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 Work is going on to nearly the last minute at the Pepsi Center in Denver, where Josh Vaughters, left, and Jeremy Lanier installed a sign Saturday. Jae C. Hong / The Associated Press
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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.24.2008
When Democrats held their national convention four years ago, Chris Campas was a 16-year-old high school student in Sierra Vista.
Tonight, the 20-year-old University of Arizona student will board a plane to Denver, where he'll be one of the youngest delegates at the Democratic National Convention.
"There's a lot of things to do, a lot of things to learn," says Campas, who is making his second run for the Cochise County Board of Supervisors — he was just 17 when he launched his first bid in 2006.
Campas is one of 76 delegates statewide who span generations and diverse backgrounds heading to Denver this week for what is expected to be one of the most enthusiastic Democratic conventions in decades.
The Southern Arizona contingent includes: a longtime Tucson Democratic activist attending his first convention in 24 years; a university student who's still in shock that he'll be attending; and a retired brigadier general who has found his political voice after retiring from 34 years of active duty in the U.S. Army.
Arizona Democrats say their status of being from the home state of the other side's nominee — Sen. John McCain, coupled with Gov. Janet Napolitano's televised speech on the economy, will give them an elevated importance this year.
"We have the role of telling the country why John McCain is the wrong choice to put our country back on track," said Emily Bittner, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. "We know him; we've had to put up with him."
Others — particularly Republicans — say the truth could be just the opposite. Arizona went strongly for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Feb. 5 presidential preference election, despite a strong effort by the Obama campaign and an endorsement of him by Napolitano.
"They didn't put their vote of confidence in the guy who wishes to be president," said state Rep. Jonathan Paton, an alternate delegate at next week's GOP convention in Minnesota. "So, it's kind of interesting that the party thinks they're going to play some important role."
But the attention will be enough to draw Republican Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl out to Denver this week to defend his long-time seatmate, McCain, in a series of press conferences and interviews.
Other local and statewide officials will be on hand. Aside from Napolitano, who is scheduled to speak Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords of Southern Arizona and Attorney General Terry Goddard will all serve as superdelegates.
The overall practical function of the conventions has changed greatly over the past 30 to 40 years. Once it was considered a monumental event where party insiders and delegates would fight it out to pick a nominee. But with Obama the obvious candidate since May, the convention is pretty much a big, well, party.
"It gives Democrats and Democratic leaders from around the country the opportunity to be together," Napolitano said last week. "It really is the start of the general-election campaign.
"The party conventions set the major themes and set the tone. It gets everybody focused."
The theme of the convention is national security, but the real focus seems to be unity — a must for Democrats, who found themselves divided earlier this year during the race between Obama and Clinton. With Clinton in a prime-time speaking role, her supporters are united, yes. But they are by no means over her defeat.
Campas, a Clinton delegate, said Friday, before Obama announced his choice of Joe Biden as running mate, that he was still holding out hope that the New York senator might make it onto the ticket.
"Together they could do extraordinary things," said Campas, who has invited two other UA students — one Republican, one independent — to tag along and complete a research project on how to get young voters energized.
For Tucson attorney Bruce Huerlin, a Clinton alternate delegate, this will also be his first convention experience. But his Democratic activism dates back to when he was younger than Campas is now.
In 1960, Huerlin — a Tucson resident for the past 34 years — stood on a street corner in his hometown of Rock Island, Ill., holding a John F. Kennedy sign as the future president prepared to speak.
With talk about his party being more energized than it has been in decades, Huerlin says he hopes that's the case.
"I think that suffering through eight years of George W. Bush has energized everybody," said Huerlin, whose 25-year-old son will join him as a guest. He takes his role as an alternative delegate — meaning he'll fill-in for delegates who are unable to attend — seriously.
"I see it as working towards common goals, meeting people, discussing topics, hearing different points of view," he said of the purpose of the convention.
For local activists, this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Attorney JoJene Mills, a Clinton delegate, was the lead organizer behind the former first lady's visit to Tucson last February. Former Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Paul Eckerstrom last attended a convention in 1984, as a supporter of Gary Hart. Now, he's pledging for Obama.
The group of delegates and their guests are all booked into the same hotel, and will spend their days schmoozing; attending speeches and seminars on election strategies and round-table discussions on health care and national security; and conducting media interviews.
That will give John Adams, a recently retired brigadier general and an Obama delegate, a voice. After 34 years of active duty in the Army, Adams, 54, says he feels liberated to finally speak out against the Iraq war. And that's the issue that drew him to Obama.
"He was one of the few voices in the nation who was speaking out from the beginning against what has proven to be a disaster in our country," said Adams, who moved to Tucson last summer.
And for all these delegates, there's a great sense of excitement, and even anxiety.
Just talk to 23-year-old David Martinez, a University of Arizona student and member of the Arizona Board of Regents who will attend as a Clinton delegate.
"I just want to soak it all in," he said. "It's definitely a huge benchmark — something I'll remember for the rest of my life, indeed.
"I really don't think it's hit me yet."
Election
2008
coming up
Meet the Southern Arizonans going to the GOP convention in Minnesota. Next Sunday
● Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 307-4339 or dscarpinato@azstarnet.com.
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