Democrats elect Fourth District delegates
“This extraordinary level of enthusiasm shows that Democrats are energized and mobilized to reclaim the White House for the American people,” said Paul Davis, chairman of the Warren County Democrats.
“There was lively competition for the small number of delegate slots allotted to the Fourth District, but the whole atmosphere was one of party unity and determination,” Davis said. “At the end of this nominating process, we’re going to give to the voters a candidate who shares the values and concerns of working Americans, many of whom worry they won’t have a place to work if our jobs continue to disappear as they have under the Bush administration.”
Under the proportional allocation plan adopted by the national Democratic Party, delegate slots are determined by the percentage of votes the respective candidates won in each of the nine congressional districts in Tennessee’s presidential primary election Feb. 10. Only candidates receiving at least 15 percent of the primary vote are accorded delegates. The delegates chosen yesterday are:
For Massachusetts U.S. Sen. John Kerry – Justin Walling (Van Buren County) and Anna York (Cumberland County);
For North Carolina U.S. Sen. John Edwards – Bill Killian (Marion County) and Gayle VanHooser (Grundy County);
For Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark – Nathan Cunningham (Coffee County) and alternate delegate Paula Collier (Warren County).
The voting delegates at the assembly, held at the Warren County Administrative Building, were chosen in county caucuses two weeks earlier. According to Brenda Ables, Fourth District chairperson for the Tennessee Democratic Party, the voting delegates who registered here yesterday were divided as follows: Kerry, 110; Edwards, 75; Clark, 52.
“It was exciting to see young people among those elected from the Fourth District,” said Ables, indicating she is encouraged by a recent surge in political activism on the part of students and young people beginning their working careers.