I guess you see the world through the lens of your home. It sure seemed that way tonight at the caucus (my first) the caucus chairs were a Social Studies Teacher and a UAW (Deere) worker. After the pre-game special (Rules and such) we actually had to open another room to hold all of the people. There were 63 voters in all, with a few party people and a few minors. The first round was split into Kerry, Edwards, Gep, Dean, Kucinich and undecided (Which I gravitated towards since there were no other Clarkies in the room) The magic number for our caucus was 11 supporters. Dean just made that. Gep, Kerry and Edwards all comfortably made muster. I felt sorry for the single Kucinich supporter and felt somewhat ashamed that I wasn't big enough to actually stand up for Clark in the first round. It really did come down to space though, it was crowded and designating an area for me, the single Clark supporter was awkward (that's what I tell myself)
After the 1st round was over we the undecideds (and the Kucinich guy) were offered up to the wolves. I actually made my way quickly to the Gep table so as to be spared the onslaught of Deanies and Kerry supporters. I was actually amused by the Gep Captain, who pulled out a flash light and shined it at the undecided, asking them to 'See the light'.
In the end we broke out as follows:
Kerry: 20
Gep: 15
Dean: 13
Edwards: 15
I was actually rather surprised that the Kerry and Edwards people did this well. The Gep voters leaned heavily union and trade related, not unexpected in what used to be a union town, and in a farm state.
I was actually surprised at the humor that played a part in the caucus. There really wasn't much arguing, or underhanded wooing of undecideds (though the person that brought the 'state of Iowa shaped' cookies might have held on to them longer to use a bribes)
I was also surprised at the turn out. The caucus chair was alone in 2002, no one showed up. This year we tried to pack upwards of 70 people into a schoolroom. To me that might be something to take note of. It seems like the base is energized.
