Delegates’ ages differ, concerns mesh
Mid-southerners agree on what’s needed for country
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Their age difference spans eight decades, but Tennessee’s youngest delegate and Mississippi’s oldest — although they’ve never met — agree on a core Democratic Party philosophy.
Elzena Kitchens Johnson of Terry, Miss., who turns 98 later this month, put it this way on the floor of the Democratic National Convention: “I’m just afraid it’s going to happen again if we don’t stick together in the right way.”
The convention’s oldest delegate was referring to living through the Great Depression on her family’s farm, and her fears about a rocky economy.
But the theme of sticking together was mirrored in remarks by University of Memphis freshman Charles Uffelman, 18, of Erin, Tenn., whose delegation is seated at the opposite end of the Time Warner Arena.
“I come from a small town,” the scholarship political science major said as he toured the convention floor Wednesday night. “A lot of the jobs in my town are supported by government programs like TVA, the schools systems, the road systems.
“Our county couldn’t survive with a loss of government pro- grams that (Mitt) Romney and his cohorts on the right side of politics are campaigning to cut, slash and end. That’s why I’m sticking up for the small towns, the small Southern towns, that are supported by these government agencies.”
Johnson, born in 1914, a Terry town alderman and, until recently, a competitive swimmer in the Senior Olympics, said former President Bill Clinton’s speech was inspiring and just what needed to be said.
“I loved it,” she said. “I just got my life lifted.”
Uffelman got involved in politics in Houston County, near Clarksville, as a Hillary Clinton supporter in 2007. In time, he switched allegiances and spent the last two weeks before the November 2008 election holding signs for Obama-Biden at the county courthouse steps after school.
For his trouble, he got two tickets to the 2009 inauguration. Like his absence from class this week to be in Charlotte, “I had to miss school for that, too,” he said.
Jennifer Buck Wallace, the Tennessee Democratic Party’s executive director, said Uffelman started off as an intern.
“He’s just one of those guys who came in and was completely reliable from Day 1,” she said. “Give him a task and he completed it. He’s a great Democrat wanting to do anything he could do to elect Democrats and turn our state blue.”
Uffelman hasn’t staked out a future in politics yet; he’s thinking about law school. And for that reason, education policy also ties him to the Democratic ticket, he said.
As he passed five feet from where network news anchors were providing color commentary to a national audience, Uffelman’s gaze widened.
“Celebrities. We have Roland Martin standing right here,” he said, pointing to the CNN news analyst. “You’ve got (CNN’s) Wolf Blitzer. All kinds of media outlets. I mean, this is the biggest of the biggest right here. You’ve got (House Minority Whip) Steny Hoyer up on stage.
“And everyone worked hard to be here.”