Caucus

Wiki says the word caucus may come from the Algonquin word
for counsel. As I understand it, the whole idea of getting together
to discuss who you'll run for office is comes out of the Populist
tradition in the Minnesota and great plains area. I guess the hows
and whys aren't that important- it's just another idiosyncracy of the
democratic process as it's done in the US. It is messy and a little
disorganized, but it is one of the few points where you can actually
put your own hands on the gears of the political machine.

I, of course went to the DFL caucus. I guess the Republicans had
one too, though I think their definition of a large turnout meant taking
their shoes off because they ran out of fingers counting all their delegates.
I guess they make up for their small numbers by being all tuff and scary.

The DFL had their caucus at the Brainerd High School cafeteria. It smelled
a lot different than my old high school. The parking lot was just about full,
and though me, Jed, Anita, and the foetal units got there early, it was really
busy. All the campaigns had tables set up and I noticed that all the sweet
Obama swag was just about gone. I almost grabbed a DFL sticker but decided
not to. If you've seen the car I used to drive you might have noticed all the
comments local patriots left on it with their truck bumpers.

They had a map set up in the hallway showing the precincts and how they
corresponded to the tables, so you could talk things over with your neighbors.
This actually made things a little easier, because the place was jam packed.
If not for the people who just voted up front in the Presidential caucus and left,
it would have been an SRO event. Interest was so high that they eventually
ran out of official sign in sheets- me and my neighbor Carla and her husband Jim
ended up signing in on the back of some random document, though we did get
to vote on the last of the printed ballots. Everybody after us got little yellow slips
where they actually had to write the name of who they wanted. Not much of a
problem, really- it seemed like a pretty bright, motivated crowd.

There were lots of familiar faces.

I guess the thing that struck me was that everything seemed to mean more. There
was the sense, reciting the Pledge of Alligience, and pointing out some of
the Vets in the room, that we all were taking it back. That the pledge and flag and
the vets weren't to be used as a talking point, or a club, to shut us up any more.

So it was a good night. When we got done, I went back home with Jed and Anita
and we watched the returns and got wasted.