What fun. People who observed the Democratic caucus in Wellman this evening would probably either celebrate a wonderful expression of democracy in action, or they might shake their head and wonder about the messy way Iowa Democrats express their preferences for a presidential candidate.
I'm sure the Republican caucus in Wellman was a much more sedate, and organized affair. Part of it is the process. After registering, Republicans indicate who they are supporting and those results are reported to the media and the election officials. The Democratic Party has a more complicated process.
We met at the Wellman Senior Center and it didn't take long to realize the room was going to be crowded. The first caucus I attended back in 1992 had less than 10 people. Tonight, 175 were present in a room designed for 100. To help speed things up the organizers assigned each candidate a table. Clinton, Obama, and Edwards quickly spilled over their assigned areas. Biden and Richardson supporters did the best they could while the lone Kucinich and Dodd supporters looked a bit lost. Precinct captains for the candidates did their best to slap stickers on the people supporting their candidate. It was obvious to see who had raised the most money as Obama and Clinton had plenty of stickers, buttons, bumper stickers, and posters to hand to people to help persuade them to join. As the room filled I volunteered to have the Edwards people move to the large entry room which in hindsight turned out to be a good move.
After the caucus started people were to go to their candidates group. It was clear that Clinton, Obama and Edwards would have enough support to get delegates, the question was, how were our seven delegates going to be divided. Even before the first round was over, people were talking to the Dodd, Richardson, and Biden people. Richardson and Bidens folks talked briefly about joining forces but before they could agree I got enough Biden supporters to come over to Edwards to put an end to that idea. As they walked into our room they all got a rousing ovation. We got most of the Richardson and Biden people and the lone Dodd supporter. We had enough for two delegates and were within five people of getting a third delegate, a level Obama had already reached. Clinton's folks either didn't have anybody running a calculator, or someone who understood the formula because they thought they were out of the running for a second delegate. That allowed us to convince five of their supporters to come over to Edwards which put us over the threshold for three delegates. When I checked the numbers at home, Clinton would have only needed to convince three people to join them to get the second delegate, instead of Edwards getting three. It was all quite entertaining and by the time it was over I was tired. I was pleased with the end result as Edwards got 3 delegates, Obama got 3, and Clinton got 1.
Some brief observations. Clinton's supporters for the most part were the oldest people in the room. The only young people sitting in her group were two staff members from out of state who were helping first time caucus goers through the process. Her supporters didn't seem to be moving around trying to recruit people. They were definitely the least energetic of the bunch.
Obama had the most supporters and most of the young people in the room. There were a range of ages represented and lots of new faces. My guess is newly registered voters, or independents who switched for the night, were there because of Obama. His supporters had a lot of energy and even tried the "fired up" cheer Obama has used at some of his speeches.
Edwards had the most diverse group in terms of age, a nice mix of some young folks, older folks, and many middle aged people. It was a good group of people. I don't think we had anybody leave our group after coming over which I appreciated. I think it helped to be off in the other room where we could limit access to some folks who maybe weren't quite sure about their support. Plus most of them had soft chairs to sit in for the evening.
It was good to see lots of young people present including a current student and several former students. Most of the discussions were good natured and there was a fair amount of good natured joking going on as one candidates supporters worked to convince someone to change their mind. That is where it helped to have local people working as precinct captains or organizers. It is also where some of the perhaps questionable things took place - for example, the young women who said she would take my son on a date if he joined the Obama corner for the night. Democracy at its best.
2 comments:
Shame on you for taking advantage of those poor Clintonistas. Obviously not too bright considering who they supported at the start of the evening. Still... On another note, I'm just curious what you offered your son to keep him in the Edwards camp. I hear that Obama girls are HOT. A big thanks to Iowans for putting Hilary in 3rd place.
well dad, that was a nice description of what happens at a caucus. i'm in colorado. its pretty sweet.
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