There are only four caucus states left in our calendar, and I want to share some tips in general for people who will be attending these. In short, I just want to make the point that we should be making every effort to court uncommitted voters...
The final caucuses will be in Maine, Hawaii, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.
I think that caucusing is so much more exciting than voting in a primary because it is a place where many undecided people come to hear others' points of view and pick a candidate based on what they learn.
It is important to remember that if you are fired up about Obama, it's your job to speak to the undecided in your precinct and do your best to persuade them to vote with you.
Having delegates go to "uncommitted" is a loss for us.
Here's my example:
In my precinct today, which sends 6 delegates to the next level (legislative district convention), the initial tally had 4 delegates for Obama, 1 for Clinton, and 1 Uncommitted.
There were 11 people who had not written down a candidate preference, and this was enough to be awarded one delegate.
After the initial tally, however, voters are encouraged to speak up for their candidate and persuade the uncommitted voters (and other committed voters, for that matter) that they should support their candidate.
I spoke up for Obama. I started my short speech by saying, "I want to speak directly to the undecided voters here today..."
I chose to speak about Senator Obama's broad appeal all across the country, his potential for a hugely positive down-ticket effect, and his ability to lead our party into the future, rather than bring back the partisanship of the '90s.
One woman spoke about Obama's opposition to the war in Iraq. She said, "More important than just opposing the war, he wants to change the mindset that got us into the war."
Another man who spoke said that he used to be a Republican, and that Obama appealed to him as a strong leader who could unite the country.
Several very passionate Clinton supporters spoke on her behalf as well, but in the end, we ended up turning that 1 undecided delegate into an Obama delegate after the undecideds were offered another chance to declare a candidate preference.
And that's how we will win a close delegate race...it really does go all the way back to the precinct level. So get yourself fired up and swing some votes!