This past weekend's Democratic State Convention was a vivid illustration of both the potential and the challenges facing the party.

The convention was a first test for the thousands of new party members who, entranced by Barack Obama, joined up. Those who attended the convention learned a thing or two about political discipline and the nitty-gritty of party politics.

While pro-Obama delegates dominated in numbers, they were far from a cohesive force when it came to other issues, ranging from election of party leaders to putting the party on record through the platform and resolutions. The task ahead for party leadership is to see whether the newbies at least share an interest in seeing the party grow and prosper.

Newly elected state Democratic Party chairman Brian Schatz, an Obama organizer in Hawai'i, said he felt no "discernible" level of unit discipline among Obama delegates.

They rallied loudly when Obama backer Neil Abercrombie served up a stem-winding speech. But they also had little trouble voting for veteran political organizer and Hillary Clinton backer Jadine Nielsen for national committeewoman over incumbent Dolly Strazar, who had been endorsed by Obama himself.

True, the new national committeewoman and committeeman (Nielsen and George Ariyoshi, respectively) will not vote at this year's national convention, so perhaps other issues trumped the idea of going with Obama's wishes 100 percent.

Still, despite the surge of newcomers, the folks elected to the Central Committee included a strong showing of party regulars. The committee did choose Obama supporter James Burns as a superdelegate over Jennifer Goto Sabas, a key aide to Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Clinton supporter.

On another front, one would think the Obama delegates, attracted by the message of change and a new style of politics, would have been easily captured by the idea of a new Constitutional Convention for Hawai'i.

But no, they either didn't see this as relevant or they were simply outhustled by union delegates and others who fear a ConCon could open the door for reactionary changes to labor, social, environmental and Hawaiian rights embedded in the current state constitution.

So the party has thousands of new members. But clearly, party leaders have a way to go before they have those members producing the political payoff they could count on with the legendary Democratic Party grassroots "sparrows" of old.

Jerry Burris' column appears Wednesdays in this space. See his blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/akamaipolitics. Reach him at jrryburris@yahoo.com.