State Small County Democrats to Meet in Port St. Joe

Building on momentum.

That's an important part of this week's Florida Democratic Party Small Counties Coalition conference at the Gulf/Franklin Center.

The conference will be a three-day affair that Gulf County Democratic Executive Party chairwoman Zebe Schmitt hopes can provide a template for her party and also one for the economic sustenance of the county.

The conference is expected to bring some 40-50 people to Port St. Joe, where they will provide room nights for the Port Inn, Mainstay Suites and Turtle Inn Beach hotels.

"It's almost a new industry we could tap into as a community," Schmitt said in noting that Port St. Joe, with its postcard atmosphere and amenities geared to small-town life can offer a cottage for similarly-sized conferences. "This would be a great destination for small conferences. It would be great."

She noted that David and Trish Warriner have been accommodating in room rates at the Port Inn and Mainstay hotels and that Paula Pickett at the county Tourist Development Council has embraced the conference.

"When we start talking about small counties, we need to support small counties," Schmitt said. "It's an honor for us as a real small county to have the conference where we are supposed to be advocating for.

"I'm excited. The whole town has been lovely."

The underlying theme, though, is building on the momentum of last year when Democrat Barack Obama reached the White House and the party was energized at the grass roots as few had seen it before.

This week's conference will bring state Sen. Al Lawson (D-Tallahassee) to town for Saturday's dinner, the major event of the conference.

Late governor Lawton Chiles' son, Bud, who works through his organization "Worst to First" to bring state education funding higher up the national ladder, an important mission for his father while in the statehouse, will be the keynote speaker.

Beyond that, though, Schmitt hopes that the coalition can begin to come to understand just how important small counties are in the mix of politics.

There are 39 counties in the coalition, but because the benchmark for inclusion is having fewer than 40,000 registered Democratic voters in the county, there is a disparity of needs and agendas at play in the coalition.

For example, how much the issues facing Walton or Indian River counties, with significantly higher overall populations, dovetail with those of Gulf County could be debatable.

The key, Schmitt said, is to use the conference to strengthen the coalition as it moves forward as part of a campaign for a U.S. Senate seat and other priorities this year.

"I hope small counties begin to understand just how important they are," Schmitt said. "And if we band together, we can be even stronger."

Part of that strengthening of bonds, and expanding and compounding the momentum of last year, is through education, Schmitt said.

That, in part, is why the agenda for the conference is dotted with a variety of subjects, from fundraising to communicating with 21^st Century tools to recruitment of candidates to dealing with the media.

To lead participants through that maze, Schmitt has lined up a series of experts, spanning from state Rep. Curtis Richardson (D-Tallahassee), a longtime state capital area politician, several candidates for soon-to-be-open seats, the executive director of the state party and various experts in communications and the media.

"We need to understand that the only way we are going to get new Democrats or bring former Democrats back into the party is to educate them on the issues that truly impact our daily lives," Schmitt said. "We don't talk enough. We don't write letters to the editor enough. We don't communicate enough."

And in that way, Schmitt said, the coalition and its conference seeks to build on the momentum of 2008, to turn it into the momentum of 2009, 2010 and beyond.

A blade of grass at a time.

"Absolutely, that's what we are doing," Schmitt said. "There is an avenue, coming in to small counties and listening to the people who live there, listening to their concerns."

The conference kicks off with a meet-and-greet on Friday. There is a full day of workshops and breakout sessions on Saturday at the Gulf/Franklin Center culminating in a formal dinner and Chiles' speech at the WindMark Beach on Saturday night.

Another half-day of programs and workshops is on tap for Sunday.