We caucused in Washington today, and as the PCO for my precinct I served as the caucus chair. The turnout was unbelievable, some of the preliminary reports I've heard say that we doubled 2004's record turnout of 100,000. If my caucus location was representative, I can believe it.
Over 74 people turned out from my tiny little precinct (about 3 or 4 more showed up after sign-ups had officially closed) and the breakdown for the first tally was 51 Obama, 14 Clinton, and 9 undecided. We spent about 1/2 hour giving speeches and debating the merits of each candidate. I was really moved by how passionate many of the Obama supporters were, in particular one older gentleman (literally a 'graybeard') who explained that when he hears Obama speak, he feels the same way he did as a ninth grader listening to JFK.
After the speeches, we allowed participants to change their stated preference, and re-tallied the vote: 58 Obama, 15 Clinton, and 1 undecided. Our precinct has 6 delegates, and they were apportioned 5 to Obama, 1 to Clinton.
It was a really fantastic experience--crowded, stuffy, somewhat chaotic, but at the same time, intensely moving, as neighbors and friends talked face-to-face about their beliefs and preferences.
Photo of our caucus courtesy of Didi Anstett.
UDPATE: Obama crushed Clinton, not just in WA, but everywhere else.
3 comments:
Matt - you rock. How did I know you would be this involved? I have to say, I'm super excited about politics this year. I wish we lived closer to you so we could have more fun political discussions over a beer. I've heard that some extraordinary number of Canadians would give up their Canadian vote to be allowed to vote in the US election this year. I certainly would!
Cheers,
Jen.
Thanks Jen! You know, if it were up to me, I would definitely start by letting all resident alien Canadians vote in this election. While they are living here, Canadians are affected by U.S. policies just as much as citizens. But what the heck, why not let the whole country vote in this election?! Except maybe for Alberta. :)
Hi Matt, I'm also PCO of my precinct over on Bainbridge, and we had a similar experience, and identical apportionment. Our 80 attendees more than doubled our record (36) turnout of 2004. Initially folks signed with only two undecided, but broke heavily for Obama. The preliminary delegate math came out to 4.422 & 1.422, so the sixth delegate would have literally been decided by a coin flip. One of the undecideds switched to Obama, obviating the toss, and making it 5-1.
I heard of other precincts where PCOs literally enforced the script's suggestion of one one-minute speech per candidate. Like you I let people talk - that's what we were there for after all. Great experience - too bad the nomination is dragging out this long, but there's still cause for a lot of hope.
I created this map which got posted at all the caucus locations on the island. Hey if CoreGIS ever gets job offers that require more data munging than you might want to take on, feel free to see if I'm available for sub-contracting to help out with the grunt work.
You ever go to CUGOS? I expect I'll be seeing you around.
Walker Willingham
Choosing Hope
Post a Comment