Newcomers look forward to their role in making history

DENVER

When 109 delegates from the Minnesota DFL Party take their seats today at the Pepsi Center for the beginning of the Democratic National Convention, many will be getting their first close-up look at the heady process of selecting a presidential candidate.

For some, their previous encounters with the nomination ritual consisted of little more than clicking a TV remote or glancing at a newspaper headline.

Emboldened by a record turnout of newcomers at the party's February state precinct caucuses and by a sense of change in the air, these aren't your usual party operatives looking to pad political résumés. Many were inspired by a billowing sense of change in the air in church basements or crowded school libraries at the caucuses, where turnout exceeded 214,000, breaking the previous Minnesota record.

They found themselves signing up to be delegates to district conventions, then congressional district conventions, then the state convention.

Now they are in Denver, footing hotel and airfare bills to be part of history when their party nominates Barack Obama for president on Wednesday night.

The Minnesota delegation includes the youngest delegate in the nation, 17-year-old David Gilbert-Pederson of Minneapolis, an ardent supporter of Obama, and Fifth Congressional District Rep. Keith Ellison. Gilbert-Pederson will turn 18 in October, just in time to be eligible to vote and meet requirements to be a delegate. He left traditional school to work for Ellison in 2006 and now is home-schooled.

On the other end of the spectrum, the delegation includes two women who participated in the historic 1963 March on Washington with the Rev. Martin Luther King. One of them, Lucy Buckner-Watson of Minneapolis, passes out copies of a prayer for her father, now dying of cancer in Atlanta. She hopes her father, who once witnessed two black men being lynched, will live long enough to see a black man elected president.

Diverse, yes; united?

The DFL is trumpeting the diversity of its delegation. It includes 25 African-Americans, six American Indians, nine members of the gay, lesbian and transgender community, nine people with disabilities, 10 Asian/Pacific Islanders and seven Latinos. There are 23 delegates younger than 35 and four college students.

Sen. Mee Moua, DFL-St. Paul, said the makeup reflects the Obama candidacy. "It says there is a presidential candidate who speaks to them, who speaks to their experience and who truly represents all of them in a number of different ways," she said.

While party officials declare unity behind Obama heading into the convention, the bruising primary battle with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton still clearly stings with some delegates and isn't likely to be easily diffused with Saturday's selection of Sen. Joseph Biden as Obama's running mate.

Obama delegate Christine Almeida said she continues to hear from other delegates and friends about feelings toward Clinton and hopes the Denver convention will be a time to hash out differences.

"We've got to sit down and have a conversation, and the convention is the best place to do it," said Almeida, a lobbyist and chief of staff for former Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson. "We need to hear what they have to say but come out knowing what needs to be done."

From Mosul to Denver

Along with fresh faces, the delegation includes party stalwarts. One delegate will be attending his sixth convention, another his ninth. The delegation will be chaired by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. Former Vice President Walter Mondale is a delegate.

But some of the newcomers admit they would have found it hard to believe at the beginning of the year that they would be in attendance in Denver. The first-timers seem to harbor less partisan fervor but perhaps more passion for being part of a historic moment.

One delegate was a year behind Obama in high school in Hawaii. Now an executive with General Mills in Minnesota, she said she became inspired by his message of collaboration that she describes as "so Hawaii," particularly his experience growing up black in Hawaii.

Kim Nelson had done her civic duty by voting but never hosted a fundraiser or become involved in partisan politics before. She's now on committees that bring in millions for Obama and is an Obama delegate in Denver.

"There's an electricity in Obama's candidacy," she said.

Andover resident Sam Scott was fresh from a yearlong deployment in Iraq with the U.S. Army when he decided to apply some of the principles of democracy he was preaching to Iraqis near Mosul to his own world in Minnesota.

A sergeant in the Army Reserve, Scott was part of a three-man tactical team whose mission was to get people to vote and to organize civic participation with sheiks and imams.

As a civilian, Scott had voted in general elections but nothing more. His Iraq experience convinced him that people back home took the process for granted.

Largely nonpolitical and with a diverse family background ideologically, he looked at the candidates, marked down their good and bad points, and decided to support Obama.

He gave a one-minute speech at a local convention and then found himself on the fast track to becoming a delegate. He is the only Iraq war veteran in the Minnesota delegation.

"It really does kind of suck you in," he said. "As you learn more and more, you are compelled to do more and to see how important it can be."

Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636