past political apathy as well as my stupidity in voting for George Bush in 2000 and why:

https://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=396

My caucus experiences:

https://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=397

https://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=423

Other posts about Obama:

https://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=398

https://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=401

https://www.stepto.com/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=408

I will be posting this to the Washington Obama delegates website as well as a flyer there later tonight.

Thank you for reading, and may our citizens protect the constitution of the United States of America. I wish you and yours peace and prosperity and look forward to our fellowship on the 17^th.

S.

[EDIT: MSNBC has a nice write up of the Washington State primary experience here.]

I’ve never caucused before, so I was looking forward to the experience. Caucusing in my little farming community of Duvall was done at the only elementary school in town.

Caucus process rules stated the caucusing (just keep saying it out loud over and over. Caucus. Caucus. Caucus.) began at 1:30. We were running a little late due to MASSIVE TURNOUT. The democratic caucus room was a small elementary school gym:

Then more people came, they suddenly had to scramble to bring in more tables, then more chairs.

More and more people started coming in, and it started to become SRO.

My rough count was well over several hundred people given the number of precincts and how many people were just in my precinct (which seemed small compared to the others). All this for a small farm town of a few thousand people.

Obama support was everywhere. People wearing buttons, and placards outside. There was not a single Hillary button to be seen, nor a poster.

We opened the caucus with the pledge of allegiance. It’s been a while since I spoke the words, and people were there, saying it loudly and saying it proudly. It felt good.

Immediately after it, people were chattering excitedly and shaking hands. Party business commenced for 15 minutes and then our Precinct officers obtained our caucus declaration sign-in sheets. I carefully printed out my information and signed for Obama and passed the sign-in sheet down. It all seemed so archaic doing everything with paper and pen and signatures but there was a camaraderie to it that made the process fun.

Our precinct was allocated four district delegates. On the first pass we were split 50% for Obama, 25% for Hillary, 25% undecided. Here’s where a caucus is far more fun than a primary. The Obama people had the numbers, so we were allowed to each speak with the undecideds first to sway their vote. Each one of us presented why we were for Obama. I went last and gave an abbreviated version of my blog entry from yesterday. Then the Clinton supporters got their turn.

In the end we won over the undecideds and my precinct voted to send three delegates for Obama and one delegate for Clinton to the district level. I was chosen as one of the delegates for Barack Obama. So on April 5th I will represent my area for Obama at the District level.

The whole process took about an hour and a half, and I met some great people who were super passionate about this election. The atmosphere was incredibly upbeat, and if my overhearing of the other table caucuses is any indication, I would estimate Obama won in a big way. Many people went to see him yesterday at his speech in Seattle, and those that went gave excited reviews of the speech to those that didn’t.

Yesterday I contributed to the Obama campaign, today I caucused for him and I will represent my area’s caucus vote for him at the district level. It’s hard to believe this election has really only just begun.