“Nobody special” delegate at Democratic National Convention

by Ranee Fladung
Kathy Carlson readily admits that she “really shouldn’t have been there,” but the Joetown resident talked her way to the Democractic National Convention August 25-28 in Denver, Colorado, serving as a delegate and platform committee member.
In her fifth year working at the local level, Carlson was amazed by how many people attended the caucus at Washington Township in November 2007. “We had 220 people. Ten times as many people as in previous years,” said Carlson. “It was exciting to see the young people becoming active.”
Although Carlson’s candidate didn’t win at her precinct, she attended the district convention as an alternate. Tom Gingerich, the precinct captain for John Edwards who won the precinct, decided he didn’t want to go on and passed his credentials with the promise from Carlson that she would support Edwards all the way.
“My word was kept to Tom and the people of our area, until Edwards directed his delegates to support Barrack Obama,” said Carlson.
Although she notes starting out on the “wrong team,” Carlson said she had a unique view point. First as a Hillary Clinton supporter, then Edwards and finally Obama.
As a first timer at the state convention, Carlson knew she wanted to go on to the national level. “This is my true calling,” she said. “But I had no clue how competitive these things were.” She explained that although she was excited, there was a downside of not feeling connected. “I am not anyone that they should know and there was a lot of mistrust that had to be broken down by getting out and talking to people.”
She competeted against 120 people for 56 spots at the national convention. “People had business cards, flyers and full out campaigns,” she said. “I thought my chances were zip, but I got up and talked about what was important to me and why I thought I would make a good candidate. I must have come across to enough people as a good candidate because I made it.” Women outnumbered the men as delegates at the national convention for the first time ever.
Carlson said she wasn’t a super delegate, but she was unique because she had worked on the platform committee which decides what the party stands for. “You only have 5,000 words per county for a platform and then it has to be condensed even more at the state and national level,” she said.
Only two people from fifty candidates were chosen to represent Iowa at the national level. Carlson said there were attorneys, doctors and people who prepared packets of information.
“I just came with a little bitty hand-written piece of paper with the things that I thought were most important. Of those things, three of them were added to the national platform,” she said.
Her highlight was speaking on C-Span and convincing others that the platform should be amended to include a commitment to rebuild and restore the Iowa communities affected by the flood of 2008. “Obama will have to stand by Iowa to fund this because it is in the platform,” she said.
Although Carlson talked her way to the convention it wasn’t easy to find a room, especially one that was affordable for the entire family. Within a two day period she said a room went from $299 a night to $799. The family left Iowa not knowing where they were staying but having faith they would find something. And they did in Harper, Colorado. Carlson’s daughter Cassie attended the convention as a youth delegate.
“I was really excited to show my kids that anybody can do this. You don’t have to be a lifetime politician to get involved,” she said Her next goal is the steering committee at the local level. It is a group of 12 people who work on the day to day politics and work with the legislators.
When asked what she would say to those who may be discouraged by politics, she said, “I am a regular person, a part-time librarian, nobody special and my voice was heard. If youÕve lost faith in this process, I can tell you that one voice can be heard and it will be.”