Dems use town-hall style to pick delegates

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

COSSELL BURTON OF Youngstown prefers to stay in the background. “I like to be the little hidden person,” she said.

But when the opportunity arose for her to serve as a Democratic National Convention delegate for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, she decided to step forward.

In a second-floor room at the Trumbull County Career and Technical Center in Champion, Burton told about 50 fellow Obama supporters about how passionately she supports the Democratic senator from Illinois.

The message had the right tone as she was chosen as the top female convention delegate for Obama at the 17th Congressional District presidential caucus Thursday.

This was the first time Burton attended a Democratic presidential caucus.

She was a bit overwhelmed but thrilled to be there.

“To see how it works gets you so excited,” she said.

More than 300 people from the 17th District — which includes portions of Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage and Summit counties — broke into groups to select convention delegates for each of the party’s seven presidential candidates.

The Democratic caucuses held in Ohio are little-known events that occur every four years to select delegates to attend the party’s convention. (Republican delegates are chosen by the presidential candidates and not through a caucus in Ohio.)

In the age of multimillion-dollar presidential campaigns and the expected rush of candidates in and out of Ohio later this year, gatherings of as few as one person and as many as 125 got together to determine who would cast votes for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominees.

Though there were plenty of people at the caucus who cut big checks enabling them to shake hands with the candidates at $2,000-a-plate dinners, they were equals with Burton and others at the caucus.

“This is your friends and neighbors coming out to vote for you to go to the convention,” said Warren Law Director Gregory Hicks, who served as the 17th District caucus chairman. “It’s about as grass roots as it gets.”

Most of the delegates selected won’t attend the Democratic convention in Denver from Aug. 25-28. Their candidates won’t have enough support to earn many delegates or will quit the race and have the party’s presidential nominee choose his or her own delegates.

But that didn’t discourage those at the caucus.

While it was packed in rooms for Obama, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and ex-U.S. Sen. John Edwards, the crowds for other candidates were considerably smaller.

Actually, if three’s a crowd, as the old saying goes, it’s overly generous to categorize the caucuses for U.S. Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, who dropped out of the race late Thursday because of poor showings in the Iowa caucus, and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich as such.

The caucuses for Biden and Dodd, who won’t have their names on the Ohio ballot because of their withdrawal, attracted two people each, while Warren Councilwoman-at large Helen Rucker of Warren was the only person in the Kucinich room. Biden and Dodd quit the race after the Ohio delegation caucus.

“This is true democracy,” said Tristan Hand of Warren, a Dodd delegate who went to the 2004 Democratic convention as a Kerry delegate. “The caucus system was the way it was done at the country’s beginning. This is like a town hall meeting where people chew the issues and then vote. This is Americana.”

But there really wasn’t much to discuss in the Dodd room.

Hand was there with Struthers Councilman-at large Daniel Yemma. The two checked off their names as Dodd delegates as well as the name of Thomas Joliff of Kent, who didn’t even bother to show up for the caucus. With Dodd out of the race, Joliff didn’t waste a trip.

There were those who traveled from Portage and Summit counties.

Among them was Marc S. Anthony of Akron, a supporter of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Anthony left the Mahoning Valley in 2002 when his employer, MCI, closed its call center in Niles. Anthony, who was attending his sixth Democratic presidential caucus, was there to vote for his friend, Virgil Ortiz of Akron, who finished first among the Richardson delegates.

“I like to be part of the process every now and then,” Anthony said in explaining why he came to support Ortiz. “There are people on the sidelines who complain and do nothing.”

There were about 100 people in the Clinton caucus and the most delegate candidates — 19, six more than Obama.

Among those at the Clinton caucus was Ron Gay of Austintown, vice president of the Communications Workers of America Local 4300 union at AT&T.

“It’s good to be part of the first step to elect a Democrat to the White House,” said Gay, who was attending his first caucus. “It makes you feel like you’re contributing a small portion to the effort.”

There was also a strong turnout for Edwards, who won the 2004 Democratic primary in Trumbull County and pulled out of the presidential race that night. Edwards ran as U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s vice presidential running mate that year and remains popular in Trumbull.

About 125 people attended Edwards’ caucus with quite a few union members making up the group.

Among them were Mark Schuller and Brian Ulrich, both of Warren, who lost their jobs in November when Amweld Building Products closed its Niles plant.

“I’m not a real big politician, but I’m here because I believe John Edwards is the best candidate to help create jobs in this country,” Ulrich said. “This is a good process. It allows people to talk to each other and express views.”

Schuller came at the urging of Ulrich, who attended the 2004 caucus.

“I want to see what this is like,” he said.

Also coming at Ulrich’s request was Travis Turner of Niles, who works at Intier Seating Systems in Lordstown. The company has about 85 workers, down from about 300 two years ago, Turner said. He has seen too many of his fellow employees lose their jobs and is concerned about his future.

“I came to see what John Edwards is about,” he said. “It would seem he’s more labor-friendly and understands the plight of the working man.”

The loneliest place at the center was Room 116. That was where the Kucinich caucus of one was held. Rucker sat by herself, voted for herself as a Kucinich delegate and then left the room.

The Warren councilwoman acknowledges her candidate doesn’t have a chance to win. But she is supporting him with the hope that Kucinich can speak at the Democratic National Convention. She agrees with his ideas, such as stopping the war in Iraq and making health care accessible to all.

“It would be very easy to support one of the front-runners, but I want someone who is bold enough to say the things he says,” Rucker said of Kucinich.

The crowd wasn’t much bigger in Room 121, where the Biden caucus was held.

Vernon Trimble of Champion, a Biden delegate, was with Champion Township Trustee Jeff Hovanic, who came out to vote for his friend. It turns out it wasn’t necessary. Trimble was the only Biden delegate, and the vote he cast for himself would have been enough. It was also unnecessary, with Biden now out of the race.

“Until I got here, I didn’t realize the magnitude of this and its impact on the Democratic nomination and the presidency of the country,” he said in the nearly empty room. “I’m very glad I did this. I’m the only person in the 17th District to be a Biden delegate.”

Trimble said it “disturbs me that people are here supporting the favorite candidates” and overlooked Biden.

But Hovanic was quick to point out that the presidential nominating process can change.

In 2004, only 12 people participated in the Kerry caucus in the 17th District while about 400 attended the one for Howard Dean. Kerry’s turnout was the lowest of any candidate in the race.

About six weeks later, Kerry had the Democratic nomination wrapped up and a post-primary caucus had to be held to fill out his slate of delegates.

“You never know,” Hovanic said.

True, but we do know about Biden.

skolnick@vindy.com