A-Caucusing We Go

Today I attended the Democratic caucus meeting in support of Barack Obama. No Republican infiltration alarms went off as I entered the building. As I found my table, two of my neighbors (retired teachers from across the street) were there -- she for Hilary, he for Barack. Then I spotted our church minister of music walk by. A pregnant Muslim woman sat beside me. It was so crowded that it took an hour just to find chairs for everyone and reconfigure the building for some of the larger precincts with big turnouts.


Finally, a woman approached the microphone to tell us that we were here to take back America from the Republicans!! I fessed up to my friend Leona that I was actually undecided between Obama and McCain. But between Obama and Clinton, my opinions are rock solid. I determined that I would talk little and listen a lot, but as it turned out, there was no political discussion at the table at all. No one in our group was an undecided. On our first tally, the count was 9 for Clinton and 11 for Obama. We had 4 delegates for our precinct, and that meant that Clinton won 1.8 of them and Obama, 2.2. WHAT??? My silence turned into questions. Were we just turning in hypothetical delegates, wherein 1.8 of a person would just combine with 0.2 of another precinct's person to create two full hypothetical delegates? Or were we voting for 4 actual live human beings? There was disagreement. The fellow across the table (who looked eerily familiar, but I still can't figure out who he is) decided to make a mini-speech on behalf of Ms Clinton inviting one Obama supporter to break rank, giving us a 10-to-10 count and thereby eliminating the hypothetical 0.2 person. A woman two chairs away agreed to give up her Obama vote. Whoa Nellie, says I! What good does it do us to manipulate our tally so as to come out dead even? "If we're here to change America," I say, quoting the theme o' the day, "What good does it do for us to vote 2 against 2?" If we've got to send partial delegates, I want to hold on to the Obama lead! Viva the 2.2! Others counter me by saying that our votes will be added in to the big democratic pot. Somewhere inside, the part of me that still wants to remain silent, I'm thinking that every person's vote needs to count, and votes should be cast on principle, not charity. Then the precinct chairman gives out the verdict: we are to round to the nearest whole and elect actual whole people with actual full bodies to our four delegate positions. So, here we are back to the 2 and 2. No one else is interested in changing their vote. And thus, I watch the political process take a 9-to-11 and round it into a 2-to-2. Very interesting.

As this unfolds, I'm taking notes. I volunteered to write down the details of the "debates" and tallies when no one else jumped at the chance. So when it comes time to elect 2 delegates from among the Obama supporters, the eerily familiar man across the table nominates the chairman and the "secretary." That would be me. Very funny. Lifelong Republican gets elected to be a Democratic delegate. This is fun.

So I'll show up at the high school down the street on April 5th to carry the torch for Obama again. Technically, I'm free to change my mind. Also interesting. Delegates, in addition to remaining whole persons, can also be their own independently thinking persons. As a delegate elected to vote Barack, I could always decide at the last minute to vote Hillary. Fat chance of that though.

The truth is, I disagree with Obama on several issues. For one, the estate tax. I also have misgivings about a national health plan - but I've read his ideas on Obama.com, and if he can make it work, then I'm all for it. I just wonder whether a country that can't manage Medicaid or Medicare (or Social Security for that matter) can manage a national health plan. I took a free on-line issues test several weeks ago, and it turns out I agreed most with Romney. I used to think I agreed with George Bush. In the end, I don't think I mind going with someone I don't fully agree with. (If agreement were the goal, who among us could remain married?!)

Truth is, I like Obama. He seems to be a truth-teller. He's classy. He's not jaded. His ideas about politics favor grass-roots and non-profits. Lots of very different people like him. Oprah likes him. Todd Vick likes him. 11 out of 20 in my precinct like him. Looks like the state of Washington likes him... so far, he's way ahead in the early counts with a 2-to-1 lead.