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Pinedale Online > News > March 2008 > Democratic Meeting

Obama Supporters. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM.
Obama Supporters
Registered Democrats who voted for Barack Obama held up their hands to be counted. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM Pinedale radio.

Clinton Supporters. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Clinton Supporters
Supporters voting for Senator Hillary Clinton. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

Jim Roscoe. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online.
Jim Roscoe
Jim Roscoe announced his candadacy for Representative of House District 22. Photo by Pam McCulloch.

Democratic Committee. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Democratic Committee
Democratic Committee (left to right) Vice Chair Julie Land, State Committeewoman Susan Kramer, Chairman Dave Racich (standing), Treasurer Betty Auld. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

Nominating Hillary Clinton. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online.
Nominating Hillary Clinton
Sublette County Democratic Committee Treasurer Betty Auld nominated Senator Hillary Clinton. Photo by Pam McCulloch.

Coutney Skinner. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online.
Coutney Skinner
Courtney Skinner seconded the nomination of Senator Hillary Clinton. Photo by Pam McCulloch.

Obama and Clinton. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM.
Obama and Clinton
Campaign stickers and buttons were available. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM radio.

Standing Room Only. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM.
Standing Room Only
It was standing-room only in the Lovatt Room of the library in Pinedale. The last caucus/convention in Sublette County saw about 8 persons in attendance. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM Pinedale radio.

Ann Noble. Photo by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online.
Ann Noble
Ann Noble casts her vote for Hillary Clinton. Photo by Cat Urbigkit.

Comparing Votes. Photo by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online.
Comparing Votes
Sublette County Democratic officials Susan Kramer, Julie Land, Betty Auld and Dave Racich compare votes cast to the registered voting delegate list. Photo by Cat Urbigkit.

Obama Sticker. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Obama Sticker
Sticker worn by Obama supporters. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

CampaignTable. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM.
CampaignTable
Campaign table for Gary Trauner running for Congress and Jim Roscoe running for House District #22. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM.

Debating Undecided Votes. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
Debating Undecided Votes
Delegates debate how to handle the Undecided votes. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

Scroll down for more photos!
Sublette County Democratic Caucus/Convention
78 Registered Democrats: 48 in favor of Barack Obama, 27 for Hillary Clinton, 3 Undecided
by Pinedale Online!
March 8, 2008

Sublette County Democrats held their caucus/convention on Saturday, March 8th, in the Lovatt Room of the Sublette County Library. It was a standing-room only crowd, much to the surprise and delight of the Democratic committee, who remembered their last county convention where total in attendance numbered about eight people.

“Did I come to the wrong place?” asked one person in the audience, “I thought this was the Democrats?!”

Approximately 100 people attended, including media, Republican observers, and people undecided who just came to watch. In addition to regular business and making changes to the platform, the big agenda item was the voting for presidential candidate.

Democratic Committee Chairman Dave Racich read a prepared statement by Gary Trauner, who is running for Congress. Teton County resident Jim Roscoe then gave a short speech announcing his candidacy for House District 22.

Sublette County Democratic Committee persons present were:
Chairman: Dave Racich
Vice Chairman: Julie Land
Secretary: Cork Kelly
Treasurer: Betty Auld
State Committeeman: Paul Jensen
State Committeewoman: Susan Kramer

Regular business included a Treasurer's report by Betty Auld, who reported $664.58 in the account, not counting a $100 donation just received. The committee's only bills they have had were for local newspaper ads in the Pinedale Roundup and Sublette Examiner.

Nominations: Hillary Clinton
(two speakers)
Committeewoman Betty Auld spoke in favor of Hillary Clinton. “It’s wonderful the two candidates for the Democratic presidential nominee are a young African American man and a woman. We’ve already made history and will make history in November, I’m sure.” She said the 2008 race wasn’t about race and gender. It is about preserving the working middle class, saving and helping and creating new good jobs with benefits, heath care for all Americans, a new energy policy, education, “I believe Hillary can lead the country, with the help of a Democratic Congress, in this direction.”

Courtney Skinner seconded the nomination of Senator Clinton saying, “Hillary Clinton is in for the long haul.” She has proven over her lifetime that she is a stayer. She is not a quitter.” He noted that Wyoming is the Equality State, being the first to give women the right to vote and 20 years ago trying to put the first American lady on top of Mount Everest. “Woman’s suffrage, Wyoming, and its history is tied in to the women of this country as well as with the state of Wyoming.”

Nominations: Barack Obama
(eight speakers)
Ana Cuprill spoke next and nominated Barack Obama. “The man leaves me speechless,” she said. “I am very excited about his plans to end this horrible war by 2009,” in addition to his health care plan, plans to allow college students to get more help to go to college, early education plans to help with after school and childcare programs. “He has such great ideas and I think he is somebody who can really make this happen,” she said.

Paul Jensen gave more words in support of Barack Obama citing his ability to bring people together and he felt this was a time for change.

Sublette County Rancher Jim Urbigkit also spoke in favor of Obama.

Grace Anderson also spoke in favor of Barack Obama remembering when a bunch of people stood outside on a cold spring night, in a circle holding hands, and “wished so much there would not be war.” She said she saw no reason to elect someone as president who did all she could to bring that war on and made such bad judgment.

Sublette County Democratic Committee Vice Chair Julie Land spoke in favor of Barack Obama saying she was excited to see so many people out and active. “I am so excited we have the opportunity to choose between a woman and an African-American. I think that is saying something wonderful about America.”

Long-time Democrat Daphne Platts commented, “It’s been Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush. We’ve got to stop this.”

Dave Racich said, “As long as we stop the war.”

Voting
After extensive voting and recounting to make sure the numbers were added up correctly to match people who were registered, the final count of the 78 total voting Democrats was:

Hillary Clinton: 27
Barack Obama: 48
Undecided: 3
There were no votes for any other Democratic presidential candidate.

Sublette County gets 4 delegate votes in the Democratic State Convention, which will be held in Jackson Hole on Saturday, May 24th. Of those delegates, the proportion must match the proportion who voted in favor of Obama and Clinton at this caucus, so 3 delegate votes will go towards Obama and 1 towards Hillary Clinton.

Sublette County Delegates
Eight delegates were elected to go to the state convention (each with a ½ vote):
Cork Kelly (favors Obama)
Ana Cuprill (favors Obama)
Susan Kramer (favors Obama)
Betty Auld (favors Clinton)
Dave Hohl (favors Obama)
Linda Baker (favors Obama)
Paul Jensen (favors Obama)
Courtney Skinner (favors Clinton)

Changes to 2006 Platform:
(See the 2006 Platform for the document being revised for their 2008 Platform)
Under Judiciary:
#1 deleted.
Sally Mackey requested an additional “end the war” statement to indicate their desire to do something to resolve the war and get disengaged. The new line item reads: “We support the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq as soon as possible.” – passed unanimously.

Under Revenue:
#8 deleted.

Under Education:
#6: Dave Hohl requested a new item be added stating “We encourage an active effort to recruit and hire the best qualified teachers possible as a critical element in providing quality education (local, state)”, commenting that not everyone is motivated to find the best person for the job. – approved unanimously.

Under Agriculture:
#3 deleted. Paul Jensen noted Wyoming is already Brucellosis-free. – approved unanimously.

Under Travel:
No changes, approved unanimously as written.

Elections:
No changes, approved unanimously as written.

Transportation:
No changes, approved unanimously as written.

Environment:
#1: Dave Racich requested wording be changed to “continue to increase…” for fuel efficiency – approved unanimously.

#13: Paul Jensen requested wording to support “stronger legislation” for surface owner protection on split estates. Also to add “National” for applicable area. – approved unanimously.

Add a #15: Linda Baker requested wording be added, “We support the repeal of the Categorical Exemption clause of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.” Passed, with one objection by Betty Auld saying, “Because Environmental Impact Statements cannot go on forever and ever.”

Labor:
#1: Cork Kelly requested minimum wage wording be changed to be the “same or greater than federal minimum wage.” Passed unanimously.

Social Services:
No changes, approved unanimously as written.

Recreation:
No changes, approved unanimously as written.

Photos by Bob Rule (KPIN 101.1 FM), Pam McCulloch, Cat Urbigkit, and Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online! Story by Dawn Ballou, with contributions by Bob Rule.
___________________________

Comment from Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM radio: The Democrats in Wyoming do not operate on a "Winner Takes All" basis as they do in some other states. In Wyoming, the delegates to the State Convention, and in turn, the Delegates to the National Convention, are proportioned to how the vote came out at the caucus/conventions throughout Wyoming. Although 78 registered Democrats were in attendance for the voting on the presidential candidates, only three registered Democrats remained from the audience and interacted with the committee during the discussion of the party platform.

As a side note, radio station owner Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM added that both presidential candidates ran ads before today’s Democratic caucus/convention. Barack Obama’s campaign began ads on Wednesday and Hillary Clinton's campaign started ads on Thursday morning, both too late to run ads in the local newspapers. Rule commented, “We’ve never had presidential candidate ads on KPIN.”

Each candidate spent a little under $1,000 on their local radio ads in Sublette County. Each candidate ran two ads.

Obama Radio Ads in Sublette County:
Senator Barack Obama ran two Wyoming-focused ads. The first mentioned hard-working Americans who are running in place and “have the deck stacked against them” while Wall Street prospers, changing Washington, rebuilding America, closing corporate tax loopholes, cutting taxes for working families and start small business in Wyoming so kids don’t have to leave home to follow their dreams, an affordable health care plan to cover all Americans, lower costs, and helping underserved communities attract new doctors and nurses. (Obama for President (1:00 min, 424K)

Obama’s second Wyoming ad was an endorsement by state Democratic legislators in Cheyenne (House Minority Leader Marty Martin, and Representatives Stan Blake, Bernadine Kraft and Sandra Myer). Ending the war in Iraq, making health care affordable for everyone, detailed economic plan that cuts taxes for workers, take on special interests, uniting (not divide) America, help local Democrats in the West stand up for families. wyoming.barackobama.com (Obama for America (1:00 min, 423K)

Senator Hillary Clinton Wyoming radio ads run in Sublette County:
Senator Clinton focused on her health care plan for all Americans as the theme for her general radio ad in Wyoming. (Clinton Health Care Ad (1:00 mins, 424K)

Her Wyoming-focused radio ad talked about the state’s abundant natural resources as the key to energy dependence. She hyped a plan to use $50 billion dollars in excess profits from big oil companies to invest in renewable energy like solar and wind power to create 5 million new green jobs, develop transmission lines from the plains to urban areas to harness wind energy, and to immediately fund ten clean coal projects to jump start coal reserve technology without deepening global warming. (Clinton Wyoming Energy ad (1:00 min, 427K)



Related Links
  • www.wyomingdemocrats.com - Wyoming Democrats
  • www.BarackObama.com - Senator Barack Obama website
  • www.HillaryClinton.com - Senator Hillary Clinton campaign website
  • 2008 Democratic National Convention - Denver, Colorado, August 25-28, 2008
  • Sublette County 2006 Democratic Platform - Used for modifications for 2008 platform.

  • Democrats. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online.
    Democrats
    Democratic Committee (left to right): Paul Jensen, Cork Kelly, Dave Racich, Julie Land, Susan Kramer, Betty Auld. Photo by Pam McCulloch.

    Rancher Jim Urbigkit. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online!.
    Rancher Jim Urbigkit
    Sublette County rancher Jim Urbigkit spoke in support of Barack Obama. Photo by Pam McCulloch.

    Counting Votes. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online.
    Counting Votes
    Julie Land, Susan Kramer and Dave Racich compare voters to the official voter registration. Photo by Pam McCulloch.

    Voting. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online!.
    Voting
    Obama supporters vote. Photo by Pam McCulloch.

    Daphne Platts. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Daphne Platts
    Daphne Platts supported Obama and expressed a need for change for the next President. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

    Tony Keys. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Tony Keys
    Tony Keys was in support of Senator Hillary Clinton. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

    Roscoe Support. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online.
    Roscoe Support
    Democrats fill out an e-mail sign up sheet for more information about other candidates. Pam McCulloch photo.

    Precinct Captain. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM.
    Precinct Captain
    Obama Precinct Captain button. Photo by Bob Rule, KPIN 101.1 FM.

    Hillary Sticker. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Hillary Sticker
    Stickers for Democrats who supported Senator Clinton. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

    Gary Trauner buttons. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Gary Trauner buttons
    Campaign buttons and stickers for Gary Trauner, running for Congress. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

    Roscoe Stickers. Photo by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online.
    Roscoe Stickers
    Roscoe for Wyoming bumper stickers. Photo by Dawn Ballou.

    Bob Rule. Photo by Pam McCulloch, Pinedale Online.
    Bob Rule
    Bob Rule covers the caucus/convention for KPIN 101.1 FM. Photo by Pam McCulloch.
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