LIVE Inside the Washington Caucuses: The Fighting 37-1838th
Like everywhere else, turnout was explosive at Washington Middle School, where I caucused - my precinct had 110 voters in attendance alone.
In 2004 only 400 people voted in this precinct in the general election, so it's a bit of an understatement to say that was turnout was big.
Dwight Pelz was in attendance helping coordinate things, and over all the entire process went very smoothly despite the fact that between all the precincts present there was well over a thousand people.
After our first round there was 88 votes for Obama, 11 for Clinton, and 7 uncommitted. Our precinct was allocated 8 delegates, and based on those number Obama would have gotten 6, and Clinton 2.
Some of the uncommitted then spoke along with supporters for Obama and Clinton. 5 of the uncommitted made up their minds, and they did so for Obama. A few latecomers also signed up during the debating; the final tally was 96 for Obama, 11 for Clinton, and 2 uncommitted. That shifted the vote enough to give Obama 7 and Clinton 1 - precisely the same outcome as in Andrew's Redmond precinct.
I decided to through my hat in the ring as a delegate. There were initially 9 of us going for the 7 Obama delegate slots.
We all gave 30 second speeches about why we wanted to be delegates. The highlight was an elderly black man who talked about how he fought in World War II, was very active in the civil rights movement, and never thought he would be here casting his vote for Obama for President. It was pretty moving and underscored just how incredible and inspiring Obama’s candidacy is.
A couple of the candidates decided to become alternates instead, so in the end there was no need for voting. I was not able to caucus in 2004 because I was out of the country, so this was my first experience with the process. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the 37th Legislative District Caucus in April!
In 2004 only 400 people voted in this precinct in the general election, so it's a bit of an understatement to say that was turnout was big.
Dwight Pelz was in attendance helping coordinate things, and over all the entire process went very smoothly despite the fact that between all the precincts present there was well over a thousand people.
After our first round there was 88 votes for Obama, 11 for Clinton, and 7 uncommitted. Our precinct was allocated 8 delegates, and based on those number Obama would have gotten 6, and Clinton 2.
Some of the uncommitted then spoke along with supporters for Obama and Clinton. 5 of the uncommitted made up their minds, and they did so for Obama. A few latecomers also signed up during the debating; the final tally was 96 for Obama, 11 for Clinton, and 2 uncommitted. That shifted the vote enough to give Obama 7 and Clinton 1 - precisely the same outcome as in Andrew's Redmond precinct.
I decided to through my hat in the ring as a delegate. There were initially 9 of us going for the 7 Obama delegate slots.
We all gave 30 second speeches about why we wanted to be delegates. The highlight was an elderly black man who talked about how he fought in World War II, was very active in the civil rights movement, and never thought he would be here casting his vote for Obama for President. It was pretty moving and underscored just how incredible and inspiring Obama’s candidacy is.
A couple of the candidates decided to become alternates instead, so in the end there was no need for voting. I was not able to caucus in 2004 because I was out of the country, so this was my first experience with the process. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the 37th Legislative District Caucus in April!
# Posted by Scott : 3:27 PM
Comments:
Post a Comment