BY BRIDGET THORESON
Journal Times | Posted: Sunday, May 4, 2008 12:00 am
BRISTOL - Four people from Racine County were elected Sunday to go to the Democratic National Convention.
More than hundred delegates turned out for the 1st Congressional District Caucus at the Kenosha County Center, 19600 75th St., for about two and a half hours Sunday afternoon. The caucus determined the district's six delegates and one alternate heading to the convention in Denver from Aug. 25-28.
"It's just a really big honor," said Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, who was elected as a delegate for Sen. Barack Obama. "I hope to represent all the enthusiasm that voters have felt about Sen. Obama's campaign."
Two subcaucuses were held to elect the delegates for Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Each candidate received three delegates, and Obama received one alternate. The delegate amounts are assigned proportionally based on the results of Wisconsin's Feb. 19 primary.
Debra Bartoshevich of Waterford was elected to be a delegate for Clinton. Bartoshevich, who has worked as an emergency room nurse at Columbia-St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee for 15 years, said she got involved because of the need for people to have access to health care.
"I support her because of her universal health care plan," she said in a speech before the votes were cast. "I see the devastating consequences of diseases on the uninsured."
Of the delegates who were elected at county caucuses, 60 had filled out intent forms and were eligible to be elected. Thirty-three were running for the position of an Obama delegate, and 17 could run for Clinton, although due to people withdrawing their names, by the time voting started, 27 were in the running for Obama and 10 for Clinton.
Neither presidential candidate has secured the 2,024 delegates needed to clinch the party's nomination. Obama currently has 1,742, and Clinton has 1,607, according to a recent Associated Press count.
Due to party rules, two men and one woman were elected as delegates for Obama and two women and one man were elected as Clinton delegates.
Meg Andrietsch of Racine, a trustee of the Democratic Party of Racine County, was elected as the female delegate for Obama. She said she hadn't seen a leader as inspiring as Obama since John and Bobby Kennedy.
"I've done a lot of interesting things, but this - this is one of those things that you'll probably put in your obituary,"
Andrietsch said. "The future of democracy is at stake, as well as that of the planet."
Twenty-three-year-old Jason Smith of Mount Pleasant was elected as the alternate for Obama. Smith, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison last year, said he has spent much of his time since graduation volunteering for Obama's campaign.
"When he announced his candidacy I just knew I had to be part of his campaign," Smith said in his speech before voting began. "He spoke to our generation in a way that no other presidential candidate had for a long time."
The other delegates elected from the district were Marlene Ott of Milwaukee County and William Cobb of Kenosha County for Clinton, and Michael Underhill of Kenosha County for Obama. The 1st District includes the counties of Racine, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Waukesha, Rock and
Walworth.