Reviving the Orange County Blog

At the most recent Orange County VT Democrats meeting (May 22), we decided to give this another try.

If you would like to contribute information that you think will be of interest to democrats in Orange County Vermont, let me know (mataliandy@wildblue.net)!

In the mean time, here are some highlights from the state convention:

We had a slew of Orange County participation! We did not, however think to have an Orange County table. Next time... However, Sherry Merrick, our county secretary, who ran to be a national Obama delegate had a half table and Liane Allen, county chair staffed the table for the new Constitutional Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee, from which we gave out 400 US Constitutions and got over 100 signatures each on two petitions: one encouraging our Senators to vote for a bill that will make it illegal to intimidate voters (Leahy is already a co-sponsor and it already passed the House unanimously); and one to ask the entire delegation to continue to oppose an attack on Iran.

In a moment of brilliance, Sherry Merrick who had planned to offer free buttons and bumper stickers at her table, decided to add a fish bowl for donations to Orange County. She made $345, which will cover the cost of the Tunbridge Fair booth!

Jill Michaels, another active Orange County member was also a candidate to be an Obama delegate, and did a great job in the 30 seconds (yes, seconds) alloted for candidate speeches. She has done so much for Democrats over the years, it's a shame she didn't land a national delegate slot.

Jean McDonald appeared to be a human electron - no matter where I looked on the convention floor, there she was. She must have exceeded the speed of light at least once.

There was quite an Orange County contingent including Rick Hausman, Yorke Peeler, David Nelson, Chip Conquest (who's running for Bud Otterman's seat), Frank Roderick and Susan (whose last name I just forgot - sorry!), Frank Lornitzo, Jim Hughes, and many more! It's a shame I'm so bad with names, I'd like to give everyone their due. If you were among the OC people who attended and you're not listed, my only excuse is I was kicked in the head by a pony as a kid, and names just don't stick. Please forgive me!

The blogosphere was well represented, with John Odum (Green Mountain Daily's founder), Phillip Baruth (Vermont Daily Briefing.'s founder) and a bunch of us bloggy types all participating in the fun.

The auditorium was packed with people. It wasn't quite as crowded as 2000 when Governor Dean was running and we had to sit elbow-to-elbow in the bleachers, but boy, it came pretty darned close! I don't know the official count, but there seemed to be around 900 people. That's nearly one out of every 300 people in the state! For comparison, in their record turnout this year, the Colorado state convention had only one in every 3770 people.

Ian Carleton (State Chair) did an admirable job keeping to schedule, and Chuck Ross (National Committee Man), who had the unenviable job of having to enforce the 30-second rule for speeches, was kind, but firm in ensuring that the speeches didn't turn the convention into a multi-day event.

The speeches themselves were fun to watch - some funny, some serious, some a little painful ... especially the poor guy in the donkey suit who couldn't grasp the signs he was trying to display instead of speaking. It was a great idea, but time ran out before a helping hand came his way. Choosing who to vote for was genuinely difficult, not because the speeches were so short, but because even in that tiny time allotment, there was such inspiration. I mean, these people were GOOD!

All in all, it was a really fun event, and well run.