At-Large Delegate Ronnie Eldridge with newsman husband Jimmy Breslin

NEW YORK, NY August 21, 2008 —The New York state Democratic delegation - with 289 members - will be sending the second-largest number of delegates to the Democratic National Convention later this month. WNYC Elaine Rivera spent time with two of them - one who will attend a convention for the first time and another longtime progressive Democrat.

REPORTER: Seventy-seven year-old Ronnie Eldridge sits in her spacious living room - a box full of Obama campaign buttons nearby.

An early Obama supporter she has a long political resume.

ELDRIDGE: ...I was a member of the New York City Council for 12 years, that's three terms, before that I worked for Mario Cuomo as director of the Division for Women for New York State before that I was....

REPORTER: That list goes back to her role as a Democratic District leader in the 1960's when she supported the young charismatic Democratic candidate - Bobby Kennedy.

Thirty-eight-year-old Carlos Ramos Junior is the Bronx liaison for City Comptroller William Thompson. He supported Hillary Clinton during the primary. The motorcycle-riding Bronx native explains his road to attending the convention.

RAMOS: I got bit by the bug politically sometime in '99. I was a student at Westchester Community College and I met a young guy who was involved in the Hispanic Democrats of Westchester County who was impressed by my organizing skills...

REPORTER: From there, Ramos went on to help coordinate redistricting efforts that helped lead to the election of the first Hispanic judge in the county's history. He also worked as a community organizer and for voter registration groups around the country.

Ramos is a district alternate delegate and one of the few in the delegation who's not an elected official. He and at-large delegate Eldridge will join thousands of their peers in Denver to select the next Democratic presidential nominee.

ELDRIDGE: It's a carnival without any suspense it used to have much more suspense

REPORTER: Now with everything scripted and programmed for television - and most of the deals already done before the delegates arrive - Eldridge misses the unpredictability.

At her first full convention in 1972 when McGovern was nominated fights seemed to erupt everywhere. And she hasn't forgotten how one young delegate got up to present a bold idea.

ELDRIDGE: Why this stands out I don't know...at 2 o'clock in the morning Ken Gibson is standing up as chair of the housing plank saying that they want tenant control of public housing and Bob Novak was sitting back and saying you people are totally out of your mind - it was just fun...

REPORTER: But Ramos says the infusion of younger voters will bring that spirit back to Denver.

RAMOS: I can imagine there is an excitement and not just by the traditional Democratic following - but the YouTube era. You know I get emails everyday from young people who are excited to go out there....

REPORTER: Ramos did not initially join his generational peers who were stampeding toward Clinton's challenger. A political upstart, Ramos says he campaigned hard for Clinton.

RAMOS: She's our New York junior senator. So it's also a political decision, right? She would have gotten elected - I'm from New York three's always opportunities there...

REPORTER: But Eldridge went another way even though many of her peers among the old guard threw their weight behind Clinton as well.

ELDRIDGE: I've been an Obama supporter for a long time from very early days. It's the most incredible campaign I ever worked on because it's totally do it yourself....

REPORTER: She recalls the moment last November when it crystallized for her that the the Obama campaign was really different. She volunteered to go to a subway stop to campaign for the candidate.

ELDRIDGE: It was freezing and I went. I hate doing subway stops 7 o' clock in the morning but I got up and I went and they said there would be people there and I got to the subway stop and at first I didn't see anybody - and then I saw all of these young people standing there holding an Obama sign - that's all they were doing because they had no literature so they had these Obama posters and they were standing there and they were incredible...

REPORTER: So now Eldridge and Ramos are getting ready to join forces to try to get Barack Obama elected.

ELDRIDGE: The question is is it going to be heavily air conditioned or is it going to be warm? So what do you take? You want to travel light because it's impossible now to fly with a lot of stuff and you don't want to have a lot of stuff. And I think the most important thing is to have comfortable shoes....

REPORTER: She'll also be taking her irascible husband, legendary newsman Jimmy Breslin. What will they be doing together at the convention?

BRESLIN: NUTHIN! Zero. Together?! I don't know what I'm going to be writing or for whom....

REPORTER: Meanwhile, here's what will be in Ramos' suitcase...

RAMOS: Mostly suits...I was even thinking of probably going Whitewater rafting so I may take a bathing suit with me...

REPORTER: And while Eldridge will wear her simple blue and white Obama button, but here's what Ramos will be sporting:

RAMOS: I have this cool Barack button that I received from a friend it looks like real diamonds but it's not and it had a lot of different colors...

REPORTER: Ramos says young people will make this convention unpredictable unlike those in the recent past. Go for it, says Eldridge. But Eldridge says she has too much invested in Barack Obama to rock the boat in Denver.

ELDRIDGE: I don't know if it's a sign of my age or what but I don't really want to make trouble this time....

REPORTER: But the young rabblerouser that she was 36 years hasn't entirely disappeared. What would she do if the younger delegates decide to pick a fight on a particular platform issue?

ELDRIDGE: If the younger delegates really start, I think I'll get enticed...but I don't know....

REPORTER: You'll be hearing more from Eldridge and Ramos at the convention. For WNYC, I'm Elaine Rivera