I Am An Iowa Caucus Type Person
I went to my very first caucus ever. I didn't go in 2004 because Sammi was 5 days old, and it was 20 below zero. I have no idea why I didn't go in 2000, or 1996. I guess it didn't occur to me.
Sammi and I got McDonalds to eat in the car on the way there, knowing there was no way we would have time to go home and eat. (Matt went home to take care of the dog.) As we were driving I asked her who we were voting for, expecting her to either say "Barack Obama" (since that's all Matt talks about) or else some nonsense thing like "Doody Head" (because she's all about name-calling) and she answered "John Edwards." What the heck?
Coralville's Precinct 6 caucus takes place in the Wickham Elementary gym. Maybe this venue worked at one time--perhaps before hundreds of houses were built in the district--but the place was practically bursting at the seams tonight. My hopes that everyone in our richety rich district was Republicans were dashed when I saw the parking lot. I had Sammi and Piper with me, and I didn't want to drag them too far through the cold--so I sort of parked in a not-officially-approved spot behind the school. Still on asphalt, though; I wasn't parked with one wheel of my car up on the curb like SOME cars I could mention. There were also cars parked as much as a quarter of a mile away from the school.
There must have been 700 people or more in the school gym, crammed in like sardines. I had called the Obama office and been told that childcare would be available, which is what swayed me to take the kids and attend. Childcare, however, failed to materialize. Which meant that kids were sort of squatting on the floor, doing homework in some cases, trying not to get stepped on.
At one point Rachel was reading her SpongeBob book to Sammi. That was cute.
Hillary Clinton's table had bottled water, which was a necessity in the overheated, overcrowded gym. Sammi and I didn't have any Obama stickers on (Matt had one, Rachel's teddy bear had one, and Piper's carseat had one), so we made our way over and pretended to support Ms. Clinton long enough to snag a bottle. (We also happened to be closer to the John Edwards cookies than to the Obama cookies, so the kids ate those.)
Piper got hungry at one point, so I had to thread my way through the crowd with the baby out in front in order to find a seat to feed her. There were some chairs at the back of the room, and I was lucky enough to find one occupied by a Mom with HER baby who knew exactly what I needed and even offered me a blanket.
Before the voting began, each group was asked to make a speech on behalf of their candidate. Mike Gravel had no delegate, so someone got up and started making an anti-Hillary speech which got him booed, and cheered, and which led one person to remark that it was "worth the price of admission."
The voting itself was quick and easy--you were given 2 red tickets, the kind you might fill out for a raffle, and admonished NOT TO LOSE THEM OR YOU COULD NOT VOTE. You cast one ticket in the first round, they counted those votes up, and then decided which candidates would be viable. Obama handily won the first round, so the people who did not (Biden, Dodd) redistributed their votes. Many of them, per Matt, went to Clinton.
I say per Matt because the kids and I beat a retreat after casting our second vote, in an effort to both get the kids into bed before too incredibly late, and to beat the crowd out of the parking lot. Had we not left when we did, I think we might still be there.
They should really have the next caucus in the convention center. I briefly entertained the notion of being a Republican, because they were meeting at the Holiday Inn--which would, at the very least, have more parking.
Sammi and I got McDonalds to eat in the car on the way there, knowing there was no way we would have time to go home and eat. (Matt went home to take care of the dog.) As we were driving I asked her who we were voting for, expecting her to either say "Barack Obama" (since that's all Matt talks about) or else some nonsense thing like "Doody Head" (because she's all about name-calling) and she answered "John Edwards." What the heck?
Coralville's Precinct 6 caucus takes place in the Wickham Elementary gym. Maybe this venue worked at one time--perhaps before hundreds of houses were built in the district--but the place was practically bursting at the seams tonight. My hopes that everyone in our richety rich district was Republicans were dashed when I saw the parking lot. I had Sammi and Piper with me, and I didn't want to drag them too far through the cold--so I sort of parked in a not-officially-approved spot behind the school. Still on asphalt, though; I wasn't parked with one wheel of my car up on the curb like SOME cars I could mention. There were also cars parked as much as a quarter of a mile away from the school.
There must have been 700 people or more in the school gym, crammed in like sardines. I had called the Obama office and been told that childcare would be available, which is what swayed me to take the kids and attend. Childcare, however, failed to materialize. Which meant that kids were sort of squatting on the floor, doing homework in some cases, trying not to get stepped on.
At one point Rachel was reading her SpongeBob book to Sammi. That was cute.
Hillary Clinton's table had bottled water, which was a necessity in the overheated, overcrowded gym. Sammi and I didn't have any Obama stickers on (Matt had one, Rachel's teddy bear had one, and Piper's carseat had one), so we made our way over and pretended to support Ms. Clinton long enough to snag a bottle. (We also happened to be closer to the John Edwards cookies than to the Obama cookies, so the kids ate those.)
Piper got hungry at one point, so I had to thread my way through the crowd with the baby out in front in order to find a seat to feed her. There were some chairs at the back of the room, and I was lucky enough to find one occupied by a Mom with HER baby who knew exactly what I needed and even offered me a blanket.
Before the voting began, each group was asked to make a speech on behalf of their candidate. Mike Gravel had no delegate, so someone got up and started making an anti-Hillary speech which got him booed, and cheered, and which led one person to remark that it was "worth the price of admission."
The voting itself was quick and easy--you were given 2 red tickets, the kind you might fill out for a raffle, and admonished NOT TO LOSE THEM OR YOU COULD NOT VOTE. You cast one ticket in the first round, they counted those votes up, and then decided which candidates would be viable. Obama handily won the first round, so the people who did not (Biden, Dodd) redistributed their votes. Many of them, per Matt, went to Clinton.
I say per Matt because the kids and I beat a retreat after casting our second vote, in an effort to both get the kids into bed before too incredibly late, and to beat the crowd out of the parking lot. Had we not left when we did, I think we might still be there.
They should really have the next caucus in the convention center. I briefly entertained the notion of being a Republican, because they were meeting at the Holiday Inn--which would, at the very least, have more parking.