Terry Cox, Henderson

Tue, Feb 26, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)

I was one of thousands of people who wasted a good five hours attending the Clark County Democratic Convention. Some might not be so kind as to call it a convention a dog and pony show would be closer to the truth.

In the course of the morning we heard numerous speakers proudly announce the party’s “embarrassment of riches.” I don’t know about the riches, but it was certainly embarrassing. The original schedule said the preference voting was to be done at 10 a.m.

At 1 p.m. the delegates were told the “powers that be” were putting forth a motion to suspend the convention for a month, at which point we’d reconvene and vote again. Why were they doing this? Because large numbers of delegates hadn’t been processed yet.

I guess the “powers that be” weren’t organized enough to have enough people manning tables to process the delegates. Needless to say, the assembled delegates were none too happy. After a lot of booing and yelling, and at least one person being removed for being disruptive, I angrily left.

All I could think was what a monumental waste of time, for me and thousands of others.

Before I decide ifI am crazy enough to go through this again, I would like to ask the “powers that be” a few questions:

1. Can you guarantee that a second convention would be any better organized than this one?

2. Can you guarantee that rules and timelines will be followed at the second convention?

3. Can you guarantee a more organized performance come November? I’m sure Republicans are asking how Democrats can run the country if they can’t run a county convention. I’m sure many Democrats are thinking the same thing.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, talking about a need for unity, had an interesting line in her speech. She said that Republicans can’t win this election, but we Democrats can lose it. Wise words, Congresswoman. Wise words indeed.