I got a new camera for Christmas (thanks, Mom!) and started Caucus night very excited to use it. I took photos of people lining up outside of my daughter Bella’s elementary school and moving through the hallways while the candidates’ supporters handed out stickers. The gathering and the counting began at the gym, where we all raised our hands as they sectioned off parts of the room and tried to get a count. Thankfully, the counting system finally proved successful and we got a solid count without having to raise our hands for too long.
Four years ago, a cheer erupted when our count was 540—nearly twice as many people in our precinct as four years previous. Tonight? Well, as we squished and jammed our way into a gym that feels very crowded when holding 300 little kids for an assembly, I wasn’t too surprised to hear we were at 710—well over fire code.
As planned, my husband Andrew and I then made our way into the Undecided Room. I think of this as the best seat in the house, because everyone comes to court you. At least, that’s how it had been in ’04. But this time we were sharing a room with Kucinich, so all we heard about was Dennis. There were Kucinich folks waiting for a turn to tell us why he should really be our guy. The Richardson folks came, hat in hand, too, before word got out that Hillary was not viable yet—she only had about eighty people and needed at least 110. At this point, the various smaller camps and undecided folks started to form one larger camp, though without a sizable room to do it in—we were in two kindergarten classrooms and the music room—so it was tricky. Up and down the hallways, we heard that there were enough people among us for two delegates and some people wanted to send Undecided delegates (which is allowable). This struck me as a bad idea, so I headed back to the gym where the three big candidates were gathered.
