by Tammy Sakry
Staff writer

As a 14-year-old girl just starting working the political scene, Julie Blaha dreamed of being there when the balloons dropped.

But the Ramsey delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Mass., almost missed having that dream.

They had overbooked the convention center and had closed the floor to any additional people shortly before closing ceremonies, said Blaha.

Fortunately, the Minnesota delegates were able to get back onto the floor before the big moment thanks to the fast negotiations by state party chairman Mike Erlandson.

"I don't know what he did, but I think it involved yelling into the phone for about 20 minutes at somebody," said Blaha.

"They had to unseat some big shots to let us back in. An election should always trump a connection."

As Blaha watched the balloons descend from the rafters at the end of the four-day convention, she juggled her camera and her cellular telephone.

She called her mom and described the balloons as they were dropping, said the Jackson Middle School seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher.

"I called my mom to share it because we have been working toward it for so long," she said.

"The conversation went something like this: they're dropping now. They're dropping kind of slow."

The balloon drop is the ultimate symbol of this event, she said.

"It's the joy of politics wrapped up in that confetti," Blaha said. "And the joy of doing good things for your community."

In her daily dairy for AOL, Blaha said, "We've been staring at those bags of balloons for four days, I can't wait to see them go."

But before the balloons dropped and all the political hoopla, the 34-year-old had to get to the convention first.

She was elected at the state's congressional district level for the Sixth District, which includes parts of Anoka County.

Her platform was that she would take "this opportunity to get our story out."

And Blaha did that by talking to other delegates and the media.

A lot of people wanted to go so getting elected as a delegate "... was an absolute thrill," said Blaha.

This year her favorite candidate is running and it's a pivotal year, she said.

Her teacher's union, Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota, helped her pay for the $2,000 trip, Blaha said.

In keeping with her delegate platform, Blaha interviewed with approximately 16 media agencies and kept a daily on-line diary for AOL.

She was one of six delegates and officials asked by AOL to keep journals, she said.

For her diary, she focused on all the stuff she was going to call her mom about and what it was like to be a delegate, said Blaha.

She figured there were a million other people the media could talk to about strategy and the big issues, she said.

The National Journal, which did the insider paper at the convention, published a spotlight feature on her as one of the people sitting behind the guest speakers.

It was a little usual for her because "I don't normally do the outfront activities like talking to the press," said Blaha.

She is a campaign door knocker and talks to people on the telephone, not the press, she said.

Although Blaha had frequent dealings with the media, she also learned to be very careful about what she said when they were around during social situations.

When people were chatting with them, it was obvious when the media person switched from chatting to being on the recode, Blaha said.

The press members also outnumbered the delegates three to one, she said.

"They asked me about being a Catholic Democrat, being a teacher and being on stage," said Blaha about her various interviews.

"I got so nervous and hopped up that I was exhausted by the end of each interview.ÝIt's kind of a rush, too, but I can't imagine doing this all the time."

But it wasn't just the interviews that were exhausting.

They would leave the convention at about 11 p.m. and it took an hour to get back to the hotel, Blaha said.

Although some delegates attended parties, she and her two roommates did very little partying, attending only a couple.

Their focus at the convention was attending the training sessions, which started early in the morning.

"Given the choice of doing work or going to the parties, we chose the work," said Blaha.

Besides the most interesting speakers were at the morning meetings, such as Rob Reiner, Garrison Keillor and Al Franken, she said.

"The guests talked about the real issues that we work on at the state level, things that are real to people, such as math standards and culverts," said Blaha.

Among her favorite speakers at the convention were Lewis Black, one of her favorite comedians, author and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler Mick Foley ("Mankind"), former Vice President Walter Mondale, actress Glenn Close and singer Patti LaBelle.

In addition to a photograph collection of famous, or who she thought were famous, people, Blaha also ended up with a fine collection of convention signs.

During the convention, delegates collected piles of signs and other goodies under their chairs, scrambling to get out the right one, she said.

"By the end of the last night, we had seven signs we were tripping over," said Blaha.

"It got kind of funny with 10,000 people trying to find the right signs (at the same time)."

During the two hours a night Blaha spent on stage behind the guest speakers, those signs helped generate excitement for her.

On the stage, she got the full effect of the convention because she saw the roaring crowd packed to the rafters, the big lights, signs and the camera flashes, said Blaha.

Although two hours may seem like a long time to sit on the stage, "once I got up there and the speeches started, the time flew by," she said.

One night her group had talked about staying past their allotted time, but the Secret Service agents guarding the stage had no sense of humor, Blaha said.

"One person had gotten out of his chair (one night) and the Secret Service nearly took him to the ground," she said.

The one thing that she was afraid of was yawning or scratching her nose, Blaha said.

"I didn't want to be the one that got replayed a million times yawning at the speeches," she said.

While she cherishes her convention experience, Blaha does not plan on attending another Democratic National Convention.

"I would love to go again, but don't think I will because there are so few spots available to people," she said.

"I think you should go once and then give someone else a chance," said Blaha, who worked in the DFL Party booth at the Anoka County Fair two days after getting back from the convention.

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