The current chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Committee probably won’t make an appearance at the national convention underway in Philadelphia.

Former state representative and House Minority Leader Bobby Moak, a practicing attorney in Bogue Chitto, was elected June 25 to take over the leadership of the state Democratic party, replacing Rickey Cole, who didn’t seek the post.

It’s Cole, though, who will be rubbing elbows with the state and national Democrats at the convention.

“It’s doubtful that I will go,” Moak said. “I take control after the convention is over. Technically, it’s not my convention, it’s Rickey Cole’s.”

Moak has credentials to be there as a guest and might try to go today and Wednesday, however his schedule is packed this week. He spoke at a convention on the Coast Monday and he’s speaking at another Coast convention Friday. He also has a trial Thursday.

He wouldn’t be involved in this DNC as anything other than a guest.

“I don’t take over any of those duties until the gavel falls on the final day. The current chairman has those duties until this convention is over. I’ll do the one in four years,” he said.

“That’s the way the convention treats incoming chairs. That’s the way we’ve always done it in Mississippi. But that’s because during the past four years, they’ve worked for this convention and so someone incoming, would be kind of improper for them to step in and take whatever they’d done for the past four years, as far as the convention goes.”

Moak said Mississippi delegates plan to vote for Hillary Clinton, who has the overwhelming support at the majority of delegates there.

While both conventions must perform the legal duties of making their candidates official and on the ballot, he said they’re mostly for show and to get the party members on the same page.

“Both of them, they’re staged events. They try to put on their best face,” he said.

The convention will be over Thursday night. “At that time, I’ll take the reins of everything, then I automatically take a seat on the Democratic National Committee also in addition to the chairman’s seat in Mississippi.”

Over the next few months, he’ll plan some fundraising efforts for the upcoming presidential election, “and bring in Mrs. Clinton, Bill Clinton, the vice president. Somebody of that nature probably.”

His goal is to get the best person for the job elected president.

“At the end of the day, you just need to step back and say ‘OK, what have I really got here?’” he said. “Can I trust this person to do X, Y and Z? Are they the stable hand? You listen to the newscast, you read social media, you’re listening to the ‘Blah, blah’ back and forth. But at the end of the day, you have to dig a little bit deeper and say, ‘OK, who’s really right on this issue? What is their background? What can they do? Are they going to be a stable force in the world? You need to think about that at the end of the day.”