Nevada Caucus Experiences

[VegasRobb]

I went down to my local precinct -7373 yesterday to participate in the Democratic Caucus.

We had a total of 39 people show up. Of the 39 people who showed up, 12 registered as new voters or re-registered as Democrats.

The Precinct chair went over the rules and explained how the "caucus" math worked. With 39 people, a candidate needed exactly 6 (5.85 rounded up) people to be a viable group. Our precinct had 4 delegates to assign.

Each candidate had a space assigned to them underneath a piece of paper with their name printed on it. Even candidates who had dropped out had a spot assigned to them (Biden, Dodd, Richardson, etc).

So we split up for the "first alignment". Any non-viable groups would be split during the "second alignment".

I walked over to area assigned to my candidate. I was met by one person. Then another, and another so we were up to four. Four people and we needed 2 more to be viable. Finally two more people walked up, an elderly husband and wife. We were viable!

Here was the split:

26 for Clinton
7 for Obama
6 for Edwards

The ethnic splits were pretty straightforward as well:

Clinton - 15 Hispanic, 10 Caucasian, 1 African-American
Obama - 4 African-American, 3 Caucasian
Edwards - 3 Caucasian, 2 Hispanic, 1 African-American

All but one newly registered voter was in the Clinton camp.

The Delegate Split was:

2 Clinton
1 Obama
1 Edwards

I expected Obama to do a bit better, but from talking with my fellow caucus participants, it seems that the Clinton campaign worked really hard to reach out to the Hispanic community. I was told that she was the only campaign running commercials on the Spanish-only radio stations.

The only real issue was one Clinton supporter who complained loudly that the caucus should be a primary. He was also worried that the delegate would stray from what the group wanted.

I had a good time meeting and chatting with my neighbors. The Precinct chair did a really good job of keeping things moving along and explaining the process to everyone. From start to finish, we were done in about two hours. Seems like that wasn't how it went for everyone else. I really enjoyed participating in the process.

Anyway, I'm going to the County Convention on February 23rd as a delegate for Edwards. :) I imagine that's not going to last for long and I'll be realigned before the State Convention.

[Lum]

I imagine that's not going to last for long and I'll be realigned before the State Convention.

If you mean you think Edwards might drop out before the end of February, an article in today's Times disagrees (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/us/politics/21edwards.html?hp).

[Rogen]

Nobody wanted Kucinich? Or Gravel?

[balut]

There wasn't a single Gravel or Kucinich supporter at my caucus room.

[balut]

So I participated in the Nevada caucus this past Saturday, and I thought it was a really good experience.

My caucus was held at a nearby high school, and you were assigned to one of two or three different rooms depending on what precinct you belonged to (based on address).

My room had about 160 registered voters in it (a lot of people brought their kids with them, so there were probably 200+ people there), and the organizers had people congregate based on their candidate of choice. The only two groups of note were the Clinton and Obama camps, and it looked to be a fairly even split. There were a handful of undecideds grouped in the middle, and about 7-8 Edwards supporters clustered at the back.

So they close the door at noon, and the caucus worker for that room starts collecting the ballots from the groups. The Clinton group gets counted first, and they end up with 60-65 votes. Their group cheers loudly, but a lot of the Obama supporters see it as a good sign, considering that would leave 90+ votes left, and the Obama group being the only other large group there.

The Obama count is declared at 85 votes, and our section (I'm an Obama supporter) starts up a spirited "O-bam-a, O-bam-a" chant. The Clinton group counters with a "Hi-la-ry, Hi-la-ry" chant, but the organizer quiets everyone down to get the counts for the Edwards and Undecideds.

The Edwards group has < 15% voter support, so they're declared unviable and have to choose who to support as their second choice. All of them move to the Obama camp, and another huge cheer goes up from the Obama side.

Then the Undecideds are left. A Clinton organizer goes over and an Obama organizer goes over, and they present their cases to the Undecideds. Several minutes pass, and it looks like 2/3 of that group goes to Obama, with the other 1/3 going to Clinton. Another cheer from the Obama group.

Then it gets weird. The Clinton rep, the Obama rep, and the Organizer meet to recount two more times on the ballots, to ensure accuracy. Then they pull out a chart and calculator to determine the delegate split. Our precinct has 6 delegates, and Obama gets 3 to Clinton's 2. Neither candidate has a clear amount needed to get the 6th delegate, so the two reps and the organizer agree to put it up to chance, Vegas-style.

Each rep draws 1 card from a standard 52-card deck - high card wins. Obama rep draws a Queen! The Clinton groups looks crestfallen . . . until the Clinton rep ALSO draws a Queen! Now both sides are cheering and catcalling to show their support. The two reps draw again - Obama rep pulls a 3, and Clinton rep pulls a 9. Clinton gets the 6th delegate.

The Caucus is over, and everyone starts to file out. The Clinton camp disappointed at the number loss, but thrilled at the delegate tie, and the Obama camp encouraged by the number victory, but disgruntled by the delegate tie. I expect the Nevada Caucus organizers will be getting a lot of angry feedback on that - most Obama supporters felt it should have gone 4-2 with the delegates, since there were about 20 more Obama votes there.

Ultimately, reading the news coverage, it seems the opposite ultimately happened - Clinton got more votes, but Obama got more delegates. It's an odd process, but it just felt very democratic and good to have small-group, face-to-face politicking like that. I'm glad I got to participate and have my say.

[balut]

The ethnic splits were pretty straightforward as well:

Clinton - 15 Hispanic, 10 Caucasian, 1 African-American
Obama - 4 African-American, 3 Caucasian
Edwards - 3 Caucasian, 2 Hispanic, 1 African-American

All but one newly registered voter was in the Clinton camp.
That's weird, at my caucus precinct room the Obama camp was like a Benetton ad - several of us noticed how diverse the crowd was, being split among Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, South Asians, etc.
The Clinton camp was almost 50/50 Caucasian/African-American, though.

I just find it unfortunate that Edwards is likely going to play the spoiler and allow Clinton to get the Democratic nod - when the Edwards group was found unviable for my room, all of them moved to the Obama camp. If that trend is normal, then Clinton and Obama would be a statistical tie in Nevada.

[VegasRobb]

If you mean you think Edwards might drop out before the end of February, an article in today's Times disagrees (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/us/politics/21edwards.html?hp).

I mean that I don't think there will be enough delegates at the County Convention form a "viable" group for Edwards.

[VegasRobb]

There wasn't a single Gravel or Kucinich supporter at my caucus room.

Ditto

[Rogen]

it just felt very democratic and good to have small-group, face-to-face politicking like that. I'm glad I got to participate and have my say.

Choosing between two candidates decided by the corporate media based on the snappiness of their marketing campaigns.

Did anyone on the Hillary side support the Iraq war?

Did anyone on the Obama side support the USA PATRIOT act and Real ID?

What do you think?

[VegasRobb]

Well Rogen,

Honestly, that photo op with the stormfront.org guy kinda finishes your guy in my mind (not that he wasn't almost gone before). Paul has a strong strong base in Nevada. He did pretty well in Nevada, but the best he can hope to do is to have a couple of his ideals included as planks in the party platform.

I just wonder how many Paul supporters have looked deep into his background.

[Rogen]

I haven't. Does being in a picture with the dude suggest anything except that they were in the same room and someone took a picture?

I'm really being honest. I sincerely don't see how that picture is meant to be damning in any way whatsoever.

I'm pretty sure, for example, that if I tried I could get any politician in the country to pose for a picture with me. It's not hard; being in public and smiling for pictures is what politicians do for a living.

[Unicorn McGriddle]

Dude, you can't even get your "girlfriend" to pose for a picture with you.

[Rogen]

If I do get her to pose with me, does it mean that she's retroactively a pervert once she discovers that I run a website devoted to humping life-size pillows shaped like anime girls?

[Rogen]

And what does Ron Paul have to do with a Democratic caucus anyway?

I even specifically mentioned Kucinich and Gravel. Then I asked:



Did anyone on the Hillary side support the Iraq war?

Did anyone on the Obama side support the USA PATRIOT act and Real ID?

What do you think?

Well, what do you think? Do you think the people at the caucuses support those positions, or do you think they just don't realize that they're voting for candidates who support them?

[VegasRobb]

Ok Rogen, fair enough. I did a little more due dillegence.

I found this (http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php/why-we-should-support-ron-388565.html) and this (http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?p=5046367) but then I found this. (http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/malone2.html)

[Rogen]

Looks like you found some racists saying "he's not one of us" and then you found a supporter saying "he's not one of them".

I never thought he was a racist in the first place, so really those mean nothing to me. Also, even if every member of stormfront DID believe Ron Paul was going to lead them all in a great lynching and glorious return to slavery on the day of his inauguration, it still wouldn't mean anything to me.

Like anyone else, I'll judge the man on his own words and his own actions, not those that others attribute to him.


Now, about my question. Do you think the people who support Obama and Clinton really like their politics, or do you think they're picking them like they pick brands of deodorant and cigarettes?

That is, do you think most of those people in the Obama camp even know that Obama supports the PATRIOT act and wants to speed up the issuing of federal ID cards (Real ID) to all US citizens? Or do you think that many of those people perhaps don't agree with those things, but they don't know that Obama holds those positions?

I'm just asking for your opinion based on your experience.

[Chris Nahr]

VegasRobb, thanks for digging up the Maloney article (http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/malone2.html) on LewRockwell.com. I'm no longer sure if this accurately describes Ron Paul himself, given his strange amnesia about racist tirades in his newsletter (which became public after the article was written), but it's a great description of the stance he's supposed to have on racism.

[VegasRobb]

Chris,

Yeah, I thought it was worth reading through.

Rogen,

Everyone supports candidates with their own self-interests in mind. Other issues may or may not get the play they deserve.

Okay, Obama supports the Patriot Act. Obama also doesn't want to be President of Red America or Blue America, he wants to be President of the UNITED States of the America (applause and cheers).

Clinton supports the War In Iraq, okay. Clinton made a tearful admission that the campaign trail is difficult.

[Rogen]

But there are actual democrats running! There are real, viable choices that you don't have to wince and choke down and make excuses for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_OBslG2Arc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY-z8MC0UAw

They just don't get their faces on the TV.

[Lum]

I know this may be a bit of a stretch for you, but many people don't agree with every position Dennis Kucinich takes, either.

[Hawkeye Fierce]

So, you wincing and making excuses for Paul's newsletters and Stormfront connections...that's different, somehow?

[Rogen]

First off, what 'connections'? We just got done establishing that he hasn't got any.

Secondly, what the fuck does Ron Paul have to do with it? The links I posted have nothing to do with Ron Paul.

Seriously, is something wrong with you?

[Rogen]

I know this may be a bit of a stretch for you, but many people don't agree with every position Dennis Kucinich takes, either.
Why would that be a stretch for me? You already know that he's not my candidate.

Seriously, is something wrong with you?

[Njal]

Seriously, is something wrong with you?

Ahh the angry young man, don't worry in a decade or two life will likely have ground away your passion and you can sink into passivity with barely a memory of what you have said on this forum.

[extarbags]

I haven't. Does being in a picture with the dude suggest anything except that they were in the same room and someone took a picture?

I'm really being honest. I sincerely don't see how that picture is meant to be damning in any way whatsoever.

Does being in a picture with a dude suggest anything except that they were in the same room and someone took a picture? Does publishing and signing racist newsletters suggest anything except that somebody happened to be writing a racist newsletter on a piece of paper that was scheduled to have one's signature printed on it? Does being endorsed by a white supremacist suggest anything other than the white supremacist resolving to endorse the next politician he saw, which happened to be Ron Paul?

Give it a rest.


Like anyone else, I'll judge the man on his own words and his own actions, not those that others attribute to him.

No, that's what everyone else is doing, which is why everyone else knows that he's a vile bigot at worst and an inept panderer at best. What you're doing is judging him on your preconceived notions about him based on the fact that he identifies himself as a libertarian.

[Lum]

Why would that be a stretch for me? You already know that he's not my candidate.

....

Everyone supports candidates with their own self-interests in mind. Other issues may or may not get the play they deserve.

But there are actual democrats running! There are real, viable choices that you don't have to wince and choke down and make excuses for.

I know this may be a bit of a stretch for you, but many people don't agree with every position Dennis Kucinich takes, either.

Maybe it'll help if it's, you know, all in one post or something.

Seriously, is something wrong with you?

Aw, just "man up", it's only "mouthbreathers"! :) :) :) :D :)