Day one of week two.....
I learned something new today. I didn't actually experience it myself...but knowledge is power as someone said.
One of my friends shared the experiences she and her family had while attending the recent Iowa caucuses. Very interesting stuff... I had very little knowledge of how one actually works. Here is what she wrote:
I've summarized the following entry for those who don't feel like reading:.... All attendees stand in groups by candidate. People from other candidate groups can try to persuade you to join their group which can cause candidates without enough delegates to become disqualified. The American caucuses are won by those candidates with supporters who have powerful powers of persuasion...fact.
Full text... The official caucusing began by dividing into candidate groups; Clinton candidates in one corner, Edwards supports in another, Obama in another. As a Biden supporter, I found myself standing alone in a corner. Ruth and one teenager were the only Richardson supporters while another teenager stood alone for Kucinich. Everyone else supported the three major candidates. Since our small groups were not officially "viable" (at least 15% of the attendees), we had to give up on our favorites and join other groups. Ruth and I moved to the Obama camp. After that, we simply counted heads: Obama had 38 while Clinton and Edwards each had about 20. The precinct was allotted seven delegates to the county convention so Obama got 3 and Clinton and Edwards had two each. Each group then elected their delegates; Ruth is an alternate for Obama. We ended the meeting by briefly discussing some vaguely and poorly worded resolutions dealing with the electoral college, PACs, and public funding of campaigns. An interesting though more subdued experience than we both remembered from the 70s and 80s before moving to Maryland.
While the Democrats were milling about, switching groups, counting heads, and electing delegates, the Republicans sat quietly in straight rows of chairs at the front of the room, took a single straw vote (Huckabee had the majority) and then, from what I could tell, spent the rest of the evening discussing gay marriage and term limits.
A more typical Iowa caucus experience took place 75 miles east of us in Bettendorf where our daughter, Liesl, and her husband, Mark, both aged 39, caucused for the first time. They live in a more populous urban area so the party caucuses were held at separate locations. Their Democratic caucus was at the local grade school a few blocks from their house; 200 were expected, 400 showed up. Even though their precinct leaders were more experienced party activists, the shear numbers apparently became difficult to manage. Like our small rural caucus, they initially divided into candidate groups but because of the larger numbers, candidates like Biden and Richardson had "viable" or nearly viable numbers. Their precinct was allotted 6 delegates to the county convention so dividing these up among 400 people became a game of percentages and numbers. Obama had by far the largest group and was guaranteed 3 of the 6 delegates with plenty of votes to spare but how the other three delegates would be assigned was still up for grabs. It was apparently at this stage that things became crazy with people standing on tables yelling across the room trying to convince others to leave their group and come to another. This activity apparently went on for some time until our son-in-law, who is not a Clinton fan, convinced 15 Obama supporters to switch to Biden thus denying Clinton a second delegate. Obama had plenty of people to spare so the switch didn't hurt his delegation. The final tally in their precinct was Obama 3 delegates, Clinton 1, Edwards 1, and Biden 1. Clearly a much more exciting night for Liesl and Mark and more typical of the average caucus experience.
Well, there you have it: caucus night in Iowa. It is now up to the rest of the nation to carry the ball forward for the next 11 months. We are just thankful that the political commercials have ended!