Tuesday, March 04, 2008

 

I Caucused!


Texas is very odd. Today we had not only a primary, but a caucus-- and one of the prerequisites for attending a caucus was that you had already voted in the primary. Delegates were chosen from both processes, so essentially if you were willing to put in the time you got to vote twice. And I did.

I had never been to a caucus before, and neither had most of the other people there tonight. I was in the Democratic caucus, and for a while we were hanging around in a hallway trying to figure out how this all was supposed to work. Down the hall, a handful of Republicans gathered, their candidate having already been essentially selected.

Eventually, we were herded into a room (actually, the room where the primary voting had been taken earlier) and milled around, chatting. My precinct is small, since I live in the city, and lots of my neighbors were there. It was a pleasant time-- we talked, and I met some people from the neighborhood I hadn't known before. Eventually, we signed in and stated our preferences, and then the Clinton and Obama people retreated to opposite corners of the room. It was an intriguing moment; many of us were watching closely, curious to see who went where. The crowd was about 1/4 African-American, and nearly all of them came with me to the Obama corner, while the Clinton side was about 2/3 women.

The outcome: 38 for Clinton, 37 for Obama, and one "undecided." Thus, Clinton received five delegates to the county convention and Obama got four.

This was the closest I have ever come to direct democracy, and something about it was, in its own goofy way, moving and memorable.

Comments:
It sounds good--it is goofy, but I remember caucusing once and it was really interesting, and fun to meet the other people. It's rare that neighbors get together and talk so directly about politics, I guess . . .
 
Imagine the days of yore when people would actually get up and argue at these things trying to sway the people to one side or the other. People would often switch based on fun things like bribes, threats of violence, or just to be obstinant. Too bad it's not quite so involved these days and a bit more civil, I think you would have preferred the "old way."
 
The Texas caucus system for Democrats has morphed into something most passing strange. Still, as you noted, it was a pleasant and strangely invigorating process ... in part because the two "sides" were so civil and in part because there were/are two excellent candidates! Still, I think I'd like the New Hampshire Town Hall system even better.
 
Voting twice...and if you close your eyes really hard, think that it might someday actually be cold, and dream of baseball it's almost like you live in Chicago!
 
I was a bit surprised at how well Obama did in McLennan County. I was also surprised how at my caucus the women seemed to split about evenly.

Do you get to be a delegate to the senatorial district convention>
 
Tom--

I didn't put my name in to be a delegate. The caucus was exciting enough!
 
The caucus process doesn't make any sense to me. Why isn't the primary vote enough? Seems like this system is designed to create a check on the public by democratic activists who know better than others about which candidate is best for the party. Sounds pretty democratic to me. I'm looking forward to Obama winning the popular vote but ultimately losing at the convention b/c Hillary had more Super Delegates. Reform is needed
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

#