As Super Tuesday approaches and people make plans to decide on their favorite candidate, people rarely realize that it is really delegates that they will be casting a vote for.  Like the electoral college, the delegate process is as shrouded in mystery, echoing a reminder that we are still a republic, all the way down to our nomination process.

 

Long Beach will send several people to their respective nominating conventions, but as of now, nobody knows which way it will go.

 

The Democrats

 

The California Democratic Party doles out its delegates proportionally, meaning that even if Hillary Clinton were to win the statewide tally, Barack Obama would still win a sizable number of the over 200 California delegates if he came in a close second.

 

Further, since the delegation is awarded by the percentage won in each congressional district, it is possible that the overall winner of California could end up losing the majority of delegates to the second place finisher.

 

“It could all come down to delegate strategy,” says James Johnson, President of the Long Beach Democratic Club and Barack Obama supporter. 

 

He added that the Clinton campaign’s strategy has been to win California overall in a landslide, and not focusing on district by district campaigning, which Johnson adds was a “mistake” due to Obama’s strength.

 

“It’s been an exciting race,” Johnson noted, “but it’s definitely gonna go on.”

 

Who are the local delegates for the Democrats?

 

Since the Calfornia Democratic Party moved their primary up to February 5th, and relatively late also, no individual delegates have been selected due to the caucus style of selection that Democrats prefer.

 

On April 13th, after Super Tuesday, a series of caucuses will be held to determine who will be selected as a delegate for which candidate, by any registered Democrat that wishes to attend.  The 37th Congressional District will have five delegates chosen, but it is likely that one candidate will get three delegates, and one candidate will get two, given the close nature of this campaign.

 

The Republicans

 

For the first time in the California Republican Party’s history, delegates will be awarded by congressional district, plus a number of bonus delegates for the winner of the statewide popular vote. 

 

Every district will apportion three delegates each to the winner of that particular congressional district.  Much like the Democrats, the Republican Party could be split, and Long Beach could play a role in that overall strategy of district by district campaigning.  Already Mitt Romney has seen Long Beach as a break away area that could swing his side, and plans a Monday night rally in Long Beach.

 

Unlike the Democrats, the campaigns selected their individual delegates and submitted those names to the state party in early January. 

 

For McCain, some recognizable, and one peculiar name appears on his local delegation list.  Former Congressman Steve Kuykendall is a McCain delegate for the 46th Congressional District, and has been a vocal supporter by speaking throughout the state on his behalf. 

 

A not so vocal McCain delegate is Long Beach City Attorney Bob Shannon, representing the 37th Congressional District.  Shannon gave $1,000 to McCain last year, but has not been a favorite of Republicans in past years.  He filed suit against the state and county Republican party in 2002, has been a vocal opponent of the conservative Long Beach Chamber of Commerce’s efforts to fight current local campaign finance law, and was the only locally elected Republican official not to endorse the local party’s Long Beach Straw Poll Event in January.

 

Other McCain delegates for Long Beach include Richard and Cassandra Vandenberg, local political consultants and fundraisers involved with the McCain campaign.

 

A number of leading local Republicans who threw their support behind Giuliani will no longer have a chance to go as delegates now that Rudy dropped out.  Those include County Supervisor Don Knabe, Cerritos Councilwoman Carol Chen, former Mayoral Chief of Staff and Schwarzenegger appointee Randal Hernandez, Board of Equalization member Michelle Steel, and former State Assembly candidate Cesar Castellanos.

 

The last delegation to be making a charge is the Romney delegation, which is much less high profile.  The Romney delegation includes LAPD officer Vic Dennis (37th), local Political Consultant Rick Davis (46th, whose wife is also working closely with the Romney campaign), artist Alex Vernon (37th), and yours truly, Randy Terrell (37th).

 

How does one become delegate?  Even some of the delegates are unsure of how it even happened. 

 

“It’s a dream come true,” said Alex Vernon, local artist and Romney delegate, “but I am still not sure how it happened.”

 

As for me, I was approached some how, and given a form, and then a month later, I was a delegate.  It’s all very in the shadows, but at least for the Republican Party this time and its Congressional Apportionment system, much more (little D) democratic.