District Convention 101

What to expect at your District Convention? For the official documents of specific proceedings, visit the Iowa Democratic Party Website (www.iowademocrats.org) and view the 2008 delegate plan.

**If you were elected as a delegate or alternate that is for both the district and state convention. The district convention is on Saturday, April 26 and the state convention is on Saturday, June 14.

1. Registration of Delegates and Alternates (Saturday, April 26)
   You should anticipate a time commitment of 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Each district is different but all plan to register at 8 am and convene at 9 am.

   (If you are a delegate and unable to attend, you should select an alternate for Senator Obama in order for his support to be counted. If you need assistance, we can identify one for you. Please work with your our field organizer or district delegate committee if you need assistance in identifying that person)

   CD 1, 3	Nathan Blake	nblake@barackobama.com
   CD 2,4,5	Kevin Geiken	kgeiken@gmail.com

2. Upon gavel down, a chair is selected and the credentials committee will present their report of the relative strengths of the presidential preference groups.

3. All delegates will then have an hour period to align with presidential preference groups for the purpose of determining strength of each group. (Regardless of who you supported in the county conventions, you can sign in and support any candidate you wish. We encourage you to sign in as Obama supporters.)

4. After 1 hour the Credentials Committee will report to the convention viable and non viable (not having 15%) group status. Members of non viable groups only will then have a reasonable time to realign with or into other viable groups. This is the opportunity to persuade those from non viable groups or other groups to support Senator Obama.

5. National Delegates Allocated - The number of national delegates for each group is determined.

6. Meet in preference groups to select chair and elect national delegates. Select state convention committee members (Rules, Arrangements, and Credentials -- All important positions to make sure Senator Obama is represented.)

7. Election of additional district committee positions.

8. Discussion of issues and county party platform.

9. Meeting concludes.

Information

1. Most conventions will have lunch available for a nominal fee or you can bring your own lunch!

2. In each district we will have an Obama District Chair or Co Chairs that are responsible for being the point person on the day of to answer questions or deal with any issues. They are the main point of contact for Obama delegates/alternates and strategy questions.

3. Each county is responsible for sending out a notice to all delegates called a “call” that gives details of the convention. You should receive that by mid April.

How can I become a delegate in Denver?

We strongly recommend you visit the IDP website at www.iowademocrats.org and view the official document 2008 delegate plan. We have 56 and 8 alternates who attend the DNC convention on August 25 – 28. There are two ways.

1. Run for delegate at the district convention. At district convention the following will be chosen:

   District Level Delegates: 29

   Alternates: 5 (one per district)

   District 1 – 3 male, 3 female
   District 2 – 4 male, 3 female
   District 3 – 3 male, 3 female
   District 4 – 3 male, 3 female
   District 5 – 2 male, 2 female

2. Run for delegate at the state convention. These slots are a little trickier because you are competing with people across the state. At the state convention the following will be chosen:

   Unpledged Add on Delegates: 1
   Pledged PLEO (Party Leader Elected Official) Delegates: 6
   At Large Delegates: 10
   At Large Alternates: 3
   Standing Committee Members: 2
   

Questions? Email iowa@barackobama.com or your local field organizers.