The vote captured the tone of the day: It was all about Sanders.
“We love you, Bernie!” a state delegate shouted from the crowd as a videotaped message from Sanders — who was thousands of miles away campaigning in California — was wrapping up.
“As Vermonters, we will be the face of Bernie Sanders,” Vermont Democratic Party chair Dottie Deans told the crowd of 405 state delegates at the Barre Opera House.
Sanders supporters were elected to represent Vermont at the national convention in July. Continuing the Sanders revolution was the talk of the day.
“It’s really Bernie who got me involved in this,” said Maria Rinaldi, 37, of Jericho, who attended her first state convention and won one of 11 coveted delegate seats at the national convention.
This is a political party that the independent Sanders has never embraced, but at least for Sunday he seemed to own it.
Speakers studiously avoided almost any mention of Hillary Clinton, Sanders’ rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, even though Clinton is the odds-on favorite in the race. There was no acknowledgement that Sanders’ delegates could face bitter disappointment at the national convention.
Still, the event featured none of the tension that plagued last week’s Democratic convention in Nevada. There, Sanders supporters accused the party of rigging the rules in favor of Clinton. That event devolved into near chaos that has party leaders nervous still.
Deans conceded she had worried about whether such voter discontent would play out at the Vermont convention. “You hope for civility, you plan for not,” she said.
Civility prevailed because it was all about Bernie. Based on Vermont’s March 1 primary results, all 11 district delegates selected Sunday will be pledged to support Sanders through at least the first round of voting at the national convention. That made it easy for more than 100 delegate candidates to focus exclusively on the Vermont senator.
And unlike the situation in Nevada, those in charge of the Vermont convention could hardly be accused of working for the enemy. Rich Cassidy, the convention chair, is a superdelegate who supports Sanders. So are Deans, the party chair, and Tim Jerman, the vice chair.
“Probably a lot of die-hard Clinton supporters didn’t bother to show up,” said Scott Garren, 68, of Shrewsbury, himself a die-hard Sanders supporter who fell just short of winning a four-year term as the party’s national committeeman. “Bernie’s support is so overwhelming.”
Much of that support came from eager first-time convention-goers. One of them, Claudia Pringles of Montpelier, won a district delegate seat and narrowly lost out to state Rep. Mary Sullivan (D-Burlington) in a contest to become the new state committeewoman.
Pringles won over the crowd promising to change the way party politics are run. “Sometimes you need to be the mosquito in the room, rather than the elephant,” she said.
Pringles said she came to Barre afraid everyone else would know each other. “But it seems like a lot of people came here because of Bernie,” she said.
All those Sanders supporters weren’t about to leave the convention without expressing their discontent with the Democratic Party’s superdelegate system, which allows party leaders to vote for whomever they choose at the national convention. So far, Clinton holds a significant lead over Sanders in support from superdelegates nationally.
Randy Leavitt of Royalton arrived dressed as Superman to make a statement. “I’m Vermont’s only real superdelegate,” he said.
For all the anger brewing over the issue, delegates didn’t dwell long on it. In an almost unanimous voice vote with no public debate, they passed a resolution that calls on the party to ditch the superdelegate status for the next presidential election in 2020.
In the meantime, the resolution asks the state’s superdelegates to voluntarily follow the will of Vermont Democratic voters and cast their ballots at the national convention for Sanders. Four of Vermont’s 10 superdelegates — Gov. Peter Shumlin, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), former governor Howard Dean and Democratic national committeewoman Billi Gosh — are supporting Clinton.
None of them were at Sunday’s convention.
As he was introduced, only a brief, barely audible boo emanated from the audience. In his speech, Tracy avoided mentioning Clinton. Instead, he played up Sanders and stuck to common enemies.
“What Vermont and Bernie have put forth, Donald Trump would like to take away,” Tracy said, referring to the likely Republican nominee.
As Tracy told the crowd that Leahy was determined to ensure a Democrat wins the presidency in 2016, some in the crowd chanted, “Bernie, Bernie.”
Later in the day, the crowd found another way to express its frustration with Leahy and his proxy. Tracy, a popular former state legislator from Burlington, finished third among four candidates vying to replace Cassidy as the party’s national committeeman.
“In normal times, John Tracy would be a shoo-in,” said Garren, who finished second in the balloting to another avowed Sanders supporter, Terje Anderson. “In normal times, Sen. Leahy is a very popular guy.”
The 11 district delegates elected Sunday are: Maria Rinaldi, Mary Sullivan, Claudia Pringles, Aster O’Leary, Laura Simon, Ashley Andreas, Brian Pine, Arshad Hasan, Noah Detzer, Kevin Christie and Matthew Birong Jr.
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Not all Vermont Democrats are around grumpy grandpa- many of us feel is is helping to elect trump by his insistance in styaing in the race- when its seriously, one in 3 million.
Only reason he is staying in is to still collect the donations for himself and his wife and step kids and spouses..seeing they are ALL on the payroll..just the the Clintons…
Folks, you can dislike all you want ( you don’t think I have to dislike- living in Los Angeles & Vermont) but you will have to face facts- you will have to vote the party line or your vote- or no vote- will support trump.
Go Bernie!
I know that many of us delegates that just returned from the convention were ecstatic to be a in room full of people that had the same hopes, the same beliefs and felt the power of that! To give up our support and push for Bernie because he ‘ might not make it’ isn’t what keeping the faith is all about. We’ll go as far as we can ! Maybe the world is changing, maybe enough people are ready for real change without fear mongering and hate… Bernie is the answer. If there comes time that we have to choose party lines over Trump, of course that goes without saying. Tough to swallow, but it’ll have to be done. I’ll not give up before then though!!! Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!!
Voting for Hillary is not choosing party lines. It’s voting for the corruption that threatens to destroy the party lines.
“Still, the event featured none of the tension that plagued last week’s Democratic convention in Nevada. There, Sanders supporters accused the party of rigging the rules in favor of Clinton. That event devolved into near chaos that has party leaders nervous still.”
As well it should. That event is only one where the corruption of our democracy has been documented–so media spun it into something it was not: The Democratic establishment of Nevada overruling the will of those present, excluding Sanders’ delegates, and creating a sham of democracy.
Regardless of the so-called “wisdom” of preventing the Drumpf candidate from taking the Presidency, the majority of Democratic voters in the U.S. plus Independents (that are a majority in their own right) want to see Sanders elected President and have clearly stated that they will not vote for HRC.
I hear MSM spinning number of Democratic primary voters down (when, in actuality, they are high), and numerous other “spins” while blacking out entirely the FACT that tens of thousands of people come out to packed crowds at every Sanders event, including California, where Democrats are again being disenfranchised–also unreported in MSM. … A majority understands that electronic voting machines can “flip” (steal) votes, and will no longer comply with corporate theft of U.S. elections.
We can wake up and demand integrity in our election process, or we can follow the path of “the good Germans” with similar results.
@ Carpenter:
You do not help your cause by suggesting that if we do not think like you we’re all Hitler-enablers. Stupid.
I am not ready to have a Socialist Country nor a Socialist Pres..and that’s what Sanders is a socialist draft dodger.. Why don’t all you liberals leave Vt and take him with you.. Sanders is not a TRUE VERMONTER.. he’s not a native son of Vt, he’s from Brooklyn NY.. get it right.. A SOCIALIST!!!! Am I’m for Trump, you’re damn right I am, at least he’s a true American, who loves our Military and our Country, he wants to build America back up not turn it into a socialist country and give stuff away, make everything FREE.. Nothing is free, someone has to pay for it and it will be the taxpayers.. GO TRUMP!!!! Vermont use to be a great Republican State..look at it now,,
Interesting to read commenter Donna Bouton’s vehement opposition to Socialism while simultaneously praising Trump’s love of the military. I have some news for you Donna: The US military is the biggest form of socialism in the US. Over 50% of every tax dollar goes to the military, and the US military budget is bigger than the combined total of the next 5 biggest foreign military budgets, including Russia’s. If you have a high school education, or even if you dropped out in 8th grade, you have benefitted from socialism. If you have or have had children in public school, you have benefitted from socialism, and that education is being paid for by members of your community who pay property tax, whether they have kids or not. And how about police, fire and rescue services? Socialism. I hope you don’t ever need those services, especially since you are so opposed to socialism, because that would be hypocritical. And if you oppose socialism, then that means you do not support veterans, because veterans receive socialist benefits in the form of medical care through the VA, and education through the GI bill. And what about Social Security? Since it’s a form of socialism, are you going to not collect yours? Do you work a 40 hour work week and have weekends off? If so, you have the Socialist labor movement to thank for that. They fought and died for all workers to have those rights. They also fought for children to have the right to go to school, instead of being forced to work in factories at 9 years old. And by the way, that Socialist labor movement had a major hub in Barre over 100 years ago, so you are wrong to think it’s some new invasion into your concept of Vermont.
@Ernie Hotchkiss do you even know what Socialism is??? Let me tell you something.. I come from a long line of Military, I just lost my son who was in the Military and he loved his country and the Military, you haven’t got a clue what ” Socialism” mean..I am not the one who is cutting benefits to the Military nor not giving the senior citizens a cost of living increase.. You’re probably not even a true Vermonter more like a transplant if you even live in Vt..Go on keep supporting the socialist bernie..Course talking to a liberal is like talking to a wall..Veterans deserve all the benefits they can get.. They fought for freedom so you can talk stupid like you just did..were you in the Military, probably not.. You are probably the biggest socialist nutcase there is.. I support all the Military, police, fire dept, not because I have to because I WANT TO..I don’t expect things for free, I work for it, I don’t stand there with my hand out.. I don’t believe in taking from the rich and giving it to a lazy jerk who thinks he’s entitled to free money etc..Yes I do have a high school education and have always worked and paid my fair share, if that’s what you call socialism then you are a fool.. to me that’s not socalism it’s called freedom, working for what I want.. I don’t sit back and expect things for free..To really blow your mind.. I believe in the 2nd Amendment “THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS” that’s why I have my guns!!!!