Unconventional Women Forum

Here was proof that anyone can come to convention and be a part of the action. This event was on the public calendar, although I also received an invitation. The marketing was fantastic – they sent a refrigerator magnet with a great iconic picture of a 1950’s wife in an apron with perfect hair and makeup holding up a pie, and the slogan is “claim your slice!”

The program was made up of three two-hour sessions. I purchased tickets (sold on a sliding scale – you decide how much to donate from $1 to $100,000) to two sessions. Each session was made up of multiple panel discussions of interesting and inspiring women having conversations about women in politics.

I came in halfway through a panel about the White House Project. Marie Wilson was on this panel, who I have seen before and she’s GREAT. Also, there were two young elected officials whose names I missed since I was late. They were discussing the White House Project including their training, their fundraising, and told their individual stories.

After that, there was a panel with Ellen Malcolm, founder of EMILY’s List, and Barbara Lee. They were also amazing and talked about the nuts and bolts and realities of women running for office.

The highlight for me was a conversation with Claire McCaskill and Amy Klobuchar, facilitated by Donna Brazile. These women had FASCINATING and inspiring stories about their experiences in politics. The forum was open and casual, and I got such a great sense of their personalities, priorities, and experiences. I liked them so much! Though I heard them both later on at the Convention, the forum was a much better way to get introduced. The best were their stories about people assuming they were assistants to “the Senator” such as when they were picking out office furniture for their senate offices. One person told Senator McCaskill that “her boss” would need to come down and sign for it before she could pick out the furniture! She also talked about being the first woman ever in the Missouri state house to have a baby while in office. As it turns, out that baby, her son, introduced her at the Convention last night. Senator McCaskill also talked about how far we have to go still and advised everyone in the audience to read Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent in the Lily Ledbetter case (dissent starts on page 28). If I have time, I plan to read it today before the convention because Lily Ledbetter is speaking tonight and I want to brush up. Senator Klobuchar talked a lot about her legislative priorities and accomplishments – she is very focused on consumer rights and consumer safety and is trying to rebuild the consumer protections that our government regulations used to provide to American families.

The general thrust of the entire event was that we don’t have enough women in politics. Not only do we need more women in elected office, but we need all women to engage in the political process – to stay informed on issues and use their votes.

Great event!

(Cross-posted at bluetrueblog.com)

An Incredible First Night

WOW. Where to even start. I was having trouble with my utterz going to the email address earlier so I didn’t get to update the blog with my morning adventures. I’ll try to fill in those blanks later because it was extremely cool to get to see Donna Brazile, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McCaskill, and a bunch of other UnCONVENTIONAL Women today in a really nice open forum.

But I have to turn attention to this evening. I thought it would be incredible to be here, but I wasn’t expecting to have my very socks knocked off on the very first night. I was inspired, I was proud, I was so filled with patriotism and optimism.

The first really TRULY amazing thing was the Kennedy tribute and then Kennedy’s speech. To see his life of service put into context, and to remember the pain and the sacrifice that he and his family have gone through while fighting for the American dream on the front lines – it makes all the Ted Kennedy detractors seem small. His powerful, passionate devotion to the cause of winning health care for all Americans – undimmed by the day to day losses and backsliding – well, it puts me to shame. The small aggravations and minor frustrations of my own small service to my country and community are really nothing at all. We should all be so resolute and visionary.

But Michelle Obama was the highlight of the night. She was stunning, graceful, poised, eloquent. She had the entire convention hall in tears – happy tears – as she described “our country as it should be.” Which is the unifying vision of the beloved community that we all know as both the fount of our devotion and goal of all of our efforts. I loved the video piece narrated by her mother. It set up her speech so effectively by talking about her relationship with her family, particularly her father, and the compassion that she learned from him.

She had us riveted from the word go. The thing that stood out to me most was how important her relationships are to her – with her father, her mother, her brother, with Barack, and with those beautiful girls. She defines herself in terms of those relationships rather than in terms of her education or career. It’s incredibly endearing. And the way she described her husband and what motivates him – what he is able to achieve and where he wants to lead this country. It’s amazing.

I just had to turn off CNN as they have four Republican stuffed shirts “spinning” the night and talking about what a miss it was overall. (What I find funniest is how they all just LOVE Hillary Clinton now.) I thought more than once how it was so great to be in the hall tonight witnessing it live – being truly in the moment and truly swept away by the beauty and promise of the whole thing – rather than having to watch it through the filter of some horrid pundit whose comments are always completely superfluous and trite. I hope that whatever the rest of America saw was as stirring as what we saw here in Denver.

(cross posted at bluetrueblog.com)

So, it's a Convention

This is when the "convention" kind of feels like a convention. I was just in a massive ballroom with hundreds of people milling about eating food off of a buffet. Kind of like....a convention! I will put up some pics tomorrow. You'll see. Ball room. People. Buffet.

But this was pretty cool because it was just Democrats as far as the eye could see. Democrats everywhere! Even a lot that I knew. We saw the Unity Express riders (Angela, Nikema, Leslie, Bernita). We saw Richard Ray, Jane Kidd and her children, Mary Long, various assorted state legislators, Jan Hackney and her son and husband. Also ran into Jelani Cobb, and Jerry Freeman. However, the V-VIPs (Very Very Important People) were apparently at some private much more exclusive function. Nary a sign of a Sunday morning talking head to be seen anywhere. There was also no media. But there were masses and masses of people so this was where the vast bulk of the delegates were tonight.

The theme was "Friends of New Orleans" so we had crawfish, red beans and rice, jambalaya, etc etc. And fun cajun music. And a cameo by Randy Newman. Did I mention the open bar?

Howard Dean spoke briefly to welcome us to Denver. Of course, Jane and I had just left to get another drink so we missed his comments, but I heard he screamed to get the crowd riled up. Kidding. Another delegate got some great pics so I will try to get those to post tomorrow.

So far, so very like a convention. I guess we'll start making history tomorrow!

Delegation breakfast is at 7:45 sharp and I'm feeling the altitude so it's off to bed for me to dream of a better future.

Heading for Denver!

(This is a note I sent to a group of friends on Friday. Copied here to set the stage for the rest of the week...)


Wow, I know it's been a long time since you've heard from the Obama-spam-machine. The combination of RELIEF that we got out of the primaries and a tough summer work schedule that has seen a lot of travel and more than usual overtime has conspired to keep my away from my keyboard-soapbox.

But I thought you would all like to know that I AM going to the Convention!

I believe that most of you heard the tragic story of the congressional district delegate election. I was the fourth vote-getter out of 45 women who ran for three spots. Seriously – like fourth in the Olympics. Just off the podium.

For some multi-media coverage of the day, check out my friend Shelby's post to MTV's political blog. Click the "watch video" link below his mug.

Also, here's one of my friends and slate-mates who was elected that day giving his thoughts to our local NPR station (couldn't you just listen to his voice all day?):

Tough day for me, but, I think, a victory all in all for our much maligned process. Kudos to my good friends (including Page Gleason, Will Curry, Melanie Goux, Sam Westmoreland, Cynthia and Clarence Williams, and everyone else) at the Fulton County Democratic Party who ran a historically large caucus nearly flawlessly.

The next step for me was to move on the State level – to try to get elected by our Georgia State Committee to serve as an At-Large Delegate.

This process usually involves lobbying the 400 member committee made up of party activists from all over the state. As soon as I brushed back the tears after my devastating loss, I started planning my next campaign. On my daily evening runs in the neighborhood, I came up with many creative ideas for how to woo the diverse and dispersed members of the State Committee. But I never put any of these plans into motion because almost as soon as I started to plan, the rumors started about "slashing the lists." In my congressional district alone, there were 42 women who did not get spots. Not to mention the men. Not to mention all the other congressional districts. Not to mention the folks who didn't even run at the district level but planned to run at the state level. Suddenly there were visions of hundreds of candidates flooding the committee members with calls, letters, emails, flowers! And a marathon meeting at which every candidate would give a speech and the committee would vote. A conservative estimate of 200 candidates each giving a three minute speech – wow! Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

So, the party and both campaigns took advantage of a slightly obscure rule in the by-laws which stated that the campaign has the right to scratch anyone from the list for any reason. Ostensibly, this rule is to make sure that folks who are actually supporting another candidate don't make their way onto the ballot. As you might imagine, this was something of a concern this year. But in practice, what they did was to "scratch" the list down to the exact number of slots that were available, in effect choosing the people they wanted to serve.

How did I make this list?? It's a little bit miraculous. A bit of knowing who the decision makers were and lobbying them as much as I could. A bit of credit for a lot of hard work and sacrifice over many years for the party. A bit of having come so close at the congressional district level. A bit of good people going to bat for me. And a whole lot of luck.

So, I am officially an At-Large Alternate Delegate from the great state of Georgia.

And off I go to Denver.

I am partnering with Jerry Freeman, a friend and co-alternate (fyi, we're sort of like jury alternates – get to go, sit in the box, do the whole thing, but don't get to vote unless someone flakes out) to do a Denver blog. I will also be cross-posting to the Young Democrats of Atlanta blog. I will send out information about how to follow our posts as soon as I have it. (Note: obviously since I sent this out, change of plans. Follow everything here at emilyschunior.blogspot.com.)

If you want to reach me while I am in Denver, feel free to email me – I will check at least once a day. Or text or call my mobile: (404) 202-8430. Policy priorities? Send them along. Message for Barack? Send it. Message for Hillary? Don't you worry. I'll be delivering that.

I am expecting great things. The bar is high. But I truly believe Obama is the leader of a generation and I know he can do it. Thursday should be amazing.

Best to all,
Emily