315. Saturday's results.

We held those elections I talk and write about a lot and no one ever seems to know what I am saying or meaning. I've been threatening (mostly myself) not to worry about them anymore. I've been telling people for years how easy it would be for anyone to take over the Democratic Party if they really wanted to. And that's the rub - no one has ever really wanted to apparently, up until yesterday.

In some parts of Jefferson County, the Obama for America presidential campaign [sounds like a campaign name in The West Wing] wanted to take over some parts of the Party, if only a position here and a position there, much as they did last weekend at the Precinct conventions. Their best takeover was in the 48th LD, Jefferson County's enclave of Republicans (but not necessarily republicanism - President John Adams said "They define a republic as a government of laws, not of men.") where they won each of the 11 delegate positions to go to the State Convention. In my district, we also had 11 delegates to elect, and more than a few came from the Obama campaign ranks, but it was not an issue in the 41st's election as it was in the 48th's.

In other news on the elections, and to further prove my point, only two Chair positions (out of 18) were challenged and in both instances the challengers defeated the incumbents. Again in the 48th, 19 year old University of Louisville undergrad Preston Bates, whose name has been printed herein before, defeated attorney Russell Lloyd. In the 42nd, longtime State Representative Reginald Meeks defeated longtime LD Chair Bill Johnson, a mainstay on the local Labor scene, by a considerable margin. No other districts had challenges. Nor was the County Chair challenged, as some had suggested it would be. Tim Longmeyer was unopposed for reelection as Chair of the Louisville-Jefferson County Democratic Party. Longtime Vice Chair Claudia Riner, whose husband serves as a State Representative, stepped down. Allison Amon, LD chair in southeastern Jefferson County's 29th District, was unopposed in her election as Vice Chair.

So, between now and April 2012, if you want to complain about the makeup of the local, state, and national Democratic Party, my only question will be "what part did you play on April 5 or April 12, 2008?"