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The Latah County Democrats held their presidential caucus last Tuesday, and the final count listed 1,152 participants. It was Mardi Gras, and standing outside the fairgrounds filled one’s ears with what sounded like a party — just one of a different type.
Whoever decided to institute caucuses as a way to choose presidential candidates wanted to create mayhem in the American political process. Instead of primaries, a straightforward system where voters enter, cast a secret ballot and then leave, caucuses require the parties to cram as many of their members into a room as they can. No decision or idea is secret. Minds can and will be changed.
Despite the awkwardness of feeling like a canned sardine, it was easy to tell where people’s loyalties lay. Exploring most areas of the caucus was akin to wading through an ocean of Obama, with overflow crowds comprised of people of many different ages and backgrounds. These people were jovial and conversational, and very few stayed seated.
The other part of the room, however, was slightly less pronounced. The chairs for Clinton supporters were mostly full, but these people stayed seated and were relatively subdued compared to the Obamarama across the floor. The median age of this crowd must have been somewhere between retirement and nursing home. I am exaggerating, but the proportion of gray hair to not seemed abnormally high.
Next to the Clinton camp was an even more depressing scene: Edwards supporters, all two and a half of them (each with great hair).
Actually, at the end of the first vote count, Edwards received 22 pledges, and all but 12 migrated to other candidates by the end of the night. Until then, however, these supporters stood silently with big eyes, looking out at the rest of the caucus-goers like stray puppies in the animal shelter waiting to find their forever homes.
The undecided voters gave a passionate appeal for apathy with their mantra of, “We’re not undecided, we’re unconvinced.” If being in a room full of rabid supporters for the two major candidates for three hours did not do anything to convince these dead weights, 42 of them never did choose a candidate. Way to participate, sort of.
By 8 p.m., two hours after the official start of the caucus, communications with the outside world revealed some members of the national media were already calling Idaho for Obama, despite the dozens of participants in Moscow and many other counties across the state who were not done caucusing.
Looking at the projection of the real-time county vote tally, it was apparent that Latah County, like most counties in Idaho, would deliver a landslide for Obama. It took the longest time for Clinton to receive the 15 percent of votes required to receive delegates. In the end, she stayed at that cut-off and received three delegates to Obama’s 13.
The votes of Idaho Democrats may not count in November when they’re trampled by the elephant that is the electoral college (and GOP), but at least they had Mardi Gras as an excuse to build morale and, of course, drink heavily. And, unlike the Republicans (whose primary is May 27), these party animals got to choose their candidate. Have fun voting for McCain, religious right.
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