February 2008

That warm, caucusy glow

The report from Stanley Elementary School is that Obama wins in a landslide!

We arrived at 1pm to find the cafeteria already swarming with people. Number of volunteers handing out Obama stickers at the door: 2. Number of people handing out Clinton stickers: 0.

There were about 5 precincts meeting at the school. Ours was so large that we were sent to the gymnasium to proceed with our caucusing. Carrying chairs, we organized ourselves into a semicircle; some people also grabbed those thick blue exercise mats and made themselves comfortable. It seemed like our representatives were about 60% African-American. We didn't see anyone from our block, but we saw Ethan, the real estate guy who lives a block away; Jenne of Bill & Jenne who bought a house about 6 blocks south; and Sally, the development professional who keeps an eye on the whole Hilltop. Sally said the last presidential caucus for our precinct was held in a tiny church basement.

We sat around for about an hour while these folks tallied up the votes everyone had cast with their sign-in sheets:

The results were about 14 for Clinton, and over 100 for Obama, with a handful of undecideds. Then we listened to one one-minute speech for each position. After the speeches were done, we had 5 minutes to try to persuade the other side and the undecideds. Our Obama speaker (a well-organized white guy) jumped on the opportunity to speak further to the whole room about Obama's stance on foreign policy, plans for healthcare, and commitment net neutrality. The Clinton speaker (a white woman who wasn't wearing any shoes or socks) said, "If we vote for Hillary, we also get her husband!" which elicited a chorus of loud boos. She tried to say a few other things, but was drowned out. A young woman got up and said "I'm in my 20's, and there's been a Bush or a Clinton in the White House since I was 3 years old. I want someone new!" and was cheered.

The main volunteer lady brought everything back to order and said that Obama currently had 13 delegates, and Clinton had 2. Then she gave everyone a few minutes to change their votes, during which the undecideds must have gone for Obama, because we ended up with 14 delegates.

All the Clinton supporters are under the basketball hoop (excepting the woman with the bedazzled white hat; she's just getting a drink from the fountain, because I saw her yelling for Obama). Note the barefoot woman.

These are just the delegates for Obama, and their alternates. There was much confusion over where and when the county and state conventions would be held, so Joe and I didn't volunteer to be delegates.

And then, a mere 2 hours after it started, it was over, and we were filled with the spirit of Obama and covered with his likeness on buttons and stickers.