Event Central

The Portsmouth Democratic Committee will hold an assembled caucus to select delegates to the 2008 State Convention. The Portsmouth caucus will select 31 delegates to the State Convention. They are as follows:

7 Clinton Delegates
24 Obama Delegates
4 Clinton Alternates
12 Obama Alternates

Call to Caucus:

Whereas, it is the duty of the Portsmouth Democratic Committee to issue the Call to Caucus for the purpose of electing 31 delegates and 16 alternates to the 3rd Congressional District Democratic Convention and the Virginia Democratic State Convention.

Now therefore be it resolved that the Portsmouth Democratic Committee hereby issues the Call to Caucus to convene an assembled caucus at 12:00 noon, Saturday, April 19, 2008 at City Council Chambers, Portsmouth, Virginia for the sole purpose of electing 31 delegates and 16 alternates to the 3rd Congressional District Convention and the Virginia Democratic State Convention, and the following provisions shall govern the convention, to wit:

1. Prefiling: Those wishing their names to be placed on the ballot at the Caucus shall prefile their candidacy by 5:00 p.m., April 14, 2008 with the Portsmouth Democratic Chair or his/her designee.

2. Voluntary Administrative Fee: There shall be a voluntary administrative fee of twenty dollars ($20.00) for each person filing for delegate, payable to the Portsmouth Democratic Committee. Payment of this fee is completely voluntary. No statement is required in order to waive payment.

3. Notice Requirements: The Portsmouth Democratic Committee shall cause to be
published the time, date, and location of the Caucus at least 7 days prior to the Caucus,
but not more than 2 weeks before the Caucus. All notices shall be published in a paid
political advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation.

Notice of the prefiling deadline for delegate and alternate positions shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of at least 7 days before the prefiling deadline but not more than 2 weeks before the deadline.

4. Conduct the Caucus: The doors to the Caucus will be opened at 11:00 a.m. Check-in will occur between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon. The doors to the caucus will be closed at
12:00 noon and no further persons will be permitted to enter. Those in line at noon will
be permitted to complete the check-in process and will be permitted to participate.

The Chair of the Portsmouth Democratic Committee or his/her designee, shall be the Temporary Chair of the Caucus and shall appoint a Temporary Secretary and such other Temporary Officers of the Caucus as is deemed appropriate. Until the adoption of the Rules, the order of the Caucus shall be determined by the Chair of the Caucus, subject to the approval of the Caucus participants, Robert’s Rules of Order, and the Virginia Democratic Party Plan.

5. Affirmative Action: It shall be the duty of each local precinct Democratic chair and the
members of each local Democratic Committee to take all feasible steps to encourage broad participation in the delegate selection process. Discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, color, national origin, religion, ethnic identity or economic status in the delegate selection process is prohibited. The Portsmouth Democratic Committee shall make every effort to ensure that the Portsmouth delegation is half-male and half-female.







6. Call Distribution: It shall be the duty of the Portsmouth Democratic Committee Chair to
distribute a copy of the Call to Caucus.

It shall further be the duty of the Portsmouth Democratic Committee Chair to cause this Call to Caucus to be publicized through the news media of Portsmouth as is feasible.

7. Cancellation: If only one person files for each delegate or alternate position, the caucus
will be cancelled. In this event the Chair will publicly announce the cancellation,
proclaim the individual properly filed as the duly nominated delegates and alternates, and
so advise those individuals.