Making politics is like making sausage

Patrick Garry is a large, well-spoken African-American real estate agent who lives and works in South Minneapolis. He had always followed politics, but other than voting he had never been directly involved. This year, angry with the Bush administration, Garry became one of 56,000 Minnesotans who showed up at a neighborhood Democratic caucus. There, he got himself elected a Kucinich delegate to the DFL state convention, held the weekend of May 22 in Duluth.

Garry had admired Kucinich ever since he'd seen him interviewed on C-Span. After attending Kucinich's Roosevelt High School campaign stop, Garry became a supporter, coming to Duluth with the hope that he'd get elected to carry the Kucinich banner to Boston. “Conventions are usually old-timers and hard-liners. This time, there are so many new people and we're not taking a back seat," he claims.

His first state convention turned out to be what Garry calls a "Democratic revival meeting," where political junkies, activists and wonks spend two days giving support to candidates, listening to speeches and arguing.

The revival included a lot of speechmaking. John Kerry didn't attend, but sent a video with images of himself playing hockey and hobnobbing with Hubert Humphery. Mark Dayton gave a fierce attack against the Bush administration, to the cheers of the delegates, and child advocate Patti Wetterling, who recently decided to run for Congress, spoke to the assembled. Her voice was soft as she told the delegates of her commitment to progressive issues including universal health care and protecting Social Security. The delegates responded by chanting '"Patti! Patti!" and giving her a unanimous endorsement.

But, it was the arrival of Sen. John Edwards whose rousing speech gave a rock 'n' roll quality to an otherwise wonkish event. Delegates, including Garry, rushed to the stage, applauding and taking photographs. One delegate held up an old “Edwards for President” sign on which he had added the prefix “vice” so it read, “Edwards for Vice-president.” Garry likes the idea. "Edwards would be a good debater against Cheney," he says. "He's from the South, very articulate, and he'd be ready to step up to president when Kerry's eight years are over."

Unlike many DFL state conventions, this one was relatively free of acrimony. Many DFLers were willing to put aside their differences to elect Kerry, the candidate many believe can defeat George Bush in November. At most state conventions, delegates spend much of their time debating the party platform and campaigning as to which candidates the party will endorse. This year, there wasn't much debate. With Kerry a shoe-in and no national offices up for grabs, there wasn't much to do but discuss minor changes to some of the 160 platform resolutions.

Resolutions included a proposal to establish a U.S. cabinet level Department of Peace, an initiative to repeal the Patriot and Homeland Security acts, one to enact a universal single-payer health insurance plan, one to repeal conceal and carry, another to oppose spending state tax dollars on professional sports stadiums, and one resolution to prohibit toll roads. Proposed resolutions need a 60 percent vote of the delegates to pass, but the actual voting, by paper ballot, is left to the second day of the convention, and delegates are long gone by the time the votes are counted.

Much of day two is also spent electing the few remaining delegates to the national convention. Most aspiring national delegates have been actively campaigning for the position, but Garry hasn't, relying on a short speech he will give to the assembly. He and other Kucinich delegates meet in a room off the main floor. Next door, separated only by a screen, is the Edwards sub-caucus. The large Kerry contingent is housed in the main arena. Each group will choose their own process to elect the final delegates to the national convention.

The Edwards group is chaired by Minnesota City Councilmember Scott Benson. By 12:30 p.m., the delegate hopefuls are giving their one-minute speeches. The Kucinich sub-caucuses are still discussing procedure, arguing whether speeches should be 30 seconds or a minute long. By 1:30 p.m., the exhausted Edwards delegates are finished and heading for home, but the Kucinich group are taking a five-minute break before round two of the voting for delegates begin.

It isn't until 1:45 p.m. that it's Patrick Garry's turn to speak. "I haven't been this nervous since seventh grade," he says. Standing up in front of his delegation, he tells of his 22-year-old son, serving in Iraq and of his opposition to the war. He appreciates how Kucinich has invigorated the DFL, but, he says, "It's now important to get behind Kerry."

The votes are counted, and it's Charley Underwood, also from South Minneapolis, who will be going to Boston, promising "to talk to Kerry supporters about a deeper vision of progress until ejected by the sergeant-at-arms or until they have a true conversion experience."

Garry is not disappointed in the result, but was frustrated by the squabbling within the Kucinich contingency. "I thought it'd be more like a celebration," he says, "but we spent more time on process than we did listening to those who were running. A lot of people just wanted to hear solid reasons to support delegates. By the time we got to voting, a quarter of the people had left."

Garry says he will work for the nominee, whomever it is. "I'd like to remain active," he says. I'll volunteer to do phone calling or door knocking. I've never given money to a political candidates, but this time I will, maybe some to Kerry, maybe some to Patti Wetterling," he says.

Garry still believes in the Kucinich message. "The war is crippling our efforts to fund progress at home," he says. "There's corruption, war profiteering, Iraq has been carved up and sold to the cronies of the Bush administration. The Republicans lie and lie and the Democrats give credence to their lies by not challenging them."

"Sometimes," he says, "you just need one person to stand up and get involved. I just want to be a part of the change."