[Iowa-dx] Hamburg Inn Nr. 2 Coffee Bean Caucus
Hart, Holly J
holly-hart@uiowa.edu
Thu, 3 Jan 2008 23:46:03 -0600
Wow, I'm impressed McKinney got 36 beans, especially 2/3 of them not from y=
ou. (And I have not been in there since she was there - anyone else???)
Thanks for the report!
Holly
________________________________________
From: iowa-dx-admin@lists.gp-us.org [iowa-dx-admin@lists.gp-us.org] On Beha=
lf Of GreenParty Ron [greenpartyron@activist.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 11:25 PM
To: iowa-dx@gp-us.org; iagp-johnsoncounty@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Iowa-dx] Hamburg Inn Nr. 2 Coffee Bean Caucus
From: "Ronald Willet Kinum" IowaGreenRon@mail.org<mailto:IowaGreenRon@mail.=
org>
To: IowaGreenDiscussion@yahoogroups.com
CC:
Subject: [IowaGreenDiscussion] Hamburg Inn Nr. 2 Coffee Bean Caucus
Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:59:13 -0000
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People who know me are aware of my opposition to the
detestible caucus system. But the Hamburg Inn Nr. 2
"coffee bean" caucus was a fun way of totally and
irresponsibly tallying a wholly unreliable system of
election candidate prediction.
The system works as follows: a jar with patriotic
coloring for each legitimate candidate has been kept
inside and under the top of the glass cash register
counter in the front of the cafe. Whenever a customer
drops by or sits for a meal, the customer can request
a coffee bean to be placed in the jar of the customer's
choice.
On January 2, 2008, CNN television's John Roberts, of
the political morning program "American Morning", was
broadcast live nationwide from Hamburg Inn Nr. 2 to
cover the Coffee Bean Caucus. I was the second one in
the cafe, as two of us were waiting for the place to
open for the Coffee Bean Caucus. The broadcast was
already underway by the time my order was taken. I
selected the Garden Florentine omelet with mini-pancakes
and a large orange juice, with decaf coffee and creamer.
As Dave did the counting, the broadcast continued. It
took him a long time to sort out the beans on a tally
card with the names of all of the candidates on it.
Most of the time, John Roberts' broadcasting was for a
national audience. But he repeatedly discussed our Iowa
caucus that was coming up, and what he and his staff had
learned during interviews before the program.
A few pre-selected parties at the tables across from me
were interviewed, particularly those sitting at the
table where William Clinton and Ronald Reagan had once
sat, but briefly, they interviewed the man who sat at
the table where Dennis Kucinich once sat. I guess
that since I was wearing my Green Party hat, Green Party
jacket, green trousers, green long underwear... well, I
won't describe any further... that the camera crew and
John Roberts decided not to interview ME!
Since I was sitting all alone in the corner, where they
had seated me, a young couple with Barack Obama campaign
buttons was seated at my table. These Obama supporters
proved the problem we have with encouraging others to
join our Green Party. They were prejudiced and very
closed-minded to anything outside their sphere.
The polite table discussion we had soon required me to
state the truth about a not true statement the young
guy made. I do not like, nor do I entertain incorrect
or dishonest statements. I was trying to be polite
about Obama, and not to say anything to cause political
discord at the breakfast table. But some of the
statements were just so untrue that I finally had to
set the record straight. For the sake of history, at
least.
Then this happened, and I swear this is true, about five
different times I have told different people of both
major parties about the recorded history that refuted
their untrue statements, and just like the other five
times, these Obama supporters told me they were "history
majors" and knew all about how I did not know what I was
talking about! And they continually cut me off as I
was trying to tell them the truth, about Republicans and
Democrats both, then they accused me of not letting them
have their say when they were cutting me off to keep me
from infecting their brains with the truth!
I told them, as my voice apparently got louder and louder,
"I'm just telling you recorded history, you can research
it yourself! It's in the newspaper archives and you can
check them out for yourself in the public library!" OR,
that is, that is what I tried in several attempts to
CONTINUE to say to them, as they cut me off, themselves
getting louder and more riled up and closed-minded! I
repeated several times that I was just repeating recorded
history. They repeatedly cut me off, saying "No you're
not!" I said then, "Yes I am, it's all recorded in the
national newspapers..." and they both cut me off, saying
"No it is not!" We then turned into an argument that
brought the CNN news supervisor to our table and the
couple was invited to move to another table.
The Bean Count came to the following, and I did not copy
down the results for all of the jars:
Green Party:
Cynthia McKinney, who only had a jar for the past half
month (the others were in place since the fall): 36,
and many of the 36 were from me. I figure I put in at
least a third of them. I am a somewhat regular customer.
Democrats:
Christopher Dodd: 79
Joe Biden: 176
Dennis Kucinich: 219 (this surprised me!)
Bill Richardson 276
John Edwards 445
Hillary Clinton 830
Barack Obama 1733 the Democratic Party leader
Republicommunists:
Ron Paul 132
Mitt Romney 817 the Republican Party leader
Duncan Hunter was the only jar that received no bean at all.
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