Good Old Democratic Politics Still Alive and Well

Reporting from the San Mateo Straw Poll today for the presidential election 2008...

Hallelujah. Good old fashioned Democratic politics was still very alive and well today in California. There was tremendous excitement in the room as over 700 people crowded in to vote on a Sunday afternoon. Go figure....

This was reminiscent of the good times of the past where it only cost a little to attend, the food was hot dogs and pretzels, and water and beer was slugged from the bottle.

There was no rubber chicken for this crowd and no head table! Big shot donors and fundraisers were there in mass - to vote for their candidate, to cajole, and check out the scene.

This is what politics used to be like and maybe should return to....

Local Congressman Tom Lantos welcomed the throngs of people, and introduced all the candidates and/or their surrogate to shouts from the crowd. He invoked the vision of change sweeping the country for a Democratic president.

California State Senator Leland Yee, not only spoke as one of the State Co-Chairs of the John Edwards California campaign, but also raised a good deal of the money to make this event a reality. Thank you so much Leland. This was a real treat.

Former State Senator Jackie Speier spoke on behalf of Hillary Clinton to supporters, and former State Controller Steve Westly, also a State Co-Chair for Senator Barack Obama spoke on his behalf - both to tremendous cheering from the crowd.

And finally, David Buchanan gave an impassioned speech on behalf of Governor Bill Richardson talking of his legacy of "bold and innovative" actions.

Only Representative Dennis Kucinich took the time to come to this "down home" gathering, and the "get out of Iraq" message enveloped his time at the podium.

This was quite a happening reminiscent of Iowa and maybe New Hampshire.

Activists are alive and well. Straw hats were passed out, candidate signs were raised, voices shouted, and the political button was the necessary fashion accessory. The question is do they represent mainstream voters?

Surprisingly, Hillary did not carry the day. Somehow her supporters did not dominate this group of activists. It was perplexing given last week's tremendously successful summit with 1,000 women in Washington, D.C.

Was this just an off-day for Clinton's activist politics?

Kucinich was expected because this was his audience, he was there, and he invoked the anti-war message.

Obama was understandable given his reach into the grassroots.

All in all, Hillary was the only surprise of the day when the results came in late in the day.

How did Edwards slam to the top of the list capturing first place, 221 votes of the 761 votes cast?

Overall Results
Votes cast: 761

Candidate
JOHN EDWARDS, 221 votes, 29.0%
DENNIS KUCINICH, 180 votes, 23.6%
BARACK OBAMA, 171 votes, 22.5%
HILLARY CLINTON, 128 votes,16.8%
AL GORE (Write-In), 23 votes, 3.0%
BILL RICHARDSON, 21 votes, 2.8%
JOSEPH BIDEN, 8 votes, 1.0%
CHRISTOPHER DODD, 4 votes, 0.5%
MICHAEL GRAVEL, 4 votes, 0.5%
Other Write-ins, 1 vote, 0.1%