My Week in Denver

I was pretty much off the grid last week in Denver during the convention, and since Sarah, Mike, and others have authored some excellent coverage on the convention, I am going to stick to this single post with an overview of my thoughts and experiences.

CNN iReport of Isaac Robinson

Outside of Forest Room 5 on the Saturday before convention Jose Williams AKA Mr. Man, a CNN iReporter, interview YDA Labor Caucus Chair and Political Director for the Michigan Teamsters Isaac Robinson. I was enlisted to actually film the interview, which is now available online.

Crystal Strait and Francisco Domenech Re-elected

At the YDA National Committee meeting, which actually ran ahead of schedule, DNC Woman Crystal Strait of CA and DNC Man Francisco Domenech of PR were re-elected unanimously.

Interview with Moby

At the DoSomething/Flashbooth party at Jet I had the chance to ask Moby a couple of questions about the election. Unfortunately, I was without video camera so I don't have live footage. The interview went something like this:

Bondelli: Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions Moby.

Moby: No problem.

Bondelli: What are your thoughts on the involvement of youth in this election?

Moby: It is amazing and inspiring.

Bondelli: What role do you think musicians can play in engaging voters?

Moby: Well I think that depends on the genre of music and their audience. Different things will work better for certain musicians. It is up to the artist to find out what works with their audience.

Bondelli: Thank you for your time.

I Get Quoted in the NY Times

Shortly after my interview with Moby I was approached by Julie Bosman, style reporter for the New York Times, for an interview. I ended up being quoted in an article about Denver's Convention night life being lackluster. Here is my quote:

“The one thing that Democrats have learned is that if anyone can lose an election, it’s the Democrats,” said Kevin Bondelli, the owner of a design and consulting firm in Arizona. “In the last eight years, we’ve become a lot more respectful of the Republican political machine.”

Youth Orgs and Great Marketing

Mike has a lot of full posts about the marketing campaigns done by Rock the Vote and Trick or Vote, but I just wanted to add my thoughts in general. I was really impressed with how these organizations took advantage of the Convention and used it to make Democrats aware of both young voters and their organizations.

Trick or Vote, in my opinion, did the best job of this. Throughout the week people in Halloween costumes were attending events, hanging around the convention center, and talking to attendees all over the place. The Trick or Vote party did exactly what organization parties should do: combine a bunch of people meeting and drinking with an actually sell of your organization. Once they showed their excellent videos at the party, everybody was sold.

Youth Seen but Not Heard

Mike wrote an excellent piece about this, so once again I will offer my additional thoughts.

This is the impression I get from older establishment Democrats within the party. They think it is great that young people are showing up to the polls in huge numbers for Democrats. They like to see the young energetic faces at their events. They do not want to have to share power, influence, access, or even speaking time with them.

This is going to continue unless something is done about it. The youth of this party have reinvigorated it, and there should be some reflection of that within the actual party. I am going to address what I think needs to be done in an upcoming post.