Caucus Night

The scene is Theodore Roosevelt High School in north west Des Moines, Iowa. Thousands of voters gather to cast their vote for the nominations of both major parties, and it is a zoo.

Voters queue up in the halls to register both to vote, some for the first time, and to change party affiliation, which is allowed right up to tonight. The process is chaotic but the voters remain upbeat, despite the wait.

Into the caucus rooms they pile. I am in a small cafeteria with over 400 people. Three hundred and seventy five voters, ten caucus officials and a score of print and video journalists. The Caucus chair takes the microphone and begins with a poorly received speech about the political viability of Iowa voters and the caucus system. His speech is the vocal reflection of the nervousness about the shift in Iowa's importance. It seems the caucus goers don't care, they just want to get started.

Another parliamentary motion and a new caucus chair is nominated. Despite an obvious vote of confidence for the nominee the current chairman demands a vote count. The crowd boos him down and the new chairwoman takes the floor. The former chairman sulks away yelling, "Now you're in for some real problems." Bitterness aside the caucus is ready to begin.

Each candidates supporters are assigned an area in the room to stand. The the voters have 15 minutes to align themselves accordingly. During the first alignment voters can choose any candidate they like. Depending on the number of voters each candidate gets here will determine the overall viability of the candidate, and whether he or she will remain "on the ballot" in successive alignments.

The voters move quickly to their locations and favorites quickly become apparent. My estimations before the count are Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Richardson, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich, and undecided. Each candidate has an organizer whop attempts to get an accurate count of their voters. It appears insane but they count hands or have the voters sound of one, two, three...

My estimation is a little off as the Richardson group and the Edwards group are so close together their members blend in. Obama is clearly their first alignment leader, but Edwards is a strong second. The Edwards supporters cheer. With 80 members they have easily cleared the 15% mark needed for viability and will now be a player in the second round where they stand to pick up members from the less popular groups.

Obama's camp holds 112, and Clinton's 61. Richardson's camp comes 4th with 45, only ten shy of viability. Biden and Dodds people begin to discuss where they will go as they are many short of contention and the Kucinich people, almost immediately cast their lot with Obama, even before the second alignment is called.

The organizers report into the chairwoman and the second alignment is announced. Five minutes is given to re-align. The Edwards group is closed off from most of the delegation by the Richardson group, whose organizer is standing on a table above the din calling on his members to petition with the nearby Biden and Dodd groups to pitch in with them. He recounts and is still short. Recounts a second, then a third time. The Edwards people remain quiet out of respect for the Richardson effort, but finally it is too much. The begin to yell and wave the Richardson supporters over.

The Richardson leader concedes, he takes a substantial group with him to Obama, (rumor has it Richardson had directed his supporters to do so if they did not have enough votes). Another group mergers with the nearby Edwards group and they erupt in cheer.

In the opposite corner, the Obama camp has swelled to a massive amount. They begin chanting "What do we want CHANGE! Who do we want OBAMA!" Meanwhile the Clinton group is conspicuously quiet and inactive. They add on a few new members but there is little attempt to convince any of the voters to join them. Their lack of effort shows as they only increase by a 13 members by the final count. The Clinton supporters are so lethargic they make no attempt to challenge Obama supporters who poach the fringes of their camp trying to convince the Clinton waverers to come to Obama's side.

The second count is in and the Edwards camp is overjoyed, they have increased to 116. Clinton's lack of effort is shown in her week 74 voters, and the Obama camp, which now occupies nearly half of the cafeteria has the remaining 186 voters.

Big cheers erupt from Edwards and Obama groups, but again the Clinton's remain quiet, perhaps stunned by the result.

The chairwoman takes the floor and recalls order. She assigns the precincts 6 delegates according to the second and final alignment results. After which the hall quickly empties. Only a few die hard political activists remain. They will be voting on the platform committee members which are arguably more important then the nominating delegates themselves.

As I leave I here a BBC newsman remark, "Hell of a way to pick a president." Maybe, but it sure makes for good TV.