I volunteered to be a Perfect Stormer for Howard Dean in Council Bluffs, IA. What a blast! Aside from having severe DailyKOS withdrawals, freezing my butt off, and of course the disappointing final numbers for Dean, I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
Having already heard how crazy the horse-trading can be, and the inevitable head-shaking about "Caucus Math" I was still surprised by the hijinx that ensued. I thought others might be interested to hear how it shook down in my precinct.
Not sure how much I am allowed to disclose, (they're all on the public record right?) so I will not reveal candidate names or what precinct I was in.
This precinct had 15 delegates at stake and when the gavel came down at 7:00 there were 65 participants.
65 people * 15% = 9.75 = 10 supporters needed to be viable.
This number was announced aloud and all the campaigns surveyed the situation. At this point a quick headcount revealed:
Candidate A: 24
Candidate B: 21
Candidate C: 10
Candidate D: 7
Uncommitted: 3
Delegates are awarded using the following formula:
(Your Supporters) * (# of delegates) / (Total Caucusgoers)
ex. 10 * 15 / 65 = 2.30 = 2 delegates
So each viable candidate will receive a minimum of 2 delegates. Now the uncommitted approach D's precinct captain and say "We don't like D, but you need us. We will join you, but it will cost you one of your two delegates. Either you get one, or you get none."
Reluctantly, D's captain agrees, but one of the undecided balks and decides to support Candidate C. D, again, is no longer viable.
The other candidates smell blood, but D's supporters are fierce and are determined to go uncommitted. It isn't until B's captain starts working individual D supporters do they start to budge. He manages to convince 4 of D's supporters to switch to B in exchange for 1 delegate. The other 3 Ds move to C in exchange for 1 delegate. The 2 remaining uncommitteds join C also, but I was out of earshot to know if they got anything for it.
Then, just before they ended the first round, A's captain convinced the 3 Ds and 2 Uns that had just gone to C to come over to A for 3 delegates. (2D+1U). So at the end of the end of the first round it was:
Candidate A: 29
Candidate B: 25
Candidate C: 11
Candidate D: 0
They went ahead and said that since there were no uncommitteds and no unviable candidates they were going to skip the final round and so the final delegate counts were:
Reported to IDP
Candidate A: 7
Candidate B: 6
Candidate C: 2
Candidate D: 0
"Actual" delegates
Candidate A: 4
Candidate B: 5
Candidate C: 2
Candidate D: 3
Uncommitted: 1
So D figuratively left with more delegates than C, despite C having more supporters at the caucus.
Why would A's captain give away almost half of their delegates as a carrot?
I think she felt the number of delegates reported would be more important than actual delegates in terms of momentum, potential knockout blows to other candidates, etc. and in Iowa she is probably right. Also, note that it was important for her to get all three Dean and 2 undecideds as it meant the difference between 7 and 6 delegates. If A hadn't gotten any of them to come over it would have been A=5, B=6, C=4, and if even one of them had stayed with C, it would have been A=6, B=6, C=3.
This strategy may have even come from a higher authority. It wasn't until the drive home that this all made sense to me and I realized how brilliant it was.