Presidential candidates descend on San Francisco as state Democratic convention kicks off

Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA)

June 01-- Jun. 1--SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernie Sanders walked between caucuses surrounded by a throng of chanting fans. Beto O'Rourke fired up delegates in English and Spanish. Kamala Harris delivered a rallying cry for reproductive rights from the stage of a packed nightclub.

As presidential hopefuls descended on San Francisco for the California Democratic Party convention Friday, they gave Golden State Democrats a front-row seat to the crowded and competitive primary race.

Fourteen presidential contenders -- the largest concentration anywhere in the country so far this year -- are making their case to 3,400 Democratic delegates from around the state at Moscone Convention Center this weekend. All of the major candidates will be present, except former Vice President Joe Biden.

The biggest crowds on the first evening were for Sanders and O'Rourke, who were followed by posses of selfie-snapping supporters at every step. Competing chants of "Ber-nie" and "Be-to" echoed through the halls as the Vermont senator and former Texas congressman made their way around the hall.

Delegates clad in campaign T-shirts and buttons delighted in a taste of the political attention that is typically lavished on early states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

"It's nice to get a sense of these candidates that isn't filtered through TV or social media," said Eli Beckman, 26, a City Council member in Corte Madera and a first-time delegate. "Usually by the time we get a chance to weigh in (in presidential primaries), things have been all sewn up."

The Golden State's convention has always been an attractive destination for Democratic presidential hopefuls. In April 2007, seven of the eight candidates -- including then-senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- walked the halls at the party confab in San Diego. (Once again, Biden was the only candidate to skip it.)

But this year's stampede of candidates is on a completely different scale. In part, that's a sign of California's newfound significance in next year's primary race: Golden State voters will go to the polls on March 3, along with other Super Tuesday states and just after the traditional four early states. Mail-in ballots will be sent out Feb. 3, the same day Iowans caucus. And with nearly 500 delegates up for grabs, California will be the largest prize in the country.

"California is now a super-super-super Tuesday state," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. "You're going to have more say than ever before."

While polls have shown Biden and Sanders in the lead, with home-state senator Harris in third, the state's delegates will be awarded proportionally based on Congressional district -- so even candidates who make a mark only in certain corners of the state have the chance to pick up some delegates.

The importance of appealing to the state's diverse constituencies was apparent as candidates made the rounds of the party caucuses. Klobuchar warned of the dangers of climate change at the environmental caucus, endorsed a path to citizenship at the Latino caucus and talked up tribal sovereignty at the Native American caucus. Each time, she introduced herself as "the one who announced my candidacy in the middle of a blizzard with eight inches of snow on my head."

The campaigning continued into the night. Speaking at a Planned Parenthood reception at a bustling SoMa nightclub, Harris denounced bills passed in Southern and Midwestern states banning abortion or drastically restricting it.

"We will not stop fighting until every woman in our country has the right and the ability to make a decision about her own rights and her own body," she said to cheers.

And at a party hosted by LGBT rights group Equality California and emceed by a drag queen, East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell vowed to end President Trump's ban on transgender service members and sign legislation banning discrimination by sexual orientation or gender identity if elected.

"The work that we did in 2018 -- that was just the beginning," he said, flanked by columns of rainbow balloons. "We're just getting started."

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts drew thousands to an evening town hall in Oakland where she railed against corporate power in Washington, D.C.

Convention attendees relished getting a chance to meet their favorite candidates, or even just see them in the flesh. As Sanders made his exit from one caucus meeting, he left a grinning group of high schoolers in his wake.

"I touched him!" exclaimed Sunsaara Shergill, a 16-year-old Sanders devotee from Elk Grove. "It's amazing. I felt that socialism power."

Ari Ruiz, 29, a Los Angeles delegate who rushed up to Klobuchar to snap a selfie, said he liked the senator because "she's like a mom -- she's a realist."

"She's not going to give you the Cadillac, she knows you have to start with a smaller car first," Ruiz said.

While delegates insisted that they were focused on defeating Trump and would come together no matter the nominee, the party's divisions were on display. After Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee -- the California co-chair of Harris' presidential campaign -- gave a speech supporting the California senator at the party's progressive caucus, she was met with a chant of "Ber-nie, Ber-nie!" from delegates in the room.

And Tom Steyer, the billionaire activist who's bankrolled a campaign calling for Trump's impeachment, vowed to challenge Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the candidates at the convention to publicly support removing the president from office.

The convention continues Saturday and Sunday, with candidates getting seven minutes each to speak on the main stage and several appearing at a labor breakfast, a progressive forum, and other events and fundraisers.

Instead of hobnobbing with the delegates, Biden -- the race's front-runner -- is headed to Columbus, Ohio, to headline a dinner for an LGBT rights group on Saturday night. That makes the former vice president the only top Democratic candidate to skip the convention.

The acting state party chair, Alex Gallardo-Rooker, said Friday that Biden had called her to promise that despite his absence at the convention, "he will be here many times" in months to come.

"He wanted to be here but he is being pulled all over the place," Gallardo-Rooker said, explaining that Biden had previously committed to speaking at the Ohio dinner.

The candidates are also competing for attention with a tight race for state party chair, who will help shape Democrats' strategy in the Golden State leading up to 2020.

Richmond activist Kimberly Ellis, Los Angeles labor leader Rusty Hicks and Santa Barbara party official Daraka Larimore-Hall are considered the top candidates facing off to replace former chair Eric Bauman, who resigned last year amid sexual harassment allegations. Ellis narrowly lost the last chair's race to Bauman in 2017. Delegates will vote Saturday with a run-off likely Sunday morning.

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