Having followed the hyperbole yesterday on many of the Caucus related threads , this from a friend in Washoe Valley seems a welcome addition to the dialoge.Its from a first time caucus worker/attendee.She’s a successful author with no campaign axe to grind .
I wanted to tell you about my caucus experience. I was the caucus chair for AD District 40, Precinct 8222. The best part was meeting my neighbors, and having three times the turnout we expected. People are hungry for change and as much as the Republican party wants to stop us, I swear this time
’round, Nevada’s going blue.
I wanted to tell you about my caucus experience. I was the caucus chair for AD District 40, Precinct 8222. The best part was meeting my neighbors, and having three times the turnout we expected. People are hungry for change and as much as the Republican party wants to stop us, I swear this time
’round, Nevada’s going blue.My precinct sends 6 delegates and after the final count, it was 3 for Obama, 2 for Hillary, 1 for Edwards. The Obama section was quite large, and there were a lot of very young voters, or brand new voters (you could register day-of-caucus in the Democratic party, even if you were seventeen, as long as you’d be eighteen on or before November 4th). These young people were clearly dedicated to change, and that, as you know is Obama’s buzzword. It was heartening to see this outpouring of young hope, and I hope, no matter who the Democratic nominee ultimately becomes, that these young people will continue to vote for change against the current DC maelstrom.
Hillary took the popular vote statewide; however Obama actually has one more delegate than she, so it was obviously very close. A couple of things marred the Obama showing. Here is a link to a blog by a local columnist, Cory Farley. This talks about a Republican push to send Republican voters (many AFTER they caucused for the Republican party, two hours earlier) to change their voter registration and caucus Democrat for Obama. This was independently confirmed for me today by a lady in my church who overheard the same conversation, which said, “Caucus for Obama, because a black man will be easier to beat than a woman.” http://coryfarley.blogspot.com…
On the KTVN six o’clock news, anchor Bill Brown was in Vegas, in the Wynn casino. He had interviewed several culinary union workers who wanted to vote for candidates other than Obama, who the union endorsed. Unless they promised to vote Obama, they were told they could not caucus, and if they did they would lose their jobs. This is not democracy. This is not representative of the Democratic Party. Likely it’s not representative of Obama’s campaign. But this type of strong-arming voters, so reminiscent of early union activities (and I’m not anti-union), cannot be tolerated in this country. It’s much too reflective of politics-as-usual under the current administration and I hope an investigation ensues.
I happen to support Hillary, for a number of reasons, one of them being her experience. Seems to me that to win this game we have to play within the parameters of the system, rather than threatening to dismantle it. While that approach will very likely appeal to younger voters and disenfranchised voters, these voters don’t always show up on election day. As evidenced by the Republican comments above, Hillary is certainly electable. I respect the other candidates, too, and should one of them become the Democratic nominee, I will throw every ounce of my blue spirit behind them.
Ellen
Washoe Valley Nevada
So Kossacks -better than hate speech isn’t it?