In addition to getting a lot of mail, you also get a lot of phone calls when you’re a delegate. I was elected at the congressional delegate level, by a group of about 200 people. Not exactly a huge mandate. I didn’t think the press would be interested in little old me.

Since delegates are elected, our names and contact information are public record. The Democratic Party posted our home phone numbers on the web–not that you couldn’t find mine through Google or the white pages.

Like the invitations, the phone calls fall into categories too: press, political pressure, and fundraising.

The press wants to talk to all of us so they can “characterize” the delegations. Our responses will be tabulated, crunched, munched, and spun into a set of statistics. I haven’t yet seen the results, but I’m told there may be pretty graphs in the New York Times.

First up was Oregon AP reporter Andrew Kramer. I volunteer at the Democratic Party of Oregon offices, so I knew he had been calling frequently to get the contact list. Mr. Kramer asked me who I thought should be vice president (this was prior to the Edwards pick), what I thought about Hillary Clinton, and my views on hot topics such as reproductive choice and gay marriage.

The next call was from CBS/New York Times. The reporter had a lengthy survey, complete with Likert scales. I patiently answered 30 minutes worth of questions about my views on whether Clinton would hurt or help Kerry’s campaign, how I felt about the war on Iraq, and other issues. Then came a question which I knew would contribute greatly to Americans’ understanding of the people attending the convention: “Do you prefer Boston or Manhattan clam chowder?”

I pondered carefully. What would my answer mean? If I said Manhattan, would that be interpreted as dissension in the ranks? If I said Boston, would I just be parroting the party line? I opted for the truth: neither. I just don’t like clam chowder no matter where it’s from.

The reporter followed up with one more probing question: Was I rooting for the Red Sox or the Yankees? At this point, I decided to tell the truth again, no matter what the political consequences. “I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t follow professional sports. Those are baseball teams, right?” I proudly displayed my sports knowledge so she wouldn’t think I was completely out of touch.

The AP reporter called again this week. Apparently the Oregon delegation is much more progressive than the norm. He wanted to know why. 83% of Oregonian delegates supported gay marriage, and 100% felt that women should have the right to choose when to bear children.

There’s that moment when you ask yourself, “why me?” I can’t speak for the other 57 delegates and alternates. However, I’m often at home in the mornings, so I can be reached. And I answer my phone.

I liked that he was trying to do a story on something of depth, so I answered his questions as best I could. He will also be in Boston covering the delegation, so making friends seemed like a good idea as well. I can make an idiot out of myself on this blog just fine. I don’t need to look like one in an AP wire story.

Apart from the fundraisers, most of the other calls were from the Lyndon LaRouche contingent. Persistent, if nothing else, they called three times. The callers stumbled through their lines, but didn’t make sense. Each time, I asked them what, exactly, they wanted, but precision escaped them. Their answers still didn’t make sense, although they apparently don’t like one of Kerry’s advisors, hate Dick Cheney, and wanted an open convention so we could nominate their guy. They wanted to meet, but I had better things to do. When I finally told them to quit calling, they started mailing LaRouche materials, including a glossy magazine whose cover sported the word Satan in 120-point type and what looked like a Hieronymus Bosch painting in the background. It got recycled immediately.

All the attention is somewhat flattering, of course. I confess I’m amused by most of it.

My flight to Boston is at Oh-Dark-Thirty tomorrow morning. I decided to pay the exorbitant $10/night for hotel room internet access, so I’ll check in with y’all Saturday evening.