Hillsborough Democratic voters take the first steps to re-nominating President Barack Obama as their standard bearer

The West Tampa Library was bustling with voters and potential state delegates this morning. Unlike other elections, the no-campaigning-within-100-feet rule did not apply, so delegates were present to promote and introduce themselves to voters.

Those elected (47 women and 47 men) will go on to represent Hillsborough County at the State Convention in June. From there, delegates will be selected to attend this year's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, and nominate and confirm Barack Obama as their party's presidential candidate.

Anyone registered Democrat is eligible to run as a delegate. Matt Isenhower is a Navy veteran running for the first time for the 11th district. He says as a young father, education is his primary concern. "Making sure that Florida has the best system to allow the state to be competitive, because companies have spoken. And the education system—the public education system—is critical to whether they want to locate their jobs and operations here," says Isenhower.

As you might expect at such a forum, few of those interviewed could find any weaknesses to describe President Obama's record going into his re-election bid.

"We've had 25 months of straight job growth. People who—I believe that anybody who feels that there is a criticism to be made or anything that they're saying, simply isn't informed enough," says Alison Morano, Vice Chair of the Florida Democratic Party. "You can't argue with the numbers, they're there. We have millions of kids now on health care."

This article appears in May 3-9, 2012.