The Caucus
2.6.8
The hard part is finally over.
After last night's caucus I feel like I can finally calm down for awhile on the political front. I've been buzzing around for months now, obsessed with the Republican race. Overall it's been a fun, but somewhat tiring experience.
All the canvassing, sign-placing, and posting of flyers took a definite physical toll...but the mental exhaustion has been the worst part. Spending so many waking moments thinking about one subject has been a challenge. I learned as much as I could about politics, the caucus system, and constitutional Republican values as I could in such a short period of time. I've been bombarded with e-mails and information to the point where I almost couldn't take it anymore. Just the sheer frustration of witnessing the media's bias firsthand was enough to make me want to scream.
"Super Tuesday" was the culmination of all this work.
I was so nervous all day. The last few hours of my workday were spent distracted by CNN and Lew Rockwell. When I got home I gathered everything up and practiced a few variations of speeches in my head. Not knowing exactly what to expect left a pit in my stomach that wouldn't go away.
It only got worse at the caucus. We found ourselves sitting at a table that seats five. The precinct captain shared stories about how low the voter turnout usually is in our precinct (3 people in 2006). As the time approached 7:00, however, more and more people arrived. What's worse, they all greeted each other with a knowing smile and a handshake. These weren't the punk-ass kids in Guy Fawkes masks we were hoping to see. As attendance reached 31, one of the smiling heads confirmed our worst fears by saying excitedly, "Oh good! Looks like the Mormons showed up!"
Mormons! Fuck!
We started with the presidential preference poll and the results were heart-wrenching.
- Romney: 26
- McCain: 2
- Paul: 2
- Huckabee: 1
The Mormons had shown up in full force for one reason only: To vote for their president, not based on issues, but because of a shared religion. Autumn and I had simply prepared ourselves to smile and nod for the rest of the night when something magical happened:
Apathy and/or ignorance kicked in. As soon as the relatively meaningless poll was over, the precinct chair informed everyone that the rest of the caucus (the ever-important selection of delegates) was optional. Suddenly half of the people, apparently pleased with their participation, stood up and left.
The best part of the night then occurred when the precinct chair said something to the effect of, "Now that all the Paul and Huckabee people are gone...let's get down to business." At this point, Autumn and I knew for sure that the single stack of Ron Paul flyers stacked neatly in the center of the table had been a trap that we had thankfully avoided.
A sign-up sheet was then passed around, and we dutifully added our names to it. The first vote was for two new precinct chairs. Autumn didn't run which left only three of us in the race. We each gave a short speech starting with me. After those were over, one person asked, "I just want to know...will all of you support the Republican candidate in November, no matter who it is?"
We all nodded, which led one person to sarcastically remark, with a roll of his eyes, "Even if it's Ron Paul." We all laughed at that, of course.
After the vote, the ballots were handed in and counted to reveal that my ass had overwhelmingly been handed to me. I only got one vote outside of the ballots Autumn and I had cast.
Again, I was left feeling somewhat hopeless. Next up was the county delegate vote, though. There were 5 seats available, and Autumn and I were both signed up as candidates. This was where things began to get interesting. There were only 7 contenders, and a vote was about to take place when 2 of them decided to drop out and become alternates. We were in by default.
Next up were the delegate races for the state and congressional district. Autumn and I again threw our names into the hat. Another round of speeches left me talking about vague concepts like my belief in Republican values, and my desire to go to the National convention to show the country that the party is still bringing in the younger generation.
We voted on state first, and to my surprise, I tied for second. This left me competing for the alternate spot. Apparently, the caucus rules call for a coin toss in the event of a tie, so that's what we did. I chose heads, but the coin disagreed.
Alright, so I didn't get a seat for state delegate, but next up was congressional district. Again, the votes were turned in and tallied. I watched the vote counters and saw my name come up repeatedly. I tried to count the tick marks being scrawled next to each name but couldn't.
Finally, they announced that the winner had been...
...yet another tie; this time it was between me and someone new. Another coin toss...this time, however, the coin shared the sentiment of, "Heads!"
The problem is...I wasn't the one who had made that exclamation this time. This did, however, mean that I had been awarded an alternate seat for the congressional district convention.
All in all, I felt we did very well. Though Autumn and I only made up 6% of the presidential preference votes (which is how the media gets their information), we got 40% of the county delegates. If the other guy doesn't show up at the county convention, I will also fill 50% of my precinct's state/congressional delegate spots. Not bad if you ask me...
Now I'm just looking forward to taking it easy for awhile, though. I want to work on some things for this site that have nothing to do with politics. I want the only thing I look forward to each week to be the next episode of Lost.
Don't get me wrong...I'll still be involved. I'll be paying attention to the rest of the results as they come in, and I still have several conventions to attend.
The constant sense of urgency, however, is something I can do without.
