Ottumwa satellite precinct, is the first Iowa precinct to caucus today. Starting at Noon

[Donkees]

Link to tweet

Chris Laursen, president of UAW Local 74, is here as an observer. He’s a Bernie supporter and said the campaign has been canvassing outside JBS Pork, the major employer in town, at shift change from midnight to 2 a.m.

Precinct chairman Frank Flanders is getting this caucus started. He’s reading a statement from Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price. And county party chair Zach Simonson tells attendees they are the “first of the first” to cast their preferences in the 2020 election.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders both have precinct captains here, and it doesn’t appear that caucusgoers plan to support anyone other than those two candidates at the moment.

14 of 15 caucusgoers are standing with Bernie Sanders on the first alignment. One is standing with Elizabeth Warren.

Warren is not viable here, and her one supporter said she does not wish to realign with Sanders.

Because this is a satellite caucus, the precinct won’t award delegates until later tonight when they know how many people participated. So stay tuned for final delegate #s later.

[denem]

1. (Warren's) one supporter said she does not wish to realign with Sanders.

You don't say? Bernie has burnt his bridges with abandon.

[booley]

3. I spoke to a Warren supporter

I was canvassing in Ottumwa last Saturday.
I spoke to an awesome woman and her boyfriend. She was going to support Warren

But she was also a strong Bernie supporter and if Warren didn't make the threshold would caucus for Sanders.

[Donkees]

15. ''she would not realign, meaning that her vote effectively won't count toward anything''

[denem]

16. Says something, doesn't it?

[krissey]

18. It is sad. If it was a regular vote, mail in, it would still count.

[thesquanderer]

17. Anecdotal. Sanders leads as second choice among Warren supporters

according to morning consult.

https://morningconsult.com/2020-democratic-primary/

Sanders also leads as second choice among Biden supporters.

The anti-Sanders sentiment here is not representative of the voters at large. The same poll shows Sanders with 73% favorability among Dem voters, more than anyone else. (Biden second, with 70% favorability.)

[hlthe2b]

2. ahhh, Ottumwa, Iowa--home of Radar O'Reily (M*A*S*H)

what good tv memories.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Great memory!

[HerbChestnut]

4. Picture of the final alignment.

[squirecam]

5. So is this

like an early vote kind of thing?

Does the Warren supporter get added to another caucus location?

[booley]

7. my understanding is she would get reassigned

Not an expert on the rules but if a candidate does not make the 15% threshold, those delegates are released to go to another table.

A candidate who does make the 15%, however, narrow the margin, has those delegates locked in. This is why individuals are so important. A single voter can literally affect the whole thing.

[squirecam]

8. Right but

This was described as a “satellite” location.

I was wondering if that meant those supporters were joined to another location automatically. Thus, if the second location were one Warren voter short, she would be added to it.

[booley]

9. that I dont know

But since one of the volunteer positions is ambassador whose ob to get people to join their table, not sure how moving her to another physical location would work.

Again, I was given a thirty minute tutorial on this so I am not an expert.

[squirecam]

10. More than I am

Thx anyway

[Donkees]

14. ''she would not realign, meaning that her vote effectively won't count toward anything''

The caucus in Ottumwa, population 24,550, on the banks of the Des Moines River, will net Sanders four delegates for their congressional district, according to caucus chair Frank Flanders, the political director for the UFCW Local 230. The Warren supporter said she would not realign, meaning that her vote effectively won’t count toward anything.

The turnout for Sanders among union members reflects the campaign’s strategy of mobilizing nontraditional voters. Many of the Ottumwa meatpackers are immigrants, largely of Ethiopian origin or descent — not the corn-fed farmers typically associated in the popular imagination with the Iowa caucuses.

https://theintercept.com/2020/02/03/iowa-first-caucus-satellite-pork-plant-workers/

[booley]

6. Thats where I canvassed last Saturday

Almost everyone I talked too was open if not strongly favoring Sanders

And the one who wasn't was a Warren supporter who had Sandersas her second choice.

I think I even talked to one of the Ethiopian immigrants and got his wife a ride to the caucus.

[krissey]

11. Ottumwa 25k people and 16 show up. Keokuk Iowa 11k and 9 show up. Sad.

I did not know caucus was so poorly represented. I knew it was bad, but not this bad.

[HerbChestnut]

12. This is just the satellite caucus. It's for people who can't make it to the normal caucus tonight.

[krissey]

13. Thank you for explaining this. I didn't understand. Because what I was seeing is sad.

That makes more sense.

[FiveGoodMen]

19. Radar's hometown in mash