Last night was the long awaited forum on the death penalty. Sparks were flying but not for the reasons you might think.

 With one exception, the attendees were unanimous in their support of abolishing the death penalty and the Democratic Party taking a stand on it.

No, the sparks were over he purpose of the get together. Many members of the Platform Committee, especially those who had labored to get wording to an amendment crafted, received input from delegates and elected officials, thought they were finally going to get to take a vote on the subject.

Others thought it was just a forum, pro and co. Funny thing, not one of the con speakers showed up. Four on the pro side did; and I mean pro amending the California Democratic Platform to add language to replace the Death Penalty with Permanent Incarceration, the language that polls show convinces people killers will never see the light of day.

Angry voices called for a vote. Others gave procedural reasons why it wasn't appropriate.

Resignations were threatened, resolutions, and floor fights.

Someone read a long list of legislators who had introduced bills to end the Death Penalty to no avail. One legislator showed up, Mike Davis, to join our cause.

The fear is all the work will be lst if we need to wait until the next new platform in adopted in 2010 by a whole new group of CDP delegates.

Stay tuned.