UPDATED: Want to be a Convention Delegate? Read This.

You are a Colorado Democrat and you want to go to Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008. Ha! Good luck. Out of the thousands of delegates who will make it from the Precinct Caucus to the county conventions to the Congressional convention and/or state convention, only 64-70 delegates from Colorado will be selected. (2004 Colorado delegation had 64 seats.)

But wait, there’s more. A dozen or so delegates have been already selected. The Democratic National Committee people, the state party chair and vice-chair, the Democratic Congressmen and Senator and others (“Super-delegates”) are guaranteed a seat out of the 64+. So that leaves approximately 55 “open” delegate seats in Colorado for you to seek. Out of these delegates, it is mandatory that 50% are men, 50% are women. There will be a certain percentage of Latino, disabled, Union, African-American and other minority delegate thresholds that the party will try to meet. If you are a white middle-aged male, you may have the toughest challenge.

Where do you start? Next year at the Precinct Caucuses the first round of delegate selection will begin. If you don’t go, you are out, period.  At the Precinct Caucus, you will be chosen partly because of your presidential preference and partly because you’ve won a popularity contest. Just like someone running for office, you will have to receive the majority vote from your fellow Precinct Caucus attendees. This process proceeds through your county convention, Congressional district and other avenues to the State Convention. (See the graph below.)

The 2008 delegate plan will be released by the Colorado Democratic Party with more of the details on how you can become a delegate. Watch for it here on Colorado Confidential.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GRAPH WAS MADE BEFORE COLORADO JOINED THE SUPER DUPER CAUCUS/PRIMARTY DAY ON FEB. 5TH, 2008. Also, there are approximately 48 open delegate seats out of 70 in the Colorado delegation.

Graph and photos by Leslie Robinson, a 2004 delegate to the DNC Convention in Boston.