It's a small world, after all! Despite what the song says, it's not true. Not if you were attending the Florida Democratic Convention at Disney World on October 26-28. Our Club was represented by Joan Walton, President; Bobbi Brown, Vice President; Betty Bainbridge, Past President; and Linda Forcey, past Secretary, who were there and would agree that it was a very wide, wide world--widely diverse in age, gender, and ethnicity. Even without the Democratic candidates present, the convention was energizing, particularly the inspiring addresses by Senator Bill Nelson, Jim Davis, former Congressman who ran for governor in 2006, and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (right hand to Speaker Nancy Pelosi) among other Florida party leaders. In fact the absence of the Presidential candidates kept the focus of the convention on ideas and learning rather than on personalities.
Our ladies remarked that all the meetings were educational, whatever the topic. Economic issues such as property taxes, health costs, and insurance costs are foremost in the minds of the Florida voters. Southwest Florida is also getting younger, more educated, and more Democratic in long-run trends. Despite what is known as the 30-70 Rule (30% of 30-year olds vote, but 70% of 70-year olds vote) the convention was remarkable for the number of young voters who were attending.
The difficulties that Florida Democrats have with the National Democratic Party leadership about the date of our primary election should not distract us from the main message about voting: "Democrats, vote in the Primary; the whole world is watching". It doesn't matter if the votes are not counted; they will influence every primary that follows ours. Most of our state leadership believes that our delegation will be seated and will be allowed to vote.
Welcome home, ladies. from your Disney adventure. Hope the Mad Tea Party ride didn't make you dizzy, or was it the partying after the meetings that did it?
3 comments:
Thank yoiu Darl for setting up and managing this blog site. Our children and grandchildren will be proud of us as we learn to use it. I''m proud of you for putting us first in Lee County with a blog spot. Have you been blogging before this? (Question for everyone and anyone).
Joan, I've visited a few blogs connected with the Yahoo groups that I belong to, but I've never actually contributed anything to them.
Darl, agree...this is a great addition to our club history...you do such good work. I am curious to know how you received such a good summary of Dick's talk...did he give it to you? He called me several days ago and sent me a copy.
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