The Day After- A Political Hangover

Wow, what a night. The more things go, the more they don't. No one is ever completely right in all the punditry and prophesying and whatever else the political people are doing. Out of nowhere comes Huckabee. Obama and Clinton still neck and neck. Nothing decided, everything up in the air. Wow. What an election cycle this has turned out to be.

Here in Minnesota the turnout for caucuses was remarkable. Police had to direct traffic that was backed up for long distances and up to a half hour to get into school parking lots. I parked several blocks away as did many of my fellow Democrats. The Republican caucus up the street had the same problem. By the time I got there, not an Obama sticker to be had. Some even tore them off some signs to have a souvenir. People were walking away with signs for both Hillary and Obama- but there were a lot of Hillary signs still around at the end.

In my little old precinct 72 people voted. Most voted and left. But even at that a good 25 people stayed for the whole process and we managed to get 15 delegates of the 19 requested from our caucus to go to the County Convention at the end of March. (Yes, the pmPilgrim was one of them. More at a later time.)

I know, you want to know how this one precinct went. Well, like most of Minnesota Democrats the vote was overwhelming for Obama- 50 - 22. That's a little higher than the state-wide numbers but in the ballpark. I expected him to be the winner, but the numbers surprised me. Especially since most of the people at our caucus were not young people (under 30) although we had our share. There were lots of high school and college age students at the school in other caucuses, though. What a neat thing to see.

I was talking with a high school social studies teacher who said that she has seen such excitement among here seniors for what is happening since many of them will be able to vote in November. I don't know whether it's a movement, but it sounds like a young person's ground swell. And she says, most are for Obama. They can't give a reason why they aren't for Hillary, but they just aren't she says. There seems to be some kind of generational divide between the two candidates.

One of the other general notes on Minnesota- and perhaps some other places as well is that while the Democrats were going for Obama and probably his message of change, the Republicans were going for Romney, a candidate more in the traditional mold than any in the race. I wonder what that says about the image and direction that each party has in this state? It may also be why Minnesota has become in its own small way a swing-type state.

Anyway- the turnout was so massive and surprising that the planners were caught off guard. They ran out of official sign-in sheets and pre-printed ballots. Wow. Parking was the least of the problems. At least it wasn't super frigid and snowing.

Then there were the resolutions. Those wonderful attempts to do something or say something or make a difference. They were interesting but since only a few people came in with any, it was not all that significant. I know the process- the resolutions that come from the caucuses will go on up the line and be combined, etc. with others that are similar. Finally it will go to the State Convention and the national for statements of policy, etc.

Some had local implications- funding of contractors' insurance. Some start local- like the quality of water and pesticide runoff in the agricultural areas of SE Minnesota. Then there was the war. Only one resolution- which was defeated. Like all the resolutions it was vague, way too general, and way to naive. Maybe that's what local political caucus resolutions are. They express a thought, a hope, a vision, a fear, an attempt at feeling like you want to make a difference. That's why you stay beyond the simple voting.

And that's where the caucus is different from primaries or other elections. It is local and face-to-face and messy. It can be long lines and confusion because you don't know which room in the school to go to for your precinct. It's the lines of cars and parking problems. It's not enough ballots and confusion over what to do in the meeting itself.

It's democracy. As close to real grass-roots democracy as we can get in a nation of 300 million. There was a dullness to it. Sitting and waiting for something to happen or for things to fall into place. There was an everydayness to it. We're just a bunch of neighbors who come together to do something about how our country is being run. It is not perfect. There is a frustration over all-or-nothing versus proportional allocation of delegates and votes- and the one you support is often determined by whether your candidate got the most votes or not.

I have not seen an election like this since 1968. It is nothing short of exciting. Something interesting should happen. If it doesn't, if it simply goes back to politics as usual no matter who wins, it will be one of the biggest disappointments since 1968 as well. The apathy is broken- at least temporarily. Let's hope we can keep the excitement going.

In any case, Super Tuesday is done. Now we who were involved yesterday can take a little breather as we watch and root for our favorites. The beat goes on.