2nd District Democratic Convention - 2010

A summary of the 2010 2nd District Convention:

The 2nd District Democratic Convention was held at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center in Fairfield, Iowa on April 24, 2010.

The convention was finally underway a little after 10:00 a.m., with short reports and introductions.

The following individuals represented Washington County:

Pete Morrison, Delegate

Kay Ciha, Delegate

Mary Smith, Substitute Delegate Representing Harold Frakes

Linda Brown, Substitute Delegate Representing Louise Frakes

Matt Schaeffer, Delegate

Katrina Schaeffer, Delegate

Sandra Johnson, Delegate

Bob Spenner, Delegate

Tom Antosiak, Substitute Delegate Representing Doris Park

A number of political candidates were present at the convention and spoke to the group. [Please note that we were a distance from the stage, but you can click on the pictures to enlarge.]

Francis Thicke, who is running for Secretary of Agriculture spoke on the future of agriculture, and his campaign.

Our Iowa State Senator Becky Schmitz talked about her re-election campaign.

2nd District Congressman, Dave Loebsack, talked about the past session of congress and the difficulties that confront the country. He spoke on the matter of the floods in our own 2nd District, indicating it was the second worse natural disaster in the country.

Disaster recovery has been difficult and costly, but Dave has spearheaded the effort on a federal level with the help of other congressmen and Senator Tom Harkin.

Dave indicated that he had been unable to campaign as effectively two years ago due to flood recovery responsibilities and efforts being made in Washington, D.C. toward that goal. However, he was successful in his re-election bid then and would be more active this year.

The conventions next speaker was someone we have not seen running for election in recent years.

Roxanne Conlin is running against two other candidates for the opportunity to run against Charles Grassley for the U.S. Senate seat. She spoke about her passion for a better Iowa, and the need this year to replace the long time Republican incumbent.

Unfortunately, we did not have the governor and other state office holders available to speak, as all of the other state districts were held at the same time.

We did hear from many of those individuals running for positions on the 2nd District Central Committee, in their effort to secure those positions for the next two years.

The afternoon session was filled mostly with the completion of platform amendments and the final approval of the 2nd District platform.

Overall, the event was interesting, and it was an opportunity to talk with other county delegates, and those from other counties in the district.

A new balloting procedure was tried out at the 2nd District Convention that is hoped to be implemented at the Iowa State Convention in June. Despite a few glitches in the procedure, it seemed to work, and the computer voting procedure was especially interesting.

The election of the 2nd District Central committee members was interesting, as very few of the long time members were re-elected. It should make for a very interesting workshop in coming months.

The district was interesting, and I look forward to the Iowa State Convention in June.