The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #66853 Message #1113734
Posted By: Don Firth
10-Feb-04 - 11:26 PM
Thread Name: BS: Record DEM Caucus Turnout in Maine
Subject: RE: BS: Record DEM Caucus Turnout in Maine
Nerd, I'm not accusing you of anything, but I'm beginning to wonder about some of the stuff you're posting to these caucus report threads. It has the same flavor as the behavior of some of the more aggressive Deaniacs I observed around me while attending my precinct caucus in Seattle; apparently the principle they are operating on is "if it's anybody but Dean, trash him!" Pretty damned short-sighted, I'd say. And it left a bad taste in some people's mouths, including some of the other Deaniacs. It's not helping Dean.
I don't know how they run their caucuses in Maine (perhaps Charlie Noble can enlighten us), but where I was, by the time the various caucuses were finished, everybody knew right away exactly how many votes there were for each candidate. The voting was all done in plain sight of everyone. The people in my precinct caucus—fifty-seven of us—turned in our ballots and stood around watching the two people who counted them. And this included a couple of recounts just to be sure. Supporters of all the candidates looked on. There was no way anybody could have cobble the votes. Then each candidate's supporters gathered in a group and elected their delegates right there. Everybody, even those whose candidates came in down the line, found nothing in the procedure to complain about. If anybody had a box of ballots in their kitchen, they could hardly have delayed anything because the results were already in and recorded. All a box of ballots would be is a souvenir. And all of the other caucuses that met a Lowell School did it the same way my precinct did. Hanky-panky was simply not possible.
The delegates will go to the 43rd District convention where the procedure will be repeated to select the delegates to the State Convention, and then to the National Democratic Convention where the candidate will be nominated.
Kerry may not be the ideal candidate. Hell, Dean, as far as I'm concerned, is not the ideal candidate. The one that I consider nearest to reflecting my position is running a consistent third in both Washington and Maine, but whoever emerges at the Democratic Convention, he'll be preferable to another four years than Bush.