Caucusing

I've lived in Washington State, since October of 1995 -- after the divorce was final -- and I've religiously participated in all the elections available to me. It was only this year that I found out that my efforts to participate in the presidential nominating process were in vain. I was more than a bit upset to find out that the Democratic Party of Washington ignores the statewide primary ballot and uses a caucus system to elect its delegates to the national nominating convention. So this year, I had to caucus. Gail, my wife, did not get the opportunity because she had to work -- just another disenfranchised voter -- oh, I found out at the caucus that she could have filled out a form to vote her preference. Too bad that little bit of knowledge was overlooked at the "Obama Caucus Training" we both attended the Saturday before this past Saturday's Caucus.

Now, I know that part of the rationale for the caucus system, is that it is supposed to foster community and participatory democracy. I can see that. Lord knows that I don't know any of my neighbors, other than the young couple who shares the other unit in our duplex. I can't say that I know them at all well. I have said hello to some of the folks living in the units immediately next to ours and the elderly neighbor lady when were were both taking out trash once. I had a brief talk with the neighbor, who just added a building for his wife's quilting hobby/business to his property. Beyond that I don't know a soul in my neighborhood.

So the caucus did bring me into contact with about 80 or so of the people living in our precinct. I suppose then that the caucus did fulfill some community building in that sense and of course we elected delegates to attend the County/Legislative District Nominating Convention, where delegates will be elected to go to the state convention, which in turn elects delegates to the National Convention. It bothers me that the Democratic Party National Leadership have approximately 800 so called super delegates, who are not elected to the national nominating convention. These super delegates are not sent with a mandate from the rank and file to vote for a given candidate.

According to the numbers I'm looking at right now, the National Nominating Convention for the Democratic Party will seat 4,049 delegates. It takes a 50.012349% or 2025 delegate votes to nominate the Democratic presidential candidate. I find it seriously disturbing to know that nearly 20% of the 4049 delegates are not elected to the nominating convention but are members of the party elite and that they are not bound to follow the preferences of the party rank and file. Ladies and Gentlemen, note the odious stench of power politics wafting through the nominating convention.

It seems that it is time to either take back our party or to start another one from scratch. Frankly, I trust the rank and file to share my interests and to safeguard them a lot more than I do a bunch of power brokers, who's agenda is not a matter of public record and I suspect may only nominally be aligned with mine and the rest of the party rank and file. God, I wish I had reason to trust our leadership, but frankly in my half century plus on this earth, very, very few political leaders in this country have demonstrated to my satisfaction that they have the best interest of the people of this country in their hearts and minds.

Ours is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, for the people, if our political leadership, wants to restore itself to a position of trust and regard, then it must trust the will of the people and stop engaging in political machinations such as super delegates. Furthermore, I need to jump on the bandwagon, calling for the elimination of the Electoral College. This is a vestige of the past which for sooo many reasons needs to be removed from our political system.

Damn, so much to say and so little will to do so. Let me get back to the real meat and potatoes of the caucus experience for me. I went to the caucus, iPod, sketch pad, and colored pencils in hand. I figured that there'd be a lot of waiting and wanted to be prepared to entertain myself. So, I walked into Bellingham High School and was pointed to a corner of the big commons/cafeteria/lobby area that I found myself in, where my precinct was to meet. People were just beginning to gather.

I signed in and entered my initial preference for a candidate. I also immediately asked how I could raise my objections to the caucus system, explaining that my wife was being disenfranchised because she had to work and could not attend the caucus. This is not an issue with an election especially since Washington to the best of my knowledge has adopted a vote by mail election system. As I was fairly early, there were a few chairs available. So I grabbed one pulled out my iPod, sketch pad and pencil, plugged in and tuned out. Slowly, people gathered around me, bits and pieces of various conversation intermittently penetrated my visual and sound protections, prompting me to make an occasional comment to those around me.

I finally accepted that my attempts to isolate myself from the conversations around me were failing and that my attention was being drug, perhaps not with screams, but inevitably into the external world. I put the iPod and other accouterments of my isolation effort away and began conversing with the people around me. I was mostly aware that I was possessed by an undercurrent of anger at our entire political process.

Finally, the PCO (Precinct Committee Officer -- Nancy, a seemingly pleasant and petite women somewhere in my age range) announced that it was time to officially begin the caucus. Being a soft spoken woman, I barely heard her above the sedate conversation that was going on -- a sharp whistle from someone in the crowd finally brought silence and shifted the focus to Nancy.

She stated that we would now give the Pledge of Allegiance, all around me people rose and automatically put their hands to their breasts. My hackles rose and I found myself pissed off. I realized that I am extremely jealous of my liberties -- sufficiently so that this relatively innocuous yet controversial bit of patriotic verbiage -- caused me to bristle, cross my arms, and deliberately sit silent in protest to the group think that was being foisted onto me. I imagine that you are thinking that this is not behavior that is going to foster the perception of me as a team player and a good guy, and you're probably right. I know the thought passed through my head at the time as I debated within myself, whether to bite the bullet and comply with the collective expectation and I just couldn't do it.

I've been complaining about the behavior of the political elite (party leadership) in this country for a long time, and I've come to realize that mindless patriotic platitudes are part of the problem. Both suppress people's thinking process and promote the subjugation of dissent. Opps, I'm digressing again.

So once the Pledge was history, the preliminary preference (vote) count was begun using the preferences given as we signed in. Nancy, bless her, did ask for a show of hand of those new to the caucus. My guesstimate was that somewhere between fourth to a third of the people in our group raised their hands. It seem evident that the way the caucus was being conducted did not conform to a lot of peoples expectations, and Nancy appeared either unaware of or unprepared to address this.

The caucus was conducted pretty much in accordance with what had been presented in the caucus training I'd attended the week before. The announcement of a rule change allowing anyone to participate in the preference past the previously announced 1:30 cut off was discomfiting as it gave the impression that the rules are just too mutable and that the process is subject to manipulation. Nancy per her prerogative as precinct committee officer had already appointed a secretary and tally counters, whom she quickly introduced and then sent off to tally the sign-in sheets and expressed preferences, inviting an observer from any candidate preference to observe the tally process.

The tally done, the tally counter announced the counts and the resultant delegate apportionment. That turned out to be 8 delegates for Obama, 2 for Clinton, and none for the remainder of the candidates. Nancy, now called for supporters of the two candidates to step up and make a brief speech in support of their preference. She called for someone to act as a time keeper then immediately asked for an Obama supporter to speak first, a deathly silence ensued. God knows why but I held up my hand to speak on behalf of Obama and suddenly found myself taking on the role of time keeper as well as speaking for Obama.

As it turned out, I didn't so much as speak for Obama as I spoke against Hilary. As much as I wanted to vote for a woman and establish that the glass ceiling for women was a thing of the past for my daughters, I also wanted to vote for a person of color and end the dominance of white males in the pinnacle of American political power. I was confronted with a dilemma that I hated but at the same time I was provided a simple reason to select one option over the other. Hilary has baggage, too much baggage. I cannot take the risk that the antagonism felt towards Hillary might unite an opposition sufficient to leave the Republicans in the White House for another four years.

Nancy, then spoke eloquently in support of Hillary, noting her experience and a positive global reputation as primary points in Hillary's favor. The remainder of the speakers where all for Obama. An elderly man with some form of palsy, spoke with a shaking voice and hands, stating that he had enough of a Bush dynasty and did not wish to exchange it for a Clinton dynasty. An Afro-American woman, spoke and echoed the dilemma that I'd expressed, but she put forth an argument that was quite persuasive to me and I think many others. Hillary's experience and history in Washington DC have taught her what is not possible, she said, and Obama's lack of the same enables him to believe that any thing is possible. Her remarks were truly exciting and precipitated a rousing round of applause.

Following the speeches in support of the candidates a second preference count done affording anyone an opportunity to change their candidate selection, though Nancy expressed it as an opportunity for those who did not get a vote for their candidate. I found myself, suddenly speaking up, making it clear that the opportunity was open to anyone to change their preference. The subsequent second tally resulted in no change to the delegate apportionment.

The next stage of the caucus was to elect delegates and alternates in a sub-caucus. Nancy, claimed a table and a corner of the area for the we were using for the Clinton sub-caucus. I spoke up, suggesting that we gather together several tables into a circle to provide a focus and ample space for completing ballots for the delegate election. I also asked if there was anyone who wished to chair the sub-caucus for Obama. The next thing I knew was someone behind me said, why don't you do it, you've been doing a good job so far. Several other voices seconded and the group appeared to arrive at a consensus within moments and I suddenly found myself in the position of chairing the sub-caucus.

I was handed a list of rules for the delegate nomination and election process, which I promptly read to the group. I then suggested that we ask for those interested in being delegates to step forward, and immediately expressed that I would be willing, to set an example; with some encouragement we managed to get 7 more people to step forward, further wheedling and what not got 8 more people to step up to be alternates. Once we'd filled the required slots new volunteers disappeared. I called for a vote and the slate of delegates as put together in a brief amount of time was duly nominated and elected.

Oh, one of the delegates suggested that each of the delegates, say something about themselves. My remarks were that my wife, Gail, and I were relatively new residents of Bellingham and that I'd found Bellingham to be both a beautiful and spiritual place. Several people subsequently came up to me and expressed their appreciation for my leadership and one remarked specifically on my comments about Bellingham. Another individual approached me and expressed that the neighborhood association could use people such as me and provided me with contact information for the neighborhood association and himself; unfortunately, we are in a neighborhood adjacent to his.

The real story in all of this, from my perspective, was my behavior. While, I know that I am capable of stepping up, I generally haven't behaved this way in most public venues, though I must admit, that in recent years I have been more out there than I have earlier in my life. I found myself laughing at myself. It was a good kind of laughing.

Who'd of thought, me, a mover and shaker! If that ain't worth a chuckle then I don't know what is.