Caucus Day across Washington State

When I woke up this morning I was a little nervous in anticipation for my first political caucus. Why was I nervous? I am not that sure. I spend way too much time watching shows like Meet the Press etc. and I am diligent about reading both local and national papers, so I am not unsure of myself when it comes to talking politics (surprise!). Maybe my nerves centered around questioning how my candidate would do today or questioning how the caucus would play itself out? Maybe I thought I might leave the iron on.

Our caucus location was at the Indian Heritage School just two blocks away. I arrived early as an Obama volunteer to help get precinct signs ready to help other confused people like myself get organized. Earlier in the week Rachelle and I passed out fliers around our area to pump people up for Obama. When given the chance, we also instructed our neighbors on the best ways to play a 1-3-1 zone defense and how best to utilize a team with two good ball handlers.


Jayron Finan, our neighbor and precinct captain, did an outstanding job of delegating duties and keeping people moving. She was going on limited sleep as I believe she's responsible for like 10,000 precincts or something.

Her husband Danny was an excellent grip for Jayron!

It was shocking to watch as the room went from completely empty to over-packed in less than a half hour. The line to get in was around the block and I heard people actually talking about the rumor Van Halen was gonna play. (I knew they wouldn't, but I thought Dylan might do an acoustic set. Maybe next time.)

Two of our precincts had to re-locate to the cafeteria because the auditorium was too crowded. That was pretty cool because then we could make Sloppey Joes and talk politics at the same time.
Once there we split into Obama supporters, Hilary supporters, and uncommitted or other former candidate supporters. The Obama supporters outnumbered everyone else 3-1.


People took turns debating the merits of each candidate to loud applause and one guy kept wanting to get former Edwards and Kucinich supporters together to create an "uncommitted" delegate. His idea didn't fly and really wasted time, but that's Democracy I guess. I actually felt bad in a way for the Clinton people because they were so badly outnumbered, but my impression was that nobody took the political comments personally. The best part about the whole process? It really was a neighborhood thing. All my neighbors had really interesting and intelligent things to say throughout the day and it really did feel people were excited for a better tomorrow (I know that sounds cheesy, but honest to god that is how it felt.) Also, my neighbors really helped keep Kylee in check because she tried to vote three times!

In the end Obama received three delegates and Clinton one. Hopefully that trend holds up throughout the state today!
It's quite an experience being an active member in our political process. There were many first time caucus voters and even first time voters in attendance and it appeared many people were really enthusiastic about the process.
I can't wait for November.



Obama takes Washington