The Tale of Two Conventions
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 22:28Monday evening, I managed to get to two Democratic U.S. Congressional Conventions and they were very different events. In Connecticut's Third Congressional District, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro is running for re-election. While I don't know the official campaign slogan or talking points, the unofficial one which seemed to summarize the convention was, "Everyone loves Rosa". There were the kids saying the pledge of allegiance, the local high school chorus singing the Star Spangled Banner, and there was food.
Unlike other conventions where you wait until it is over, everyone arrived, started eating, and then the convention started, over half an hour late. As much as everyone loves Rosa, they really love Italian pastries, and the pastries are perhaps a great symbol for the campaign. I rushed out before things really got going and headed up to the Fifth Congressional District.
This was a very different affair. It is an open seat with several candidates vying for the nomination. The clear front runner was Chris Donovan, and the questions were, how large a percentage would he get and would the other candidates get enough votes to qualify for a primary without having to gather petitions to be on the ballot.
In the end, Donovan got 64% of the vote. Esty got 20% of the vote and Roberti got 16% of the vote. They all qualify to be on the primary ballot, although it was touch and go for Roberti for a moment. He only had four votes to spare, and during the vote swamping at the end, he briefly dropped below that threshold.
(For details see this spreadsheet).
With these conventions over, it looks like their will be a primary both for the U.S. Senate and for the Fifth Congressional District. The top line will be held by Chris Murphy and Chris Donovan. Murphy, being from the Fifth, is likely to draw out a lot of voters who may vote the line, boosting Donovan. Likewise, Donovan being from the Fifth may draw out more voters who are likely to favor Murphy.
The second line will have Bysiewicz for Senate and, because candidates are alphabetized who don't have the nomination, Esty will be on the same line with her. Again, these two candidates could compliment each other.
Roberti will be on the third line, by himself. That is, of course, if no one drops out or no one else petitions to be on the ballot. Also, it doesn't get to the issue of primaries at the State Legislative level, which we won't know for another week or so.
So, while the Third Congressional District was a well tempered celebration, the Fifth was a raucous contest. The food in the Fifth was going to be at some restaurant after the convention, but I didn't have the energy for it.
Both conventions were fun, and I reiterate my encouragement for others to get out, get involved, and perhaps even go to a political convention.
The Fowler Street Shootout
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 05/13/2012 - 14:01It was a warm sunny Saturday evening in May. I was running a quick errand to the store to pick up some stuff for Mother's day. As I headed down Fowler street, I saw three black males, I would guess there ages were around thirteen. They were shouting, running around, having a good time. All of a sudden, one of them jumped into the middle of the road looking straight at me as I drove my black 1997 Nissan Altima down the street.
He put his hands together, palm to palm, fingers interlaced, except for the index fingers. Those, stuck out straight towards me, like the barrel of a revolver. All of a sudden, they jerked upwards, as if receiving the recoil of a gun. He resumed his aim, and pumped off a few more imaginary rounds at the on coming car.
I reached out the window and pointed my left hand at him, a smaller, but just as effective imaginary gun. I fired a few rounds, and he clutched his chest, as if he had been hit. His friend laughed and waved, so for good measure I pumped a few rounds off towards them as well, and they scattered.
The only thing missing was Peter Gabriel's "Jeux sans frontieres" blasting from the car radio.
I am a 52 year old white man, driving a beat up old car through a mixed neighborhood. It felt good to join in the games of some kids on the street on that fine spring evening, but I paused to wonder.
The boys weren't wearing hoodies. The way they interacted with an unknown white male on the streets indicated that their mothers probably hadn't had "the talk" with them; the talk how their actions might be misunderstood, how they could end up following in the steps of Trayvon Williams.
New Haven is not a stranger to youth being killed, and the kids were playing half a mile from where a new gun shop is slated to open in Woodbridge.
What went through those kids minds as they interacted with me on the street. We're they playing out the scene from their favorite video game? We're they processing the fears and concerns of their families about shootings in New Haven. Will they go on to join the military, the police, or some gang? Are they celebrating a Happy Mother's Day with their families?
And what role did I play in the drama. I wish I could stop and talk with them. Most likely, they'd run away. If not, they'd probably roll their eyes the way my kids have so often done.
Now, I sit on the deck. I hope people have a happy Mother's Day, especially the mothers of black youth in our country.
Random #ctdems #ctsen thoughts
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 05/12/2012 - 09:41Running about half an hour behind schedule. Lots of old political friends schmoozing. Martha Aasen from Westport leads the pledge of allegiance, and gets cheers from the Westport delegation.
Lots of pictures going up on Twitter, with the #ctsen and #ctdems hashtag.
Checked in on Foursquare.
Sure could use some more coffee.
Having a fun time. Bit of a rush, trying to chat with friends, blog, tweet, etc.
Mayor Tim O'Brien welcomes everyone to the convention. Does a plug for Capitol Lunch and jokes about how good the food in New Britain is, and how he has the girth to show it.
After that, many people seem to be tuning out his speech.
Rumors are that Rosa has about 20% of the delegates coming in, and the question for Team Murphy is whether he can peal off 5% to deprive Bysiewicz the 15% she needs to get on the ballot without petitioning.
The list of dignitaries brings various levels of applause. From my seat, it sounds like Murphy and Courtney got the most applause, followed by Malloy.
Chris Donovan comes next on the applause metter, followed by Kevin Lembo and Brendan Sharkey. Next on the applause meter are Larson and WIlliams.
Various municipal leaders get some level of applause.
About half a dozen events before the Nomination of Candidate for United States Senate.
CT Democratic State Convention - Pregame #ctdems #ctsen
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 05/12/2012 - 06:35Today, the Connecticut State Democratic Party will hold its state convention to select a candidate for U.S. Senate as well as other business. I've been going to political conventions for about eight years now, and have a pretty good sense at what to expect.
Chris Murphy will get a majority of the delegates, and the big question will be if Susan Bysiewicz will get the 15% necessary to get on the primary ballot in August without needing to go out and select signatures. There will also be discussions about whether or not Lee Whitnum can find her way to the convention, or if she'll present any interesting theatrics.
Despite the conventions that I watched as a kid, it seems like most of the drama is out of political conventions, and they are often much more for show than anything else. At the State Legislative level, they are often about celebrating the person who has been a State Legislator for years, or is willing to challenge an incumbent. The only drama tends to be whether or not a challenger will step into the race.
Of course, this is all based on how conventions in the Land of Steady habits tends to play out. I've covered the State Democratic Convention in Massachusetts a few times. They have a tendency of being much more rowdy and raucous. I was one of the bloggers at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Even that was better controlled and carefully orchestrated. In many ways, it felt like the coronation of Kerry, combined with a trade show for the politically active.
Today starts off the series of Conventions in Connecticut. On Monday will be the Congressional conventions. The one in the Fifth Congressional District will be the most exciting, while the other four will be parties celebrating the work of the incumbents in the district. This will be followed by state legislative conventions.
This year, I'm planning on covering three or four conventions as a blogger, depending on how much time I have, and attending one convention as a delegate.
For the smaller conventions, it is really easy to get involved. In Connecticut, we're organized on a town by town basis. Find out who is on your town committee. Join the committee if there are open seats, for smaller municipalities, there are often are. Then, when they are looking for delegates, offer to go. For the bigger, uncontested conventions, establish a little bit on online fred, and then go as a blogger.
Attending conventions can be very interesting, and for those that can't make it, follow my tweets.
Looking for Flowers
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 06:35Every day at work, I scan Twitter, RSS feeds, Google Alerts and other sources for articles that I believe would be of interest to my coworkers. Sometimes it might be ideas for our radio show. Often, there are stories about the evolving health care policy in our country, or recent articles about health outcomes from peer reviewed journals. I keep my eyes open for articles about social media and technologies' role in health care, and try to find something unique from time to time.
Recently, I came across, The Power Of Flower Photos. The article starts, "I can't remember exactly when I received the first flower email, but I do remember it was sometime in 2005." It goes on to explain the backstory, related to a man dying of a rare disease, and ends off with"Just a quiet meditation from the dawn or the dusk — an homage to the power of friendship and the beauty it inspires."
The article struck me, as it did some of my co-workers. So, I've started adding a picture of a flow at the end of my Articles of Interest email each day. So far, these have been photographs that I've taken, modified and shared via Instagram. I have been cross posting these photographs to Twitter and Tumblr, and in turn, they get cross posted to Flickr and Facebook.
Yesterday at lunch time, I took a walk down to the river, keeping my eyes open for flowers to photograph. I saw many more flowers than I had seen other days on my walks. It reminded me of an aesthetics class I took in college where the professor bewailed those who quickly move through museums, as if they are checking off items on the bucket list; need to see Mona Lisa before I die. He spoke of these people as museum runners and reflected about how many people are museum runners in daily life.
Besides the newly discovered flowers on my lunch time walks, I've been fortunate with a few developments in my life. We've recently bought a new house and friends have been bringing us flowers as house warming gifts. At work, we are opening a new building and there have been many beautiful flowers in the new building. As I look through the photographs of my friends on Instagram, I find a lot of photographs of flowers.
It is interesting to think how dying one man's request of photographs of flowers has rippled through emails, through a story on NPR, and into my life, my blog and my social media channels.
Maybe, its time for more of us to stop and share the roses.
