The Convention itself - Saturday

Tiring day! I got to the convention early enough to attend the Candidate Breakfast: the speeches were wonderful. We got to hear practically every candidate for statewide and national office speak. I met one of my personal heroes, Congressman Jim McDermott, after the breakfast, but stupidly couldn't think of anything intelligent to say to him. I'm sure he was left wondering who THAT idiot was.

Met several people from my district in the convention hall, and we formed a little 47th District block. The actual convention itself was almost as dull as the county convention. Many, many speeches by candidates (some of which were verbatim the same speeches we'd heard at the breakfasts). Then, about 4:30 or so, we started working on the platform. Thankfully, the chair of the convention brooked no nonsense and kept the voting moving at quite a clip. There was far less of the on-the-fly modification that had taken so much time at the county convention, also, as amendments were supposed to have all been submitted in writing by noon. People were still trying to do some of that, but they were getting away with a lot less of it. There was the predictable bitchfest over the Israel-Palestine issue, with people fighting over whether the language should include support for a one-state solution, a two-state solution, or just a "peaceful resolution." People apparently live and die by this fight, whereas I'm beginning to feel more like Paris in Romeo and Juliet - "a plague on both your houses!" It wasn't as nasty as the newspapers made it sound the next day, but it wasn't fun, either.

One really horrible thing happened; on the way back to my seat after picking up my lunch, I got roped into joining the Alex Alben group marching up to the podium for Alex' speech by Yvonne Ward. We were marching up the aisle, and all of a sudden I heard a horrible noise. The woman directly behind me (Barbara Geller) had tripped and gone face-first - HARD - into a chairleg with her face. It knocked her glasses off and knocked her for a loop. So here I am and the fellow who was behind her, on our knees yelling for a medic. Luckily there was a nurse in one of the rows right there, and a doctor showed up within about a minute. I cleared out of there to let the doctor do her job. They took the poor lady away in an ambulance; she was definitely hurt, although not bleeding and still conscious, there's no question she hit her head hard. I went back to my seat shaking like a leaf. I wish I'd realized she was falling and been able to catch her.

John came to join me about 8:00, by which time I had had enough. We took off to get a bite to eat before heading to the Emerald Queen Casino for the party the Puyallup tribe was putting on for the National delegates. We shouldn't have eaten first - the Puyallups put on quite a spread. I'd been expecting the usual vegetable tray and chips, but they had actual food and a lot of it. The band was wonderful, exactly the type of music we've been trying to find. Lots of classic R&B, great music to dance to. I went to ask the head fellow, Harvey Brooks, where they usually played, but he said they mostly do private gigs. Too bad, I was hoping they played the Emerald Queen regularly, as it's convenient to home. The party ended fairly early and we headed home.