Local Delegates Attending National Conventions - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

 Despite the bad weather in Tampa, FL Republican delegates say they plan to bring new energy back to California for this upcoming election.

On Sunday we spoke with several elected delegates who will be attending the Republican and Democratic Conventions. Starting this week the Republican convention meets, but a twist in bad weather in Florida has the Republican's Convention starting off one day late. 

At the convention political leaders hope to gain new momentum heading into the November election. "Clearly the Republicans are energized and there's a lot of cross pollination energizing of people in states where there are clearly republican majorities," said Bruce Gordon.

This year there are 4 Republican delegates per county in California going to the election, plus 4 more alternates. They're expecting about 500 people from California alone. "We are discussing in California issues that are central to us including what's on the California ballot," said Gordon.

Back in California Democrats were also out in full force campaigning for Obama and other local candidates. Their convention starts in Charlotte in about a week. More than 600 delegates are expected to show from California, 8 of those have been elected from Monterey County, 2 are from Santa Cruz and one is from San Benito. "We are starting at 10 in the morning and we'll be in the convention probably until 11 to midnight so I always tell people to be a delegate its a lot of hard work," said Democratic Delegate Shawn Bagley.

The game plan after both conventions is very different. Democrats plan on focusing most of their efforts on states other than home." The local activists are calling out of state now in the battleground states including Virginia, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico," said Bagley.

Local Republican activists are planning to focus on voters in state. "We have found that to call people locally it's much more effective," said Gordon.