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Further on WA, NE, and ME caucuses
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In response to this account of a Seattle-area caucus in which the vaunted Obama "organization" turned out to be hordes of enthusiasts showing up on their own, a large amount of email containing other first-hand reports from caucuses in Nebraska, Maine, and Washington state -- all won by Obama of course. Accounts fall 75:25 into these categories:
75%: It was exactly the same in the caucus I saw in Maine/Nebraska/Washington! (Spontaneous huge crowds for Obama; small and disspirited groups of Hillary Clinton supporters; outpouring rather than "organization.")
25%: It wasn't that way at all in the caucus I saw! (Light turnout, narrow margin for Obama, and anyway caucuses are idiotic ways to make these decisions.) Accounts from Washington state emphasize the oddity of the Democrats having both a caucus day and a "normal" primary election, but counting only the caucuses for choosing delegates.
I agree that caucuses are basically an idiotic practice, given that the nominee finally has to run in a "normal" election ("normal," except for the out-of-date wackiness of the Electoral College). In any case, I pass this along just for the record.
75%: It was exactly the same in the caucus I saw in Maine/Nebraska/Washington! (Spontaneous huge crowds for Obama; small and disspirited groups of Hillary Clinton supporters; outpouring rather than "organization.")
25%: It wasn't that way at all in the caucus I saw! (Light turnout, narrow margin for Obama, and anyway caucuses are idiotic ways to make these decisions.) Accounts from Washington state emphasize the oddity of the Democrats having both a caucus day and a "normal" primary election, but counting only the caucuses for choosing delegates.
I agree that caucuses are basically an idiotic practice, given that the nominee finally has to run in a "normal" election ("normal," except for the out-of-date wackiness of the Electoral College). In any case, I pass this along just for the record.
