First-time caucus-goer
February 6th, 2008,My wife and I attended our first political caucus ever. There was a huge turnout, with a long line of cars trying to get into the Northfield Middle School for the Democratic Party caucuses. We had our 3-year old and our six-week old with us so could only stay long enough to cast a ballot for the presidential election. I cast mine for Barack Obama, as did about two-thirds of caucus-goers statewide.
The event would have gone much smoother if the caucuses had been spread over multiple sites rather than located at just one site. The transportation snafu shows that it’s very hard for everyone in a town to descend on one site at the same time using automobiles. Cars work well for transportation, except when a lot of people are trying to drive on the same road at the same time.
I won’t add much to the oceans of political commentary that are already out there, except to hope that Obama can be the nominee for the Democrats. I admire Hillary Clinton’s tenacity, but I’m not much for political dynasties, and I fear she would have a harder time winning in November. One observation: if Obama lost to Clinton in rural areas, is it because rural America is not ready to support a black candidate? Perhaps that’s not a fair assumption, but I suspect it may be true.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I think Hillary has far too much political baggage - right or wrong - associated with her. She’s too polarizing. Obama, on the other hand, seems very enticing to independents, moderate Republicans (I’ve talked to several who said they would vote for him over any of the Republican possibilities.), and other crossover voters. Most of those same people wouldn’t be caught dead voting for Hillary.
I agree: Obama is electable. Clinton is not. Republicans want Clinton to be the nominee, because they know they can beat her. They would fail in that quest against Obama.
The DFL caucus was insane. I live a mile from the Middle School (I joke that it’s a mile and a half to the front door, though.), and I’m a runner; so I ran there as part of a longer route. No parking problems for me. My son, daughter and I walked home after caucusing for two hours with our precinct. It was clamorous and messy and confusing but exciting.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Great post. I think the time is just right for Obama: America is less and less a rural country, and many of those who live in the rural areas are not, in fact, WASPs, with Latinoa/s being especially prevalent here. Certainly, a group Obama can reach.
Caucusing on Tuesday (I apparently got one of the only parking spots left in the middle school lot) was, as Brendon says, exciting. I didn’t do more than express my presidential preference, but that was enough to get me jazzed for the looooooong spring, summer, and fall of campaigning. Maybe this is what seeing JFK campaign in 1960 was like…
February 28th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Bill,
See “Divided They Stand,” the excellent piece by Jonathan Raban on 1/31/08 in the Guardian. It raises some interesting points about Obama’s viability in rural areas, which may be greater than you feared. A salient passage:
“Remember that in 2004 every American city with a population over 500,000 voted Democrat, and the Republicans won by taking the countryside and the outer suburbs. The blue state/red state division is better expressed in terms of the persistent conflicts between the big cities and their rural hinterlands, over land use, water rights and environmental, class and cultural issues. Red states are simply those where the country can outvote the urban centres, while in blue states the opposite is true. The perception that America has liberal coasts and a conservative interior merely reflects the fact that the coastal states are home to the largest metropolitan areas with the most electoral muscle. Last time around, for instance, Bush easily won the heartland state of Missouri, but was as crushingly defeated by Kerry in St Louis as he was in the cities of New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.”
“So Obama’s victory over Clinton in rural Nevada says something important about his ability as the apostle of national reconciliation.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/31/usa.uselections2008
February 28th, 2008 at 10:23 am
That is encouraging, Richard, but I don’t know to what extent the primary votes indicate what will happen in the general election. Thank you!