Greetings from Lisbon, Iowa. I'm here in the high school cafeteria and we're just getting started with today's festivities.
Read on for liveblogging of the evening's events.
Disclaimer: This report is not in any way intended to be representative of what is happening in Iowa, let alone here in Lisbon. It's only an account of what I see from a corner of the room. Also, I am an Obama supporter, but as an observer, I cannot and will not speak during the time I'm here. (Clarification - I am not participating in the caucus. So I fall into the "press/media/observer" category.)
5:50pm - Each group has staked out cafeteria tables usually reserved for quarreling high schoolers. They're staking out their areas in the oddly shaped room, which is in a elongated L shape.
6:00pm - The crowd is growing rapidly, and the sticker people for each campaign are out in front, right next to the registration table, nailing people as soon as they finish registration.
The crowd so far is an older one, and (notable for me, as a minority) there isn't a single minority I can see in the room. (Perhaps that's not notable in Iowa.)
6:06pm - The campaigns have gotten there parts of "The Lions' Den" covered in signage. (I guess the school's mascot is a Lion.) There are signs for "Turn Up the Heat" (Clinton), "Trust" and "Hope" (Obama), and some ones from Edwards, Biden, and Richardson further away from me.
6:12pm - The tables are getting filled up. The Hillary people have staked out bench seats for their people, whereas the Obama people are in a standing only area. Not sure if this is intentional or not, but it looks like they will be "standing for Obama".
Also, while people register, I'll note that this town is known to be an Edwards stronghold. We'll see how it plays out.
6:17pm - Looks like the Obama folks have gotten tables and chairs as well.
Richardson's people are at the end of the very long room, and have a group nearly as big as the Hillary group.
The Biden area is thus far near empty, and there is no sign of any Dodd or Kucinich or Gravel support.
6:22pm - The room is bustling and the line for registration is snaking out the doors. I've been told that the room was nearly full last time, and that was without the expected influx of new caucusgoers.
6:27pm - The crowd seems to be settling down a bit, but there's still 30 minutes before the caucus starts. They've carted in a huge stack of chairs for what might be a very full room.
6:30pm - I'm going to go dark on and off before the caucus starts to conserve battery life. (My power cord has issues.)
6:42pm - Noise and excitement is down. People aren't in their groups as much. Talking to friends and neighbors.
6:45pm - The crowd in here is pretty old, by my standards at least. The Clinton camps seems the oldest, as the polls have indicated.
6:51pm - The Edwards crowd seems the biggest, followed by Obama, then Clinton, then Richardson, then Biden, but it's hard to tell with people walking around and talking.
And I'm no longer the only minority in the huge room, with two others in the Obama camp.
7:05pm - It's somewhat frightening and inspiring to see the number of people in here all enthusiastic about their candidate.
7:06pm - The Obama camp just did a loud "fire it up, ready to go" chant, seemingly in response to the Clinton camp cheering whenever someone joined their camp.
7:11pm - Almost everyone is seated and organized. There's no sign of the organizer.
7:14pm - Looks like the Clinton camp is breaking the no food or drink rule (which is in effect here in Lisbon).
7:25pm - We still haven't started and people are streaming in. I just got interviewed by the Mount Vernon-Lisbon sun.
7:37pm - Organizer is starting it out. He's saying we're going to put a Democrat in the Whitehouse, no matter who wins the majority tonight. He's reading the details of the caucus and reading the letter from the local leader of the democratic party. The letter is calling for support for the party. It's long winded.
They're handing out polling info so people can say who they are and their affiliation and whether they can help the democratic party.
7:40pm - He's asking for money for the party. And setting up the caucus agenda. And re-electing a permanent caucus chair, himself.
7:43pm - This really feels like a community meeting.
7:48pm - They're counting off people one by one. Each person says the next number in the countoff. We're probably going to exceed 300 in here, and the counting is breaking down because the room is full and nobody knows who's spoken up.
7:54pm - We have 301. But 8 people didn't register to vote, so they have to register before we proceed.
7:55pm - We're doing the first alignment.
8:02pm - It's not clear who's in charge or what's going on.
8:09pm - There's some sort of realignment happening even as groups count. It's chaotic. It appears there are over 100 for both Obama and Edwards and about 60 for Clinton.
8:17pm - We're still doing counts and recounts of each group. No one is sure what is going on, or how the math is supposed to work out. The precinct chair is a bit meek.
8:20pm - The first alignment count was 54 Clinton, 96 Obama, 111 Edwards. Now the second alignment is starting and we're back to chaos.
8:23pm - People are trying to steal people from viable candidates - there are some Clinton folks going after Edwards folks.
8:25pm - There's cheering as people join each group. The Richardson area is full of negotiation. People are in circles huddling and talking.
8:26pm - The Edwards folks are trying to get Clinton to come over to Edwards by using results that are in already from other parts of the state in which Clinton wasn't viable.
8:30pm - Still dealing, but the area is crowded and I can't get through.
8:36pm - More final counts.
8:39pm - Clinton got 57. Obama got 110. Edwards got 132? (We couldn't hear.) There are still some uncommitted in the back, not sure what's going on with that.
8:41pm - There's still some weirdness going on. I think Edwards actually got 122? But it's possible Edwards will get 5 delegates, Obama 3 and Clinton 2.
8:43pm - Final Count: Clinton 57 - 2 delegates; Edwards - 4 delegates; Obama - 4 delegates.
Night folks, my battery is almost dead.