[Iowa-dx] Quick caucus report

[joel donofrio]

Rick/Iowa GPers: Here's something I wrote tonight for the newspaper=20
where I work as a copy editor, The Dispatch/Argus (in the Illinois=20
Quad-Cities). It will run Saturday as an opinion column. I actually had=20=

a few positive comments when I told people I was a Green Party guy,=20
others remembered seeing the big wooden GP sign in our yard previous=20
years. But others harrumphed that I would show up to be a Dem for a day=20=

... which kind of set the tone for the column.

Onward and upward, Greens!

Joel Donofrio, Scott County GP

HED: Iowa Caucus: The lesser of two evils
By Joel Donofrio
BETTENDORF -- After a year of political advertising, endless robo-calls=20=

and enough hot air and handshakes to power a small city, the Iowa=20
Caucuses finally are over. Barack Obama got the victory he needed, Mike=20=

Huckabee jumped to the front of the pack and Iowans got their chance to=20=

influence the 2008 election.
Too bad it wasn=92t democracy.
I=92m not really addressing the Republicans here. Their caucuses are=20
glorified primaries -- one person, one vote -- and the 10 percent of=20
GOP/Libertarian diehards who think Ron Paul would make the best=20
president had their votes show up in the statewide total.
As for the Democrats? Due to their process and viability rules, any=20
candidate who wasn=92t named Obama, Clinton or Edwards had virtually no=20=

chance to win any delegates at the local precinct. Despite that, it was=20=

an interesting Thursday night for supporters of the also-rans.
I was among the 216 eligible participants who crammed into the east end=20=

of the Bettendorf Middle School gym for the Democratic caucus in the=20
B51 precinct, and what happened there illustrates how the process=20
works.
Three precincts worth of voters were housed in the partitioned gym, and=20=

to enter, voters had to walk past a gauntlet of Obama, Clinton and=20
Edwards volunteers bearing flyers, stickers and free food (if it wasn=92t=20=

a school, I=92m sure someone would have handed out beer).
Upon reaching our precinct area around 6:30 p.m., colorful banners and=20=

T-shirt-clad volunteers for the big three occupied three corners of the=20=

gym. Supporters of Joe Biden had a few dedicated organizers and=20
supporters amidst signs and posters backing the Delaware senator.
Hand-scrawled signs for =93Richardson,=94 =93Dodd,=94 =93Kucinich=94 and =
=93Gravel=94=20
were stuck haphazardly on the remaining wall space. I moseyed over to=20
join six other voters under the Bill Richardson sign.
It already was obvious that none of us would attend the Scott County=20
Democrats=92 convention as a Richardson delegate. But that didn=92t make =
us=20
unpopular on this night -- far from it!
Candidates must have at least 15 percent support among the total number=20=

of eligible voters attending to be =93viable,=94 and in our precinct, =
the=20
math penciled out to 32 people. The preliminary count showed 13 Biden=20
supporters, 7 for Richardson, 5 or 6 for Dodd and only my wife bravely=20=

standing under Kucinich=92s name.
At that point, even if all the =93also-ran=94 supporters joined together=20=

for one candidate, they wouldn=92t have enough to earn a delegate. That=20=

type of unity didn=92t happen, of course, as several of my Richardson=20
cohorts (and my wife) moved over to the Edwards group.
At 7:40, I and two other Richardson backers moved to join the Biden=20
crew -- ably led by precinct captain Brooke Bribriesco, a young mother=20=

participating in her first caucus. While Brooke eventually counted 22=20
Biden supporters, she could not scrape together 10 more from the other=20=

candidates=92 camps, and the =93vultures=94 supporting other candidates=20=

swooped in.
Barack Obama=92s group gave me a hearty cheer as I jogged over there. =
The=20
112 supporters earned Obama three out of the six delegates available at=20=

our precinct, with two going to Clinton and one to Edwards. So I guess=20=

the rank-and-file Democrats had their say.
However, Bill Richardson=92s position statements on the war in Iraq and=20=

the immigration issue never left my pocket. The original choices of=20
myself and 26 other people would not be reflected in statewide results.
Very little of the persuasion I heard involved discussion of the issues=20=

-- it mostly concerned the electibility of each candidate, just like in=20=

the old days, when party bosses met in those proverbial smoke-filled=20
rooms to play kingmaker. There was no smoking allowed on the grounds of=20=

Bettendorf Middle School, but the words weren=92t much different than=20
Boss Tweed or the original Mayor Daley would have uttered. The horse=20
race trumps ideals every time.
Therefore, the main argument I and others in the non-viable candidate=20
groups heard from Edwards supporters was, =93think of it not as a vote=20=

for Edwards, but a vote against Hillary.=94
Ah yes, the lesser of two evils ... just like November. Unless you vote=20=

for a third-party candidate -- but that=92s a topic for another time.

<uftag>
Joel Donofrio is a copy editor for The Dispatch/The Rock Island Argus.=20=

Contact him at jdonofrio@qconline.com.

On Jan 3, 2008, at 8:48 PM, Richard Johnson wrote:

> Burlington - Precinct 2 - 10 delegates to county convention
> Total turnout: 199
> 1. Obama - 96 (5 delegates) - picked up 8 from starting count of 88
> 2. Clinton - 56 (3 delegates) - only picked up 2 from starting count=20=

> of 54
> 3. Edwards - 43 (2 delegates) - picked up 8 from starting count of 35)
> 4. Undecided - 4
>
> The convention was truly disorganized.  Over 200 folks (including
> observers, reporters and youth) were crammed into a room designed and
> rated to hold 75.  Terrible planning.  The count of 199 was a best
> guess by the campaign precinct captains and the caucus chair.  The
> voting took over an hour.  Once the results were announced everyone
> left...except me. :-)  I submitted 6 platform planks, and the caucus
> chair said they would all be sent on to the county convention.  They
> were:
>
> 1. Resolution supporting optical scanned ballots
> 2. Resolution supporting post-election audits
> 3. Resolution supporting passage of the Fair Elections Now Act (US
> Senate File 1285) and Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (Iowa House
> File 805 & Senate File 553)
> 4. Resolution opposing amendment to outlaw same-sex marriages
> 5. Resolution supporting local control over siting of factory farms
> 6. Resolution supporting even-handed US role in Israel/Palestine
> conflict, and condemning blatant favoritism of past administrations
>
>
> Burlington Precinct 1 - 312 attendees (my son attended there)
> 1. Obama - 111
> 2. Edwards - 102
> 3. Clinton - 96
>
>
> After standing for Kucinich and being declared non-viable, my wife and
> I were two of the most popular folks in the room.  One of the Hillary
> workers approached us and saw my Green Party button, swallowed hard,
> and tried to court us to her side.  This is the same woman who
> accosted me at the county fair last summer when I was distributing
> literature near the Democratic booth, calling me a traitor and that I
> was responsible for the mess we had in Bush.  Tonight, I smiled at her
> and let her do her best to try to persuade me.  It was fun!
>
> I had a couple of folks talk to me about the Greens as we were waiting
> for the caucus to start, and one of them took a card I had with the
> website information (business cards are the cheapest publicity piece
> ever).  A couple of others talked with me as we were waiting for the
> counting to take place.  I was pleasantly surprised that this many
> folks actually were interested in what we were doing in the state.
> Not a bad night, all things considered.  Now I just need to wait a few
> days and then re-register as Green!
>
> On another note...who do we have working the Story County area
> (outside of ISU)?  I have a friend up there who asked about our
> caucus, and is very interested in learning more about us.  I would
> LOVE to pass her off to someone local.  This woman has a huge amount
> of energy and would be a good asset for a local chapter if her
> interest is strong enough.
>
> Rick Johnson
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