Topic: Personal Commentary
... And I'm all out of bubblegum!
So, I went back to the polls this evening to participate in the Democratic Party caucus for the Precinct 2148 convention. Our polling and caucus site was my old junior high school (Nichols Junior High) which is now Webb Elementary, home of the fightin' Wallabies.
I got to the caucus early with a number of others.
As I waited in the cafe-gym-a-torium, I looked around seeing memories of myself and friends... sitting over there having lunch with Jamie and Danny and Jeff while playing a quick round of DnD before the bell rings... Up on stage, James and I rehearsed our duet acting scene for the speech tournament... I danced with Gina Binder in this room... and Bobby Miller beat me up by those lockers out in the hall... Steve Corbin beat me up over there, too... And over there... And over there...
My best guess is that more than 200 people were present. So many people were in attendance because Webb Elementary was hosting two precincts - my precinct, 2148,and our neighbor to the west, 2190.
It was a zoo. Everybody talked over everybody else. Precinct 2190 had a microphone, whereas 2148 had no voice augmentation.
It was difficult to hear a damned thing.
We had numbers from the day's voting in the precinct, but no early voting numbers. Obama led Clinton by seven votes in 2148, but that was hardly represented in caucus goers. Obama folks outnumbered Clinton folks by two-to-one in my estimation.
The Obama campaign did a marvelous job mobilizing the base. I've never seen so many Democrats in one place.
There was a painful absence of leadership. No clear direction provided, it seemed rather like herding cats. By eight o'clock we had just begun the proces of signing in.
Others have reported similar circumstances.
The new Dallas Cowboy stadium is being built practically in my backyard. I had no idea that about two thirds of my precinct's voting population was displaced by the new construction. The impact is that instead of the usual 16 delegates that our precinct would send to the county convention, we will send nine. Our precinct previously sent one delegate to the state convention. Due to our reduced population, no delegate will be sent from 2148 to the state convention.
I signed in just a few minutes after eight this evening and considered the situation. I'd been on site since six-thirty and really, very little progress had been made. Most likely, this thing was going to go on for at least two more hours.
"I'm gonna go," I told my fellow Clintonians.
This pronouncement led to an argument between me and two other caucus goers. They both tried pressuring me to stay.
"Don't you understand that all the delegates are awarded by representation in the caucus!?!?" One woman said.
"No," I corrected her, "Two thirds are awarded based on popular vote. The other third is awarded based on caucusing."
Idiot.
"Stay another hour!" Another woman pleaded.
I shrugged, "In an hour I could be in bed."
I suppose I might have resolved otherwise if I didn't like both candidates so much. I voted and signed in for Senator Clinton, but really the biggest difference between Clinton and Obama is genitalia. Whoever wins this primary, I feel pretty well taken care of.
In fact, I rather like John McCain, too.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a liberal Dem to the core. I dearly want a Democrat in the White House. It's just that this is the first time in my life that the Republicans aren't running a crazy man! I feel like no matter who wins, I'm gonna be okay.
Mine is probably not the position either Party is looking to embrace in November. Still, I'm happy.
Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
