Yesterday was Super Fat Tuesday. Did you tilt toward the Super or the Fat? Politics, parties or both? I leaned left and showed Obama some caucus love.
This was my first experience in a caucus, in fact, until two weeks ago I didn't even know Colorado held a caucus. I've lived in the state for 10 years and never participated in the nomination process before.
Most of the people that caucused - I like that word. Caucus. It sounds important. - most of the people that caucused hadn't done so before either. A few people said, "The last time I caucused there were only three people there." I also heard one, six and 10. Tonight, there were 34 people present to represent the 3,400 registered voters in the precinct.
We started our caucus with the U.S. Senate race - Tweetin' Mark Udall versus Mark "Something With a B." Mr. Udall pulled down 5 delegates. Mr. Undecided pulled in two. Mr. "Something With a B" didn't get any.
Once the preliminary round was out of the way, a straw poll was conducted for the presidential candidates. Anyone who had ever been a Democratic candidate was on the list. One person polled for Governor Bill Richardson, but in the official vote she raised her hand for one of the two candidates still campaigning.
I assume the purpose of the straw poll is to feel out where the other voters stand, because immediately after the poll participants are allowed to speak up for the candidates. It seemed to me that people spoke because they felt they should, that it wasn't alright to just vote. Thus, I suffered through a great deal of spoken ignorance before the vote.
One woman said she didn't want a "black Jimmy Carter" in office. Inexperienced was what she meant but prejudice is what she spoke.
Another person said, "You don't want national health care. Believe me. I'm from Ireland, and I know." I'm sure the logic was clear in her mind.
An educator spoke up and said, "Look what trouble Clinton got into when he was President. Imagine the trouble he'll cause when he's in the White House with nothing to do." Yes. Imagination. That's what I want to base my vote on.
And finally, one gentleman didn't want Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush, Clinton, which sounds like a strong issue-based argument.
In the end, my fellow Democrats cast 23 votes for Obama and 11 for Clinton.
Eight delegates were on the table, and as Pastor Gavin shared about his Iowa caucus experience, rounding was a factor. After the high math was applied, Obama earned 5.46 delegates which became five and Hillary earned 2.62 delegates which became three.
When I got home, I found a mess on the floor.
Bella is tired of not chasing rabbits. It's been five days since she's been able to burn off some energy, and she let me know it.
She's not a mischevious girl, but tonight she went to my CD rack, selected the handmade Tanzania photo album off the shelf - the photo album that Pam purchased for me and which contained all my non-digital photos of her - and chewed it up. Then for good measure, Bella rifled through the used tissues in the bathroom trash can and selected the choicest and moistest ones to scatter across the floor. It could've been worse.
Today it's kennel time. I can't risk Bella's whimsy again, and I can't let her run yet. It's rest until the weekend, and then we'll see what happens.
4 comments:
It sounds like quite the experience. I know I'm glad I went to mine. The rounding, though, is what really gets me. It seems that by rounding off when dealing with such small numbers, candidates often seem closer than they really are. Or, sometimes the opposite happens. Perhaps there's enough rounding around a state that it evens out a bit, but it makes you wonder.
It's always interesting to see the local process and then compare it to what is going on on the national level. It's also interesting (and somewhat sad) to hear people speak up such ignorance. I wonder if anyone was swayed by someone speaking for Obama or Clinton.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
In my precinct, no one changed their votes after the straw poll, other than the woman who initially voted for Richardson in the straw poll.
So, it sounds like everybody had their mind made up coming in. That is quite different than my Iowa experience, where people did seem to waffle quite a bit. But by now people have had much more time to get to know the candidates, and there are less options than when I caucused. It's amazing how much has happened in a month.
I do enjoy your writing, brother. Thankful the Lord stuck you w/ being my roommate so you could start this whole blog thing. Btw, won't see Cloverfield. Feel free to tell me what else to avoid :) PK
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