A Colorado Caucus
So tonight I participated in my first caucus and it was a very interesting evening. When I arrived at my precinct there was mass confusion even though I arrived an hour early. There were three large rooms and precinct captains were informally choosing a room and setting up camp. The first 20 minutes were spent wandering from room to room asking if my precinct was meeting in that room. It was completely disorganized, I must say. Finally, our precinct captain showed up and we met in one corner of a room.
When they asked if anyone wanted to speak for the candidates, a few people spoke up and there was this one man who was handing out CDs about 9/11 conspiracies and he spoke up for the undecided. He was, in short, a complete nut case. He spoke about several ideas of his that were more than a little out there and we all listened politely but gave each other looks like, "who is this guy?"
When the vote was cast there were two more votes for Obama than Clinton in our precinct and 5 undecided. The precinct captain did not bring a calculator and so someone ussed their cell phone calculator to determine if each candidate had the necessary 15% for viability. I must say, it very unorganized and the math was done wrong the first time. I couldn't help but think of Florida and just the voting fiasco in general. At a caucus you don't have a real paper trail and if the math is figured wrong by a nervous or flustered precinct captain, then my vote is not being represented. It just felt wrong, archaic. It was interesting, certainly, but a little alarming, in my opinion.
They chose delegates and I raised my hand to be an Obama delegate but so many people were interested I did not get chosen. I was a bit disappointed. Had I been a delegate I would have had the opportunity to represent Obama at my county assembly February 23rd. I could have been an alternate, but I decided if I was going to go, I wanted to be a full-fledged delegate, so I declined.
Then at the end of the caucus they asked if we wanted to make any resolutions and our precinct captain made a resolution about health care. Then the nut case spoke up and wanted to make a resolution about questioning whether President Bush knew about 9/11 beforehand. Everyone just spaced out while he was speaking. This is a man with few friends, I suspect. LOL.
So I found my friends in the other room after everything was over and spoke to them briefly and then went home to watch the returns come in. All in all, it was a very interesting evening and I was happy to have been a part of the process.
Obama is leading Colorado, according to the results that are already coming in, so that is exciting!
When they asked if anyone wanted to speak for the candidates, a few people spoke up and there was this one man who was handing out CDs about 9/11 conspiracies and he spoke up for the undecided. He was, in short, a complete nut case. He spoke about several ideas of his that were more than a little out there and we all listened politely but gave each other looks like, "who is this guy?"
When the vote was cast there were two more votes for Obama than Clinton in our precinct and 5 undecided. The precinct captain did not bring a calculator and so someone ussed their cell phone calculator to determine if each candidate had the necessary 15% for viability. I must say, it very unorganized and the math was done wrong the first time. I couldn't help but think of Florida and just the voting fiasco in general. At a caucus you don't have a real paper trail and if the math is figured wrong by a nervous or flustered precinct captain, then my vote is not being represented. It just felt wrong, archaic. It was interesting, certainly, but a little alarming, in my opinion.
They chose delegates and I raised my hand to be an Obama delegate but so many people were interested I did not get chosen. I was a bit disappointed. Had I been a delegate I would have had the opportunity to represent Obama at my county assembly February 23rd. I could have been an alternate, but I decided if I was going to go, I wanted to be a full-fledged delegate, so I declined.
Then at the end of the caucus they asked if we wanted to make any resolutions and our precinct captain made a resolution about health care. Then the nut case spoke up and wanted to make a resolution about questioning whether President Bush knew about 9/11 beforehand. Everyone just spaced out while he was speaking. This is a man with few friends, I suspect. LOL.
So I found my friends in the other room after everything was over and spoke to them briefly and then went home to watch the returns come in. All in all, it was a very interesting evening and I was happy to have been a part of the process.
Obama is leading Colorado, according to the results that are already coming in, so that is exciting!
posted by JeepGirl | 8:40 PM
2 Comments:
I am disillusioned about those caucuses! You'd think in this day things would be organized, but I guess when people don't get reimbursed for their time, they don't put much in to it. Thanks for your participation and vote!
I'm disappointed, too. I've always wondered what caucuses were like. I've always imagined them as crowded and hot. Guess I wasn't far off...
We vote next Tuesday. Being after Super Tuesday, I've never felt Virginia had much voice, but I guess we do this time (if you're voting Democratic). Interesting. And Texas could have a big role too!
I think it's going to be undecided until the convention and won't that be interesting to see how it works out!! I like both Clinton and Obama, so won't be upset either way, though I like Obama more.
So glad you went!!!
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