Suck My Caucus
The setting was insane. We had to park about 3 blocks away (which is amusing to me because we LIVE 3 blocks away - but yet my roommates felt the need to drive there. We nearly went back home & parked). Our precinct number, after a long day's work, managed to slip my mind, so we had to stand in line to figure that one out. I didn't mind since there was plenty of eye candy (sorry, had to say it). On our way upstairs to the room someone said "12 moving to cafeteria!" so baaaaack down we went. Everyone signed in (MN you don't need to be verified registered in the precinct, just supply your name & address).
This is where everything ended up NOT like I thought it was going to be. My imagination: talk about prez candidates, vote for them, then decide delegates based on votes. Reality: Voted right away - on small pieces of white paper since they ran out of ballots, then volunteers for delegates chosen (i nearly volunteered but not having a car makes things difficult - plus I KNOW i have something 3/1 that i can't remember). No one really at all knew what they were doing, which was sort of sad, and some people didn't even know what straw polls and delegates were. Goodness. It's ok to be a novice, but why don't people research before they jump into things. Meh. So anyway, resolutions were submitted - the first being to hold an impromptu hand poll of senate candidates so that the delegates knew who the contituents were rooting for. Ciresi: 5, Franken: 30-something (big surprise there *eye roll*), Nelson-Pallmeyer: 20-something. Which is not a good example of the number in my precinct - which was 222. The prez vote ended up being 162 Obama, 60 Clinton. Although I was more intrigued by one of the other precincts in the building which voted 266 Obama to 47 Clinton.
A SLEW of resolutions were read off - quite informally - but it was semi-interesting. I disliked listening to stupid people & stupid questions (oh sorry, those don't exist), but I got to send out my yea for state & local instant run-off voting (although listening to someone try to explain it to IRO virgins was painful). Other resolutions encompassed things such as veterans, military spending, reaffirming DFL stances, education, local power in domestic partner benefits, passenger rail, environment, and the highlights: Creating a US Department of Peace, a non-citizen submission signed by the chair mandating all foreign intervention be guided by human rights, and *drumroll* a call to start proceedings to impeach Bush. Yes folks, there you have it, the good and the bad.
So, as it is, the experience was both gratifying and disappointing at the same time. It would be nice to have a bit more intelligence on process & some more organization, but it was fun to see people interested in their world, and observe all the different people, and see people being non-lazy and taking a stand.
That's all. If you're a Minnesotan & didn't get out there, you really did miss out. Even if you choose not to vote, it's something worth experiencing. Twice, even.
This is where everything ended up NOT like I thought it was going to be. My imagination: talk about prez candidates, vote for them, then decide delegates based on votes. Reality: Voted right away - on small pieces of white paper since they ran out of ballots, then volunteers for delegates chosen (i nearly volunteered but not having a car makes things difficult - plus I KNOW i have something 3/1 that i can't remember). No one really at all knew what they were doing, which was sort of sad, and some people didn't even know what straw polls and delegates were. Goodness. It's ok to be a novice, but why don't people research before they jump into things. Meh. So anyway, resolutions were submitted - the first being to hold an impromptu hand poll of senate candidates so that the delegates knew who the contituents were rooting for. Ciresi: 5, Franken: 30-something (big surprise there *eye roll*), Nelson-Pallmeyer: 20-something. Which is not a good example of the number in my precinct - which was 222. The prez vote ended up being 162 Obama, 60 Clinton. Although I was more intrigued by one of the other precincts in the building which voted 266 Obama to 47 Clinton.
A SLEW of resolutions were read off - quite informally - but it was semi-interesting. I disliked listening to stupid people & stupid questions (oh sorry, those don't exist), but I got to send out my yea for state & local instant run-off voting (although listening to someone try to explain it to IRO virgins was painful). Other resolutions encompassed things such as veterans, military spending, reaffirming DFL stances, education, local power in domestic partner benefits, passenger rail, environment, and the highlights: Creating a US Department of Peace, a non-citizen submission signed by the chair mandating all foreign intervention be guided by human rights, and *drumroll* a call to start proceedings to impeach Bush. Yes folks, there you have it, the good and the bad.
So, as it is, the experience was both gratifying and disappointing at the same time. It would be nice to have a bit more intelligence on process & some more organization, but it was fun to see people interested in their world, and observe all the different people, and see people being non-lazy and taking a stand.
That's all. If you're a Minnesotan & didn't get out there, you really did miss out. Even if you choose not to vote, it's something worth experiencing. Twice, even.