I know they meant to do the best they could.. but Jesus that was frustrating.. caucus

[Peacetrain]

Well I came home and took my aspirin.. and curled up in my chair and just shook my head.. what he hell was that!

First of all, reading all the Iowa bashing.. let me reiterate.. these are good people who volunteer their time to try and make things go as smoothly as possible. This is a party election, not a state election.. and the party thought they could try and make things easier for some (and I will let it go at that). I was a participant this year and not a caucus volunteer, and they have my total sympathy..

Basically what we ended up with was a primary within a caucus if you think about it. We had to sign in, went into a room.. and at 7 we did our basic business of electing a caucus chair and secretary.. (actually affirming people who have volunteered for it and taken some training.. we can always elect others in their place..) We then went to different rooms and areas in the school that our precinct captains for the various candidates were gathered. At my caucus you had to hit 36 to be viable. We then were handed ballots in which we wrote down our first choice and signed the ballot (this was the primary thing..we have never done this before) .. later we could pick a second choice if ours was not viable.

I totally understand what they were trying to do with all the damn numbers.. give people a full look at caucus, but it was just confusing. that is the truth. in my mind, you are either a caucus or a primary.. you can't be both, it is just too much.

The confusion really came when it was time to realign. Usually that is not so hard.. people in groups that are viable will come over and answer any questions you have.. and sometimes unaligned groups with a similar philosophy will come together to make a delegate for their point of view.. pretty easy.. last night with that damn ballot with first choice on one side and second choice on the other, people had issues with how this was working. Anything new is always confusing.. just goes with the territory.

And then there was the app issue of getting the individual caucus infor out. The important thing is there is a paper trail.. it can be verified.. not instantaneously .. but by hand count.. everyone take a deep breath.

Now I promised I would share how my caucus went. Buttigieg, Warren and Sanders were viable.. everyone else was not. We ( the Biden group) had 25 votes, the caucusing part just did not work this time. Got a call in to a sister caucus in my little town and woo hoo.. Biden had 2 delegates from that one. So ups and downs for me yesterday.

Let me tell the Buttigieg people.. your guy whooped ass at my caucus..

We did have some great conversations with the Klobachar and Yang Gang and Steyer people. Trying to figure out who we would choose for a second. My family went Warren.. all of us. The Yang Gang should get a delegate just for those awesome hats they had. MATH (Make America Think Hard).. and Amy's group were so well informed.. great to listen to.. The Steyer camp . super passionate about their guy. He can be proud of that. For whatever reason, the Sanders group never joined us after they were viable to get any of us for a second choice vote for them Their precinct captains released them i guess .. Maybe they did not understand. But they missed the best part of caucus. That is the problem when you get separated into different rooms.. better in one big room from my perspective.

So there you are .. the caucus in my little town..

GOOD LUCK NEW HAMPSHIRE!!!!!!!

[samnsara]

1. im confused WHY people put SO MUCH importance on this ONE state....

...i personally dont think they represent America as a whole...

[HarlanPepper]

2. On the plus side, the next time you do this the weather will probably be much warmer

I’d guess May or early June Iowa weather is relatively pleasant.

But seriously, thanks for participating and the report!

[W_HAMILTON]

3. There was a report from a caucus site on either CNN or MSNBC last night...

...that echoes what you said about the Sanders people (but it went a little further).

In the second round, the Sanders people apparently just stayed to themselves and instead were just chanting to disrupt the supporters of other candidates from trying to persuade non-viable group supporters to join them.

[Peacetrain]

4. Interesting....

The thing that I heard from some caucus goers last night, that really had their hair on fire, was in Des Moines I guess during a early caucus, the media was interviewing people as they were trying to caucus. I mean if I had been the precinct captain I would have had a fit myself. I am fine with people filming the caucus, asking participants questions after the caucus, but during it. That would be like sticking a microphone into a voting booth and asking someone who are you voting for

[W_HAMILTON]

5. I don't remember following these caucuses as closely in 2016 so I don't know if it's the same...

...but the news stations were HEAVILY involved in real-time reporting of the caucuses last night. From what we saw, the caucus goers and leaders seemed to be more than receptive -- a bit too receptive, in my opinion. I saw one guy basically break from doing counts to answer a reporter's question. Another guy (on CNN) was on hold trying to report his results, then the IDP representative picked up while he was on the air, but he was too busy talking to CNN and by the time he finally answered her, maybe 10 seconds later, she had hung up on him. It was a mess. I think I heard him on MSNBC later in the night and was still trying to call back in. His ass should have worried less about talking to CNN and MSNBC and more about doing his dang job.

[Peacetrain]

6. Our caucuses got so overplayed this time.. Honest to pete.. the media was

crazed.. we have corona virus.. a collapsing environment.. will Harry and Meghan ever return to England..you name it..and all the hub bub about the caucus.. you almost knew this was going to happen. sigh.. rofl.. God I am so glad this circus is gone!!