 "Photo: John Gilchrist")
A small donkey ornament with blinking lights was the only common thread among this weekend's sea of T-shirts, caps and pins worn by attendees indicating their candidate of choice. Texas Democratic Party leaders called for divided delegates at the party's state convention in Austin to stand behind Sen. Barack Obama to put a Democrat in the White House. The three-day convention's end came just as Sen. Hillary Clinton suspended her race for the Democratic presidential nomination Saturday.
The 7,239 delegates in attendance were almost split down the middle - 57 percent supported Obama, while 43 percent were behind Clinton. State convention delegates elected delegates to send to the Democratic national convention this August in Denver, Colo.
"We need to come together to make sure we win in November," Virgina Gov. and Obama campaign national co-chair Tim Kaine said in a speech at the convention. "That is the goal, that is the focus, that is the target."
Chelsea Clinton addressed the convention before Kaine on Friday, confirming that her mother would suspend her campaign. A technicality enables Clinton to continue to raise funds for her campaign to avoid paying out of pocket the $30 million in debt she has accumulated. Clinton retains control of her delegates until she officially drops out of the race.
Some delegates expressed unwillingness to redirect their support to Obama, but many, like Lydia Alaniz, a Senatorial District 24 delegate, said she would vote for Obama if Clinton asked for it.
"I believe in her," Alaniz said. "I will support her in anything she does."
Delegates also chose a party platform to represent Texas at the national convention as well as elected officials to represent the state party for the next two years, which several state representatives and special guests said would also require party unity.
Rep. Garnet Coleman, chair of the Platform Committee, presented the party platform to the convention, which includes calls for reforming consumer protection laws and creating alternative energies and modes of transportation. The more-than-40-page document also calls for a revised GI Bill for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The entire platform will be released on the state party's Web site.
Caucuses were also held for discussions within smaller issue and affiliate groups, including an energy policy caucus, a gun owners caucus and several racial or ethnic caucuses.
Bertha Romeros-Cook, a delegate from Senatorial District 26, said discussions among these groups got a little tense at times.
"That Hispanic caucus was something," Romeros-Cook said. "It got a little heated."
Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat, successfully tabled a discussion on a motion presented at the convention that would revise the Texas "two-step" primary-caucus system, which states that Texas must hold both a primary and a caucus. The revision suggests choosing one or the other.
Obama won the Texas caucus following the March 4 primary, which Clinton won.
The convention saw an increase in attendance by first-time and younger delegates, with representatives from groups such as Capital City Young Democrats and Bexar County Young Democrats.
Lydia Alaniz's husband, Manuel Alaniz, an alternate for Senatorial District 24, was in awe of the number of young delegates.
"The involvement with young people is awesome," he said. "They could be out partying on Sixth Street, but they're here."
