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Feb. 9th, 2008 05:22 pmI went to the Democratic Caucus today. It was the first time I'd ever been to one. See, here in wacky Washington (at least this year), we're having a primary and caucuses, but only the caucuses count for the Democrats. So even though I received a ballot with the Democratic candidates on it, it doesn't actually mean anything. (It does, however, mean something for the Republicans, who also had caucuses today.)
I went with my parents. They hadn't originally planned to go and I don't know what it says about my and my sister's respective relationships with our parents that she can convince them to go to Disneyland and I can convince them to go to a caucus. Ours was held in a church that I'd actually tutored at for a year in high school and it was crowded. I knew there were huge turnouts expected, but there were far more people than I thought there would be! There were four precincts meeting there and ours alone had over 100 people.
We got there at about 12:45 and the line was out the door, but moving fairly quickly. There were people handing out Obama stickers and Hillary buttons before you even got in the building, so it felt like the process started right away! Once you got inside, you had to find your precinct, and then sign in, which means putting down your name, address, and candidate preference. There were also optional boxes for ethnicity and LBGT status.
After we signed in, we all piled into the sanctuary. Even though the caucus starts at one, they can't actually begin the voting process until 1:30, so they answered some questions and read the rules, and then we all went into different rooms, based on our precinct. Once we were down to just our precinct, it still took a while to really get started. There were some people who still needed to sign in and they had to read the rules again. Then they counted up all the initial candidate preferences. Obama had around 90, Hillary around 20, and there were 6 or so uncommitted.
After that was probably my favorite part. Everyone got a chance to speak on behalf on their candidate. My parents and I, being shy, just listened, but a fair amount of people spoke. It was awesome to hear so many well-informed people. They didn't exactly say anything earthshattering, but it was great to hear that so many people really do care about this whole process.
Then we got an opportunity to change our votes. About 10 people, including my dad, did so, which put the final tally at 99 for Obama, 22 for Hillary, and one uncommitted, which worked out to 13 Obama delegates and 3 Hillary delegates. Then we broke into candidate groups to choose delegates, which is when we left. My mom was uncomfortable with everyone knowing her choice so publicly, and none of us wanted to be delegates.
I'm glad I went. I like taking advantage of the fact that I can vote and I do have a say in what happens to this country. And, since I don't believe I've ever said, Obama's my candidate. One of the statements that came up a couple of times during the discussion was that there isn't a huge amount of differences between the two candidates, when it came to their platforms, but it also comes down to who can win in the general election. And I believe Obama's got a better shot. Which isn't to say Hillary can't win (and she's got my vote if Obama doesn't get the nomination), but I think more non-Democrats are willing to vote for Obama. But, more than that, one woman said, "Obama makes people happy." And I think that's so true. He's so passionate and he makes me believe that he believes in everything he says. I'd love to have a president like that.
I went with my parents. They hadn't originally planned to go and I don't know what it says about my and my sister's respective relationships with our parents that she can convince them to go to Disneyland and I can convince them to go to a caucus. Ours was held in a church that I'd actually tutored at for a year in high school and it was crowded. I knew there were huge turnouts expected, but there were far more people than I thought there would be! There were four precincts meeting there and ours alone had over 100 people.
We got there at about 12:45 and the line was out the door, but moving fairly quickly. There were people handing out Obama stickers and Hillary buttons before you even got in the building, so it felt like the process started right away! Once you got inside, you had to find your precinct, and then sign in, which means putting down your name, address, and candidate preference. There were also optional boxes for ethnicity and LBGT status.
After we signed in, we all piled into the sanctuary. Even though the caucus starts at one, they can't actually begin the voting process until 1:30, so they answered some questions and read the rules, and then we all went into different rooms, based on our precinct. Once we were down to just our precinct, it still took a while to really get started. There were some people who still needed to sign in and they had to read the rules again. Then they counted up all the initial candidate preferences. Obama had around 90, Hillary around 20, and there were 6 or so uncommitted.
After that was probably my favorite part. Everyone got a chance to speak on behalf on their candidate. My parents and I, being shy, just listened, but a fair amount of people spoke. It was awesome to hear so many well-informed people. They didn't exactly say anything earthshattering, but it was great to hear that so many people really do care about this whole process.
Then we got an opportunity to change our votes. About 10 people, including my dad, did so, which put the final tally at 99 for Obama, 22 for Hillary, and one uncommitted, which worked out to 13 Obama delegates and 3 Hillary delegates. Then we broke into candidate groups to choose delegates, which is when we left. My mom was uncomfortable with everyone knowing her choice so publicly, and none of us wanted to be delegates.
I'm glad I went. I like taking advantage of the fact that I can vote and I do have a say in what happens to this country. And, since I don't believe I've ever said, Obama's my candidate. One of the statements that came up a couple of times during the discussion was that there isn't a huge amount of differences between the two candidates, when it came to their platforms, but it also comes down to who can win in the general election. And I believe Obama's got a better shot. Which isn't to say Hillary can't win (and she's got my vote if Obama doesn't get the nomination), but I think more non-Democrats are willing to vote for Obama. But, more than that, one woman said, "Obama makes people happy." And I think that's so true. He's so passionate and he makes me believe that he believes in everything he says. I'd love to have a president like that.
