Our large, fully voter-registered family descended en mass upon our neighborhood Democratic caucus this afternoon to take part in a highly charged, highly personalized democratic process. We were some of the first to arrive at the large, empty elementary school gymnasium around noon, but by shortly after 1:00, the place was jam-packed, leaving standing room only.
The order of business was to sign in and declare the candidate of our choice. Then we were given about 30 minutes to debate, dialog, challenge, and otherwise verbally engage each other in hopes of swaying some votes to our side. This debate got off to a slow start, but once we got going... wow! Aleks spoke eloquently in favor of Obama and did quite well in rebutting challenges from Hillary fans. I even proudly caught the moment on video:
Once the debating period was over, we were asked to find our name on the sign-in sheet and declare our choice again. Most people wrote the same name a second time, but one person in our precinct did change his mind. Based on the breakdown of our precinct's second votes, we were asked to elect a total of four candidates, one for Clinton and three for Obama. I looked over at Aleks, silently asking if he was interested. He shook his head, no. But right away after that, he was approached by quite a few people in our group and encouraged to "run" for one of our precinct's delegate positions. It didn't take long for our precinct's voters to declare that the youth voice is very important and before we knew it, Aleks -- along with another young man as well as a 30-something gentleman -- had been nominated and voted a delegate who would represent our precinct for Obama.
That moment did this mama PROUD!
So here they are -- our precinct's three Obama delegates (Aleks is on the left)! You GO, guys! (Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of Meredith, our 24-year-old neighbor, who will be the lone Hillary delegate...)
Very cool for Aleks!
ReplyDeleteOur precinct is sending 6 delegates- 4 for Obama, 1 for Clinton, and 1 uncommitted. :)
It was an interesting process.
Lynn
I am so proud of your son. I loved reading about the Democratic process in action. Kudos to you and your family. This is what it's all about.
ReplyDeleteLovely, Carol! Looks like you guys singlehandedly tipped the balance for Barak!
ReplyDeleteThat is SO cool, Carol! We *may* be having caucuses here, too - as a compromise with the DNC and Michigan and Florida. I've never seen a caucus in action before. Congrats to Aleks!
ReplyDeleteso is those debates in little groups or for that entire gym room??
ReplyDeleteand if we here in the news that all candidates are collecting delegates taht will vote for them later on: is Alex now one of them?
Wow, that is sooo cool!
so what will happen next? I don't get this process entirely I am afraid.
Once the 2 parties have selected their candidate and there's the national presidential election...where do those delegates come in place?
The whole caucus/delegate thing is really confusing and I can't explain how it works in detail -- but Aleks can!
ReplyDeleteHe'll go on to bigger and bigger "conventions" (county, state), where delegates vote amongst themselves who to "pass on" to the next bigger convention. Obviously, quite a few (the majority) drop out and watch with the rest of us.
I can see Aleks really throwing himself into this; it is very much his thing, where he is both knowledgeable and passionate!
Carol
Cool! Just curious, how much time did the debates take (or 'in general' do)?
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I caucused (for Obama :-) ) for the first time yesteraday. It was pretty exciting.
ReplyDeleteI think this is amazing and inspiring. I just hope the participation continues after the tough election is over. That is the difficulty with political participation.
ReplyDeleteCool, cool, cool! I know primaries are easier but I love the idea of people coming together to talk about their candidate of choice.
ReplyDeleteI want an Obama campaign button so much for my collection!