Locals going to national conventions

REVERE – One is a relative newcomer to local Republican politics; the other is a veteran Democrat, but John Cunningham and Agnes Ricko will represent their respective parties this summer at the national conventions.Area Democrats and Republicans held caucus meetings organized along congressional district lines last Saturday to start the process of picking delegates to attend the Democratic convention in Denver and the Republican convention in Minneapolis.The delegates’ allegiances reflect vote tallies won by presidential candidates in Massachusetts’ Feb. 5 primary. Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary and will count Ricko among her delegates along with Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, alternate Marcia Sweeney, District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and Lynn native Stanley Slepoy.The local Democratic organizer and supporter of former Gov. Michael Dukakis worked with other Democrats to secure Clinton’s win despite support for Barack Obama among the state’s top Democrats. Under the party’s system for divvying up delegates, two North Shore delegates will represent Obama at the convention.Democrats meet again on May 10 to select additional delegates from the ranks of party leaders and elected officials. They will also send super delegates, including U.S. Rep. John Tierney to Denver.Mitt Romney won the Republican primary but subsequently suspended his campaign. Presumptive party nominee John McCain’s local delegate is Emery Haskell, a Malden attorney, with Cunningham serving as alternate.”I will go to meetings and have a seat on the floor but I don’t vote,” he said.He also has to pay his own way to Minneapolis on Sept. 1.”It’s a small price to pay for being part of history,” he said.Cunningham, an Overlook Ridge resident, has been interested in politics for most of his life. He briefly embraced Libertarian party values before joining the GOP and supporting McCain.”He’s going to be a great leader for the party and the nation.”Not if Ricko and her fellow Democrats have a say in the matter. But their voices won’t be heard until the Democrat convention opens on Aug. 25.