Dan Slater loves Guam loves Jason Rosenberg

I just got an email from Dan Slater, the 1st Vice Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party.

Dan is a blogger himself, and his DemNotes is the official blog voice of the Colorado Dems. There is a lot of good convention related news to be found there.

He tells me that he is going to look into the discrepancy in the number of delegates/votes/rooms and let me know what the real scoop is. Meanwhile, he has given me the contact info for two of the DNC delegates!

Party Chair, Antonio Charfauros
Party Vice Chair, Cecilia Mafnas

He passed along their addresses, both snail and e-, and he also gave me the contact info for the Guam Dems PO Box.

Myspace Guam

Myspace has a number of Guammy groups out there.

The user Guam has 7034 friends.
The group ChAmOrRo~StYlE has 2004 members.
The user Guam Heads has 2080 friends.

It looks like Myspace is where the Guahan community hangs out on the net.

The signal to noise ratio is horrible at MySpace. So many scams and fake posts that it is hard to see where any of this will give me any information. It is time I found someone to help. I am going to see what I can do to find Denver based Chamorro MySpace musician; Santiago the Artist. (Click to see his page and hear his work.)

Santiago,

Great music. Are you playing anywhere local soon? I would love to come and listen.

I am a blogger from Denver, and I am one of the writers the political website SquareState.net

The Democratic National Convention is going to be in Denver next year, and I am trying to find political writers online who are interested in covering the convention from a chamorro perspective. Personally, I am about as far from the one as you can get for the job. I have no connection to the islands or their culture. I do have a desire, however, to see that the media coverage of the convention reflects the full diversity of our country.

Maybe you can help me. I have a website set up called GuamLovesJasonRosenberg.blogspot.com

Jason is the name of the guy the convention has credentialing internet writers as journalists. I am trying to learn everything I can about Guam on the net and see if I can't point the right person Jason's way.

Right now, I am writing about Guam on myspace. Even if it has nothing to do with politics at all, could you reply to this and share with me some of your thoughts about the relationship between Guam and the internet, or maybe point me to someone out there whose blog I should be reading?

Thanks,

Aaron

2008 Democratic Convention Watch

DemConWatch.blogspot.com

Update: Guam Loves Jason Rosenberg plots out the route for the Guam delegation from their hotel to the Pepsi Center. Needless to say, Guam did not get the best hotel assignment. Maybe Guam should offer Senator Bill Nelson of Florida a spot in their hotel?

2008 Democratic Convention Watch has the full story on the Florida room assignment omission. Florida is being left out by design, and will have to rely on a nominee wanting to win favor by reinstating them. Right now, it looks like there are still enough rooms to go around if it comes down to that, but who knows as things get closer?

We could swing it like this, Sen. Nelson makes Guam an offer for a hotel room (Which I am sure would include a large deposit to cover damages to the room and adult movie rentals; I've been in Lauderdale on Spring Break, I know what Florida parties are like.)

Then, whoever from the Guam delegation is displaced can crash here at my place, we can split the Senator's money, I will make waffles and you supply the Coco-Jo's. Deal?

Guam Delegates

4207 votes will be cast at the convention, but there will be 4,227 actual delegates seated.

Guam will have 11* delegates, but only 8 votes.

Here is how it works:

1 vote for Madeleine Z. Bordallo, the Democratic member of Congress for Guam. She was born in Minnesota, is the wife of former Guam Governor Ricky Bordallo, and is a former Lt. Gov. herself. I'll do a whole piece on her at some point.

4 votes for the DNC members. I am trying to get an idea of who these might be. Robert Underwood and Frank Aguon were the Gov./Lt.Gov. candidates in 2006 and former Governor Carl T.C. Guttierrez was in the primary.

3 votes for the six unpledged at large delegates, 1/2 a vote each.

In the interests of Dem. unity, you have to want to see a nomination by unanimous acclamation, but the mischief maker in me would laugh if one of the fractional voters decided to make the vote 4206.5 to .5

*-the DNCC hotel list says they have 12. Not sure yet where the 12th comes from if that is accurate.

Convention Hotel Assignments

STATE/TERRITORY HOTEL
Alabama - Doubletree Denver Stapleton
Alaska - Four Points by Sheraton Denver Southeast
American Samoa - Radisson Southeast
Arizona - Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center
Arkansas - Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows
California - Adam's Mark
Colorado - Grand Hyatt Downtown
Connecticut - Marriott Denver Tech Center
Delaware - Marriott South at Park Meadows
Democrats Abroad - Red Lion Denver Central
District of Columbia - Crowne Plaza, Downtown
Georgia - Doubletree Denver Stapleton
Guam - Sheraton Denver Tech Center
Hawaii - Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows
Idaho - Sheraton Denver Tech Center
Illinois - Marriott City Center, Downtown
Indiana - Sheraton Denver Tech Center
Iowa - Courtyard by Marriott, Downtown
Kansas - Doubletree Denver Tech Center
Kentucky - Hilton Garden Inn, Downtown
Louisiana - Radisson Stapleton Plaza
Maine - Hilton Garden Inn, Downtown
Maryland - Renaissance Denver Hotel
Massachusetts - Renaissance Denver Hotel
Michigan - Red Lion Denver Central
Minnesota - Four Points by Sheraton Denver Southeast
Mississippi - Hilton Garden Inn Denver South/Meridian
Missouri - Embassy Suites Denver Tech Center
Montana - Courtyard Stapleton
Nebraska - Embassy Suites Denver Southeast
Nevada - Courtyard by Marriott, Downtown
New Hampshire - Wyndham Denver Tech Center
New Jersey - Inverness Hotel
New Mexico - Crowne Plaza, Downtown
New York - Adam's Mark
North Carolina - Doubletree Denver Tech Center
North Dakota - Doubletree Denver Stapleton
Ohio - Curtis Hotel, Downtown
Oklahoma - Embassy Suites SE
Oregon - Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center
Pennsylvania - Marriott Denver Tech Center
Puerto Rico - Four Points by Sheraton Denver Southeast
Rhode Island - Four Points by Sheraton Denver Southeast
South Carolina - Radisson Stapleton Plaza
South Dakota - Doubletree Denver Stapleton
Tennessee - Marriott, Denver Tech Center
Texas - Radisson Hotel Denver Southeast
Utah - Warwick Hotel
Vermont - Magnolia Hotel
Virgin Islands - Marriott City Center
Virginia - Crowne Plaza, Downtown
Washington - Hyatt Regency, Denver Tech Center
West Virginia - Magnolia Hotel
Wisconsin - Marriott City Center
Wyoming - Hyatt Place, Denver Tech Center



Click to see your route to the Pepsi Center

Ok, you guys are getting screwed.

The Colorado delegation is staying a couple of blocks away from the convention at the Grand Hyatt and they have you down in Englewood. That's about 15 miles away. Guam at its widest is around 10 miles.

Your best bet is the light rail, traffic up I-25 can be very slow, but you would save more than half the trip if you find a way to convince me to let you use my place.

Looks like you might be better off than Florida. They aren't even on the list.
Is that an oversight? Or is that a message from the DNCC about their early primary?

Listening to Chamorro

There are a lot of Chamoru .wma files over at Capt. Santo's site chamoruboy.com. He has collected quite a bit of poetry, music, and historical information over there.

I speak a few languages, and it is a hard to draw comparisons to other languages; a little Arabic, a little Navaho, a little Hindi, a good deal of Spanish. Very little of the Asiatic tonalities that I would have expected.

He also has a small dictionary that will help me understand some of the sites my English keeps me from finding.

Capt. Santos served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and it looks like he has wandered the map of the world quite a bit. I'll drop him a line...

Capt. Santos,

First of all, thank you for your service. I do not know if you are currently deployed or not, but I hope wherever you are you are well and safe.

Next, I would like to thank you for your site. I am a political blogger from Denver, Colorado and I have been interested recently in learning more about Chamorro language and culture, and it has been an excellent resource to me.

Denver is going to be the site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and I have had the opportunity to see first hand as their staff has made a great effort this year to bring more voices, particularly those on the net, into the media coverage of the event. It has been a strange hobby of mine to try to find suitable internet writers who can cover the activities of the Guam delegation and to direct them to the convention's Internet Communications Director, Jason Rosenberg.

Obviously, your website is not focused on journalism and you already have an important and time consuming job, but I thought that with your knowledge of the internet and your understanding of the issues facing Guam, you might be able to recommend to me some writers who I should be reading.

If you know any good Guam bloggers, send them my way or please drop me a line.
I have a little website where I am tracking my quest to find the right writer; guamlovesjasonrosenberg.blogspot.com
Please, check it out and comment if you can help me at all.

Thanks!

Aaron Silverstein

Guahan Magazine

To Jayne Flores, Editor Guahan Magazine:

Hello from Denver!

My name is Aaron Silverstein and I am a new media journalist for the Colorado political website SquareState.net.
At a recent media walk-through in advance of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, we were told that the convention would be reserving credentials for their 'State Blogger Corps'.
Under the direction of Internet Communications Director, Jason Rosenberg, they will be selecting internet writers from around the country to cover each of the delegations.
It will not at all be hard to find good writers here in Colorado eager to cover the convention, but who would be an appropriate political blogger from Guam? That is the question I am trying to answer on my small new website; guamlovesjasonrosenberg.blogspot.com.
I am not working for the convention, but I know that the staff is following my progress in seeking the perfect Guam blogger.

What can you tell me about the "netroots" in Guam? Are there good writers who write specifically for the internet and focus on the politics of Guam, who might be both willing and able to travel to Denver, Colorado next summer?

Anything you can share will be helpful.

Thank you,

Aaron Silverstein