This year was the first time that I've gotten so 'involved' in the political system and I've been eligible to vote since 1983. There are many reasons for having not been involved before and becoming so now. First and foremost was utter disgust and contempt of the current administration. I'll leave the rest to myself.
I live in Linn County Iowa, so I can speak only of Linn County. I volunteered to be an alternate delegate to the County Convention for Edwards. I got a postcard late last week reminding me of the convention today. I may have even gotten some phone calls, but my message on my answering machine is a generic recording and the caller wasn't sure they had the right number. I was there by 8.10am.
Those that were selected at precinct to be delegates were finished seating at around 11.15am. Those of us that were there as alternates went off to a different area to see how many were there for which candidate. All 50 alternates present for Edwards were seated as delegates. I have no idea how many for Obama or Clinton. All the 'needed' alternates were seated by 12.15pm.
Also, note that Edwards has not officially dropped from the race. Even though we know he hasn't a snowballs' chance in hell of getting the nomination, there are reasons to stay with Edwards. Many stayed for personal reasons, principle, and platform issues. Some did change over to Obama or Clinton at the time of seating, but not very many over all.
While 'they' were counting up the total of how many people were there to determine how many people would be selected for the different candidates to go to the District level convention (April 26th and are along Congressional District lines) we started to go through the platform planks. That was interesting for me to witness/participate in this process. This lasted until 3.45pm and it was not complete at that time, but we were divided up into candidate caucus to select delegates and alternates for the District anyway. Around 635 people were selected at the precinct level and were hoped to show today (that includes all selected delegates and alternates for all precincts in Linn County). The following is what ended up being the breakdown of number needed to be selected to go on to the District Caucus:
Obama - 107 delegates (53.4%)
Clinton - 60 (29.4)
Edwards - 35 (17.5)
There were a few there for Biden and Richardson. But they and 'uncommitted' were declared non-viable and were requested to select another candidate.
There were delegates selected for four committees, as well as alternates. Numbers of representatives per candidate per committee:
Obama - 6
Clinton - 3
Edwards - 2
There were 81/83 seated delegates for Edwards. I can't say for sure on Obama or Clinton, as I was an alternate/delegate for Edwards. The Edwards group selected its 35 delegates, 12 committee members and remainder as alternate delegates by 6.15pm. We were free to leave the convention at that time, if we so chose to. I decided to leave as the Obama group had not finished the second round of delegate selection yet and I was starting to have asthma issues. (The rules stated that only half of the total available for a candidate could be elected/selected in the first round of voting.)
I was told that if I were to go to the District Caucus, I would most likely be seated as a delegate (for Edwards). The reasoning is due to the way the Congressional districts are laid out. 'They' are not expecting everyone from the more southern counties to all travel the 50-100 miles north to Mt Vernon, Iowa for District 2 Convention. Since Mt Vernon is in Linn County, we are obviously closest and will therefore be more likely/able to get there. Those that have already been selected as delegates to the District are also delegates to the State convention. The same for alternates. What wasn't made clear to me is that if I don't go to District, can I still go to State???
So, I have some decisions to make in the next six weeks. I volunteered to be an alternate for the Credentials Committee. How involved I become with that may determine whether I go to the District and/or State. The money needed to go is not of real issue for me. The issue will be a matter of time and how I want to spend it.
As an aside note.... The reason why many may not have shown up for County Caucus/Convention is due to weather. Linn County has had nearly 60 inches of snow this winter (which is very near record breaking and it ain't over yet) and most of it has stayed on the ground since early December. The temps have been well above freezing this past week for the first time in around 3.5 months. (Literally, in Linn Co, the temps have been below 32F nearly ALL of the time since Thanksgiving - very, very few days above freezing). So, lots and lots of snow has been melting and made this the first weekend that people have had a chance to find their yards, garage floors, or cars (half of my yard is still under snow though).