Posted at February 9, 2008 by mattw
When Libby and I moved up here, we did move over our voter registration, the process is very convenient when getting a driver’s license. There have been a few elections of note since then, but nothing of major national import. I was surprised to find out that Washington is a state that caucuses for its candidates. Seeing a unique opportunity to take part in an odd part of the American democratic process, we packed the car up and headed to the caucus site.
It turns out, you have to pick whether you want to caucus with the Republicans or the Democrats, as the caucuses are held by parties. There is also a state-wide primary in a few weeks. The Democrats decided all of their delegates would be selected by caucus, none by primary. The Republicans decided to split 50% of delegates awarded by caucus, 50% by proportion of the popular primary vote.
Given that the Republican process appears about done, and that we’re more interested in the race between HRC and BHO, we went to the Democratic caucus.
We started by arranging by precincts, then we recited the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we got to the business of voting. 90% of the people who showed up from our precinct were at their first caucus. The rules were read by a volunteer, and when one person said thy had printed out a rulesheet that said one thing, another woman chimed in that “Those are the Obama rules, what do the Clinton rules say?” oh boy, we’re starting early :-)
We did our initial balloting, and then it was time for the interesting part of the caucus, when individuals had a minute of time to explain their position, or their candidate. It was at times a refreshing departure from the bullet points of the news cycles, but it was also disappointing to hear so many people reciting rote from the talking points of their candidates campaign. One man gave a deeply impassioned plea talking about his role in Vietnam and how it got him to where he is today. Another man talked about growing up in Puerto Rico, while another woman talked about how she felt her candidate’s experience was what counted. At no time, did anyone mention race or gender, or awkward rumors about Barack being Muslim, or mention the darker sides of the Clinton years (although one Clinton supported did say “she’s the only one to defeat the vast Right wing conspiracy”). Yep, that’s right, actual invocation of the VRWC. There were some interesting generalities one could make about voting patterns along generational lines, but the sample was certainly too small for it to be a statistically relevant observation.
It was exciting to see a lot (more than I’ve seen before) of people from my generation so passionately involved in it. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to caucus again, people here seem agitated that we don’t honor the primary, but it was certainly an experience I am very glad to have been a part of.
