posted on Feb, 2 2016 @ 11:38 AM
After that we were instructed to stand in area of the room designated for our candidates. There was a Bernie side and a Hillary side. O'malley and
"other" had no supporters. We then counted the amount of people on each side and then matched it against the total number registered at the door to
participate. We counted three times to make sure. The number in attendance was 71, with 40 for Bernie and 31 for Hillary.
After the numbers were counted and verified each camp was allowed to send people across to try to convince people to change allegiances. As stated
earlier everyone seemed mostly predetermined. I believe this instance of the caucus is for persuading outliers that don't have a viable candidate. As
Bernie and Hillary had at least 15% of present caucus goers they were considered viable. As no one was in an "other" or O'malley camp there was little
room for budging.
I stood for Bernie. One of the Hillary supporters came over to argue her side but moved on after I said "Patriot act, single payer, Iraq war." I am
stating this not to open debate, though I'm sure it will happen, but to help you understand why supporters for these candidates stand ground, or at
least from my personal perspective. They were congenial and everyone seemed respectful to the other side. Ideology separated us, and we all stood our
ground. No one switched sides and the tally became official.
Through the miracle of caucus rules and mathematical formula this 40/31 split gave each candidate 3 delegates a piece. About half in attendance had a
phone with calculator going, or a calculator to recheck these numbers about 20 times. We were able to determine that if Bernie had two more supporters
we would have gone 4/6 split on the delegates. There were no coin tosses.
After the delegate count was established we appointed delegates. Volunteers from each campaign were quick to volunteer for these positions. I signed
up as an alternate. Should one of these volunteers fall ill or flake off, I will be called. That means I could go to the county later to express a
vote for Bernie. As an aside appointed delegates are required to vote as the numbers fall but alternates are not. That means that I could conceivably
vote Hillary later if called as an alternate. This is why I volunteered as an alternate as I wished to remain in my camp. please don't flame me for
these rules as they are not mine. Delegates will pass on to county, then state, then to convention. I m simplifying this process for time and brevity
but feel free to delve into the official rules.
With delegates and alternatives appointed it was time to appoint committee members. Only those chosen as delegates and alternates could be appointed.
Only one person, a man who had done this before did stand forth and we spent ten minutes staring at each other begging someone else to step up. I
explained I worked weekends and doing this would essentially mean I'd be up in the middle of my night to do this. The chairman said we could stay
there all night if needed. I eventually acquiesced and volunteered. Everyone likes to be counted, no one wanted to do much else.
The chair called for more discussion of which non came forward. The delegates and committee people left contact information with the secretary and we
called it a night. We look forward to haring from the party.
Overall it was an interesting thing to experience. Before I moved to Iowa I had always done primaries through a ballot. I was happy to participate.
Even though I sometimes fall victim to a cynical mindset of why bother but I still believe it is my civic duty.
This is related from memory and I am not a politician. Any mistakes are mine alone. I just wished to relate my experience to other members that do not
reside in caucus states or don't live in the U.S.A.
Feel free to ask questions.