Friday, January 4, 2008

What Was Your Iowa Caucus Experience Like?

From Dana Boone:

Wow. I participated in the Iowa Caucuses last night for the first time. It was chaotic, exciting, tense -- and productive! The majority of my neighbors and I supported Democratic winner, Sen. Barack Obama. In the end, my good friend Dawn Campbell and I left Hiatt Middle School cheering and hi-fiving each other.

What was your caucus experience like? BrownIowa.com wants to hear from you... Post some comments!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am in my late 40's and I went to the caucus for the first time in my life. It was an experience. The process of counting by raising your hand may have worked well for small numbers of the past but it caused concerns for the 200+ caucus goers at my precinct.

Recount was the call of the night to the frustrations of Obama supporters because 8-10 people had left after the precinct facilitator said, this is the final count.

Once the count was made and more math had to be applied to get the percentage. When that amount did not add up, more counting had to be done. At that point were People were tired and the seating arrangement was tight.

One of the volunteers had to stand on the table to ask for patience from the crowd. And when the number did not appear to be correct for the Obama supporters....freedom of speech was in full effect. A representative from the Barack Obama campaign stood on the table and spoke to ease the growing tension.

I assessed, the way business is currently being conducted, procedures will change to handle/control the larger and edgier crowds. So my questions is, will the change be for the good of all Americans or business as usual?...Stay Tuned.

Anonymous said...

I'm late 30s and caucused for the 4th time, 3rd time in Iowa. My first was in Minnesota.

I was also high-fiving as I exited. My precinct was 2-1 Obama over Edwards by the end of the night.

I talked to my precinct chair today and who said there were too many people. Precincts need to be broken up to expect it to work.

Hillary was close to getting a delegate, and there were plenty to get an uncommitted delegate together without Hillary's people, but it was just John and Barack in the end.

Last time (2004) I was on John's side, this time I stood for Barack.

I could really see John Edwards as a great atty general.

And I'm thinking Obama/Biden '08would be a great ticket for the Dems.

On the Rs side, I think Huckabee will be looked at for VP.
Maybe.

But its McCain's race to lose,
last time he was this close he got kneecapped by Karl Rove's team.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for commenting. You're right. It's unwieldy with hundreds of people. We did multiple counts. Some people left. There has to be a better way to do it. You certainly don't want newcomers who were really passionate about showing up to be turned off by the process.