Part of the process

We found out late that to be part of the voting process for the Democratic nomination in Washington state, you had to attend the caucus being held February 9th. I had assumed that voting in the primary was the same thing as the caucus, but not so!! So Deanna, Katie and I went to the caucus for our local precinct yesterday with no idea what to expect. That's right, our first Caucus!!

Given the size of our little town (Ridgefield population is probably around 4,000 people), we figured there might be 40 or 50 people there tops. It turns out that with all the turmoil in the U.S. these days, the voting public is ripped and raring to have their opinions heard. I don't know the total numbers, but for just our precinct (and there were 5 or 6 total precincts represented there) there were over 80 people. There must have been around 300 or more total.

The process (or lack there of) was truly amazing. Once the rules were read, and the initial registration (where you indicate your candidate preference) completed, the precincts separated. Once in our own group, a spirited debate between Clinton and Obama supporters ensued. The atmosphere was chaotic. The small gymnasium we were in was packed with people, and very loud. Our precinct captain was less than organized. Those who wanted to discuss the pros and cons of their candidate choice got their chance, but it was hard to hear and there were often interruptions. There were a few folks that were down right rude! The most interesting thing I found while listening to people talk about their favorite candidate, was not how passionate some of the people were when talking about the virtues of their candidate, but how SURE they were about details or quotes they had read in the media. It was almost like they knew their candidate personally!! :-) Oh well, I guess that's the nature of politics...

In the end they tallied the votes and determined that of our precinct's 12 delegates, 7 would go to Obama and 5 to Clinton (the total vote count was 50-32, I believe). While I stood back from our group so that I could people watch and take some pictures, Deanna got quite involved. She ended up volunteering to be a delegate, and is now an alternate. Nothing like diving head first into our democratic process...
(deanna: Well, it was more like dipping my big toe in the shallow end of the political pool!) :-)

All in all it was truly fascinating, and reminded me in some ways of the town meetings that Vermont is known for in deciding local issues. Katie loved it too and spent the entire time people watching. She even had a thing or to to say while they were reading the rules at the beginning. I think she said "Go Obama!"...

Here are some pictures from our escapade...



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