R.I.P. Tim Russert

Just noticed that Tim Russert, host of "Meet the Press" amongst other things died this morning at the age of 58.

www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/13/tim.russert/index.html

Washington State Democratic Convention

Hi all,

So, Laura and I are here at the Washington State Democratic Convention in Spokane. We left early this morning and got in around 10am. There are tons of people and there is tons of energy. There are workshops on how to get involved in different aspects of the democratic process, including one that I am in right now about blogging for political processes. I have been talking all day with other National Delegates, and candidates for the remaining spots have been approaching me all day to introduce themselves and ask for my vote. Laura has been doing the same, except on the other side of the coin.

I will be heading back tonight to Vashon for Graduation, then go back Sunday Morning for all the voting, delegate selection, etc. More details about all that will come later.

The rest of the schedule today will be more forums and workshops, and then the Gala Banquet this evening at 6pm. After that, there will be Hospitality Suites, which are where candidates for higher positions (state supreme court, state attorney general, etc.) that open up their hotel suites for people to come and talk and mingle with them and their supporters. This should be a great experience for Laura (my flight unfortunately leaves before they begin) and I think she will be posting something about it later.

All for now, more to come.

Peace,

Nick

7th Congressional District Caucus Results

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was the 10-hour-long CD Caucus.  Laura Hicks and I both campaigned all day, along with around a dozen other youth and various adults.  

I received 24 votes in the first round of voting, and Laura received 23.  My 24 was the 4th most out of all the males there, putting me on the final ballot (top 6).  Unfortunately, the women's pool was much tougher, and Laura, despite receiving almost the same vote tall as me, was not on the final ballot.  

In the final round of voting, I received the 2nd highest vote total, meaning that I am automatically headed to the Democratic National Convention in August in Denver!  Laura will be campaigning at the State Convention, where the remainder of Washington's delegates are elected, and we have quite a campaign to mound before then.  

Thank you to everyone who has helped, especially those who were at the caucus helping us on the ground.  The results so far have truly been worth it, and they will only get more impressive from here.  

-Nick Bordner

Meeting on the 10th of May

Hello everyone,

We are having another meeting this coming Saturday, the 10th of May, for anyone and everyone who is interested in helping us win the CD Caucus and get to the DNC.

Where:  McMurray Middle School Lunch Room

When:  12 noon (and will probably go until about 2pm or 3pm)

This meeting will involve more in depth strategizing and information about the CD Caucus, making signs, stuffing envelopes, etc.  Also, Laura and I will be giving a more in depth talk about who we are, why we are running, what we stand for and believe in, etc.  Any and all questions will be answered as thoroughly as possible.

Thanks, and we hope to see you all there.  Remember, tell your friends, family, etc.

Reminder about the meeting on Saturday

Just a reminder about the meeting tomorrow:

Saturday, May 3rd

Noon

McMurray Multipurpose (lunch) room

Bring your friends, family, and whoever else you think might be interested.  Hope to see a lot of you there!

7th Congressional District Delegate List

The 7th Congressional District delegate list has finally been released! On the other end of the link at the bottom of this post is a place where you can download the list. It's in spreadsheet format. 

Please take a look at this list.  If there is anyone on it that you know, please call them/email them/get in contact with them and ask them to consider voting for Laura and me.  If they would like to know more, direct them to this blog, or have them email Laura or I directly.

Nick:  nickbordner@gmail.com

Laura:  fuzzyhugs@gmail.com

Thanks a ton!

http://www.mediafire.com/?0njmllmkbm2

VYC & Volunteer Recruitment Meeting

Hey everyone,

So we've gotten the Vashon Island Youth Delegates project approved by the Vashon Youth Council as an officially sponsored program, and sent in an Opportunity Knocks grant to DOIT, and now we've got our first meeting planned.

This Saturday, May 3rd we invite community members to join us at the McMurray Middle School multipurpose room at Noon to join up with the delegates, myself and your peers to volunteer to help Laura and Nick in their campaign to be delegates to the Democratic National Convention. More news on this soon!

other issues that concern us

here are three that are of critical importance, I think, for preservation of the representative democracy we may be in danger of losing.

1) the restoration of the election process, because if we don't preserve that, then we have no peaceful way to ever throw the bums out. election reform includes absolutely transparent voting which values precinct workers over "convenience" machines. it also includes legislation to remove the ability of big money to buy elections and political influence.

2) the restoration of constitutional rights of citizenship (privacy, habeus corpus, etc) which have been under assault from both government and corporate business for some time.

3) the restoration of the primary role of informed, interested, and involved citizen in our system. If the end result of our system of education is to turn out a citizenry which does not accept responsibility for its ownership of this government, then that system of education is a liability and must be changed.

kh

Greetings and welcome to the party!

Hey everyone,
Its nice to have a blog up and running, thanks Nick, so that we can all converse and get together in one place to share ideas, dates/times, etc. and keep up to date on everything.
We are a part of this political process to represent you so we want to know what issues you are most concerned with. Be it anything from the War in Iraq and global warming, to immigration and the economy, feel free to post or comment and discuss those issues with us. We plan on taking our involvement in this election to November and beyond, and we hope you will stay involved too. "The most important political office is that of private citizen." - Justice Louis Brandeis.
We are currently looking for people who want to help us get elected to the Democratic National Convention. At the Congressional District Caucuses on May 17 we will have that opportunity and would love for you to join us, in handing out flyers, carrying signs, talking to people, and doing other things we might come up with along the way. Would you be interested in joining our posse? We're both really serious about making this happen and of course we need as much help as we can get, so it would be lovely you have you on board.
Thanks for visiting, drop by anytime!
~Laura

Useful info from "Mr. Mole"

Update: Mr Mole has turned out to be none other than Ken Hicks, Laura's dad.  Thanks to Ken for the info.

There is some info posted as a comment by one "Mr. Mole" (care to take credit, anyone?)  that is very helpful, so I wanted to draw attention to it.  It can be seen as a comment on one of the previous posts, or if the person who stuck it up would like to tell me who they are I can give them author status so that they can publish it as a proper post.  Either leave a comment here or email me directly, Mr. Mole.  To the rest, check out the comment for now: it has a good overview of what we can expect, to some degree, at the CD caucus.

Peace

VYC and Vashon Youth Delegates

I met today with Julian Park, who plays an active role in the Vashon Youth Council, about having them sponsor Laura and I as part of a larger project to get more youth involved and playing a role in politics on the island.  He and I will be actively working on the paperwork to make this happen, and I will keep people updated here as to how that is going along.  This arrangement would help provide our "campaign" with publicity, funds, meeting spaces, etc.  I look forward to making this a reality, and thanks a ton to Julian for the idea and help he as put towards it so far, and will hopefully continue to put forth.

Check out the VYC website here:

www.vashonyouthcouncil.org

Peace.

Help us at the Congressional District Caucus!

So, Laura and I are, as you know, trying to get to the DNC in Denver. The next and potentially final step in doing that is our Congressional District Caucus (we are part of the 7th CD in Washington).  It is on May 17th, and will be held at North Seattle Community College.  There will be about 300 delegates there, and 9 will be elected: 4 males and 5 females.  Those 9 that are elected automatically have a seat at the DNC.  We are looking for people who are interested in being there to help us get elected.  Please contact either of us if you are interested.  Peace.

 

Here we are....

Hello all,

This is a blog for anything and everything related to the Youth Delegates from Vashon Island.  Specifically, at least for now, it is meant for everyone who will be helping Nick Bordner and Laura Hicks get to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this coming August, but is open to others as well.  Please feel free to post any relevant information, thoughts you have, comments, ideas, or whatever else you want that is relevant.  This will likely be fairly empty for a few days, but should be useful for helping find meeting times that work for everyone, etc. once more people know about it and use it.  And, of course, please feel free to contact me at nickbordner@gmail.com about anything.  Particularly, if you want to be able to post, let me know and I will invite you. Peace.

-Nick Bordner