Friday, February 08, 2008
Just before the caucus
Unless you’ve been mouldering under a rock recently, you must be aware that the precinct caucuses for Washington Democrats and Republicans will take place tomorrow afternoon. It’s the first of several steps on the way to electing delegates to the parties’ respective national conventions—the Dems in Denver and the GOP in St. Paul.
Unless you’re really out of it, you’re also aware that this year’s Democratic caucuses have suddenly taken on real honest-to-god meaning in the party’s nominating process. The two remaining candidates, Senators Clinton and Obama, are basically deadlocked in the delegate count after Super Tuesday, and Washington is one of the biggest prizes to be fought over between now and the March 4 primaries in Ohio and Texas.
The precinct caucuses are the first of three steps used by Washington Democrats to choose 78 of our 97 delegates to the DNC. Delegates elected from precincts will gather on April 5 in Legislative District caucuses, and delegates from the LDs will meet on May 17 at their Congressional District caucuses. Those CD caucuses will choose delegates who will represent us in Denver.
Right after the 2004 precinct caucuses, I wrote a rather lengthy blog post about the experience. Tomorrow’s events will be generally quite similar. This time, however, I’m running the show instead of working for a candidate. I’ll be one of the site coordinators, as well as the PCO of my precinct.
Though I’m extremely involved in the presidential election season, I’m not particularly wedded to any of the candidates. Whatever it was that Howard Dean stirred in me four years ago hasn’t been touched by any of the 2008 candidates. I gave a few bucks to Chris Dodd awhile back, more for his stands on habeas corpus and FISA than due to any belief that he’d run successfully. Had he stayed in the race, I would have caucused for John Edwards; his message of economic populism reasonated with me.
Now, with just two candidates to choose from, I’m still undecided. Not between Clinton and Obama ... between Uncommitted and Obama. Anyone But Hillary is still my watchword, as it was from the start. She is simply too much a creature of the “inside the Beltway” mentality for my taste. Which is not to say that I’d vote for someone else if she ends up as the Democratic nominee, just that I’ll look elsewhere unless and until her name is the only one in the running.
Why not simply move to Obama? Mainly because he doesn’t stir me. His oratorical skills are extraordinary, but I’m not convinced that the substance is really there. Since he’s the only remaining not-Clinton candidate, I’ll certainly switch to him if there are too few others in my precinct choosing Uncommitted to earn a delegate, but I’m sort of thinking I want to keep my options open as long as I can. Or maybe I’ll just stop playing these games with myself and sign in for Obama. I still haven’t figured it out.
Now I’m off to copy off more sign-up sheets, more maps of the precincts, and so forth. We’re expecting a huge crowd tomorrow afternoon. See you at the caucus!
