Caucus Cookies

For anybody who didn't know, today was the day of Nevada's caucus. Now that you are all fully informed, I will now be sharing my caucus experience.

I arrived at Pine Middle school at about 10:45 am (we were supposed to be there by 11 am) and I entered the building. Just inside the door, there was a woman directing people to the appropriate area for their precincts and I was directed to go into the gym. Once I reached the gym, I had to stand in line to check in, which was quite unorganized. The volunteers signing people in (most of whom were wearing Hillary Clinton T-shirts, even though the volunteers were supposed to remain neutral) were QUITE rude. They had tiny signs, not more than 1 1/2 inches tall directing people which line they should be in based on last name, and then they snapped at people when it turned out they were in the wrong line.

Finally, I was signed in and I had my card on which I would be selecting my candidate. I was directed to sit in the section over which my chosen candidate's name appeared. I went to find a seat and the fun began. I found great enjoyment in talking to the other people in my section as well as the lone Kucinich supporter in the section next to ours. As people continued to flow into the gym, it became apparent that in Nevada, there was only hope for two democratic candidates:
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. People tried to find seats, but as more people arrived, they were forced to cannibalize the other sections for seats. By the time everyone had arrived, the Barack Obama section had consumed the entire Kucinich section, as well as half of the Edwards section.

At this point the count began. It was very disorganized. A woman walked around carrying a microphone and directing each person to say a number out loud. This would have been a lot easier if they had just directed people to line up and count rather than trying to keep everyone in a huddled mass. Then we selected a leader for each candidate, and the group leader counted the people in their group. At that point, calculations were made and the candidates were determined to be viable or not viable. While we waited for the calculations to be made, a couple of volunteers with the Barack Obama campaign passed around cookies and juice. I rather enjoyed my caucus cookies. Any candidates with less than 15% of the vote were considered not viable. In my precinct Edwards and Kucinich were determined to be not viable and the people in their groups were directed to either choose another candidate, or to stick to their guns and basically have no impact. Of the nine people who had selected non-viable candidates, three selected Obama, one selected Clinton, and five opted to choose nobody and to just go home.

In the end, Barack Obama won my precinct by 1 delegate. It should have been more-- percentage wise, Barack beat Hillary in my precinct by 8%. Then again, I guess there was never much chance of Washoe County's choice actually being Nevada's choice as well. Clark County pretty much overpowers the rest of the state, and I have to say that in this case, that sucks. If I've never said it before (which I'm sure I have) I'm definitely going to say it now: I REALLY DO NOT LIKE LAS VEGAS!!!

And that, my friends, is my tale of caucusing. Good night and good luck.