Q, I don't see how the neighborhood caucuses can be "skewed to express the views of the party elite," because anyone who lives in the precinct is able to come. Indeed, is urged to come. If you, as an individual, want to make your views known as to which candidate you prefer or issues you want addressed, this is the place to do it. It's about as "grass roots" as it can get. A lot of discussing, arguing, and arm-twisting goes on, but you still get to express yourself and try to influence other people.
You can't "fix" a precinct caucus. And you can't limit who goes to them. They're open to the public, and anyone who wants to can come and participate and have their say.
At the risk of being called "naïve," what happened here in Washington State, I think, is less a matter of hanky-panky than one of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
Due to the rather bizarre, and as far as I know, unprecedented early scheduling of caucuses and primaries around the country, by the time the Washington State elections board got their socks pulled up, primaries in other states were already winnowing the candidates down. By the time ours came along, several people had dropped out—such as Kucinich (blatantly and obviously ignored by the media), for whom I was prepared to argue in my neighborhood caucus.
Frankly, I rather lost interest in going to the caucus because I knew that it was going to be either Hillary or Obama, and with no Kucinich in there, I figured either one will be better than another Republican in the White House.
Okay, if somebody wants to sneer and call me "True Blue," I say go right ahead if it makes you feel smug. But would you rather I vote for McCain or Huckabee? Well?
Since the state has already gone pretty solidly for Obama, I think I can live with that. In the meantime, since the primary isn't going to count, other than as a sort of poll, I can go ahead and vote for Kucinich (ballot printed before he dropped out) without fear that I'll be taking a vote away from the leading Democratic candidate. At least make my real wants know. If others do the same thing (vote for who they really want), it will be interesting to see the results.