A True American
Two topics for the day: the Caucus and Lent
How I participated in my Caucus:
I am in election mode. And don’t think it’s going to stop. We have many more months of this. Mike makes fun of me, because he says I’m not fun or light hearted any more. I try to be, but really I just feel ready for a fight no matter what I’m talking about.
Bagel? Fuck no, I don’t want a bagel. I want a scone. A scone is the perfect breakfast food. It is perfectly sweet and perfectly salty. It’s filling, yet light. A scone is the best food for my stomach and this country.
Caucusing was great! I had some registration fears, so I came ready with a signed affirmation. I had to head back to my old neighborhood to do it. I arrived at 6:00 and found my way to the cafeteria. I’m not going to lie, it was really disorganized at first. The organizers were late and they clearly were not prepared to have so many people. They put all ten of the precincts at that location into the cafeteria.
There weren’t too many people when I got there, and I didn’t exactly know what to do since there wasn’t a sign in table or anything. I watched an Obama Cuacus training video, and it said to find an Obama precinct captain when you arrive, so that’s what I did. This was not hard to do. Right away I noticed that the Obama folks were incredibly organized and there in full force. Out of the thirty people there when I arrived, I would say that 90% of them were wearing Obama stickers. This made me feel great.
I found a captain and introduced myself. He was a nice man who offered me a sticker. I took it gladly. I asked him what to do next, and he said “we wait for the cuacus organizers/leaders to get this going.”
So I took a seat and waited. As more people began to flood in, it grew a bit chaotic. The caucus leaders were desperately trying to get everything set up. The former county clerk and recorder, Carol S., took a microphone and began giving out instructions. Lucky for me, she was actually my precinct leader. She definitely knew what to do, and I felt glad to have her.
I was able to sign in with her, and there was no drama about my registration. There were 29 people in my precinct. There were 425 registered Democrats at my location all together, with many more children and observers. It was thrilling, loud, and fun. The 29 of us crowded around a table, while Carol took us through the business of Caucusing. The first thing to do, a straw poll for President. I’m sad to say that Clinton got more votes in my precinct, 16-13. We didn’t have any uncommitted folks, so there was no real debate. Everyone looked pretty firm in their beliefs. So we moved on and took care of other business (choosing delegates, voting on resolutions, etc.). Some of the other nearby precincts definitely fought it out. We fought it out a bit on a union resolution, a health care resolution, and we had a mini debate about a congressional seat. In Colorado, delegates are proportional, so even though Obama didn’t get more votes than Clinton, he still won delegates.
I’m happy to report though, that my Caucus location went for Obama, 250-175. That’s when I knew it would be a great night for Colorado!
I have to admit, I gave some Hillary folks the evil eye. I didn’t want to, but it just came out of me. I guess I’m just used to pitting myself against others when I vote. I did take in how great it was to see my party come together like this.
Carol rallied up the crowd before we got started and said that this was like 3000% more than what they usually get at a caucus!
It should be noted that my sister, an Obama precinct captain, ended up having to be the caucus leader in her precinct. Quite a task for someone so young! She had 85 people from her precinct show up, and it went to Obama quite drastically. She canvassed her precinct personally, made cookies, provided rides. She worked really hard for Obama, and her work paid off. I’m really proud of her. That’s what makes caucusing so cool. She was able to see immediately how her determination produced results for her cause.
I wish I had a picture to post from my Caucus, but I didn’t take any. I thought I would post a couple though that I found on Flickr. In fact, if you just go to http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=colorado+caucus you can see some great pictures!
These just demonstrate the massive amount of people that showed up!
Getting the Lent thing going
So the season of Lent is upon some of us Catholic folk, and I had been trying to figure out something to give up. Then I figured it out!
Yesterday, Mike and I had lunch with my sister and her boss at the UMC. I brought up Heath Ledger’s toxicology report that was released yesterday. Her boss’ ears perked up to lisen. She then revealed that she gave up celebrity gossip for Lent. A light bulb went off! What a perfect thing for me to give up.
I spend so much time reading celebrity gossip blogs. I feel disgusted at how I can’t turn away from the Britney Spears drama as she slowly kills herself. What better and more holy thing to give up. It truly is a dark part of my character that could use a little cleaning. However, I couldn’t give it up all together, that would be impossible. So I’ve decided that I would actually only get the news from reliable news sources like CNN and not from the places that pay for the photographs and video. I also decided that I wouldn’t seek it out on purpose, but if I saw a headline while I was there I could click on it.
One blog I’ve been having trouble giving up is Pink is the New Blog. Not because I like is celebrity commentary, but I like the commentary he makes on some of my favorite TV shows, like Lost and Project Runway. Today I went there to see his favorite outfit from last night’s Project Runway. I tried to avert my eyes to the other celebrity postings he made.
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