Nothing to it! Exciting from the start. So many Democrats decided to attend, many of us for the first time, the caucus had to be moved from the fire station to the elementary school. Laugh if you will, but this is big news in a town whose biggest draw is the daily gossip session at the local gas station/eatery. Imagine the turnout if state party chairman Gordon Fischer had his internet and mailing act together. I finally had to access the state’s platform from Google cache yesterday in order to get talking points for plank proposals. The site is still unavailable. Bush/Cheney Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman e-mailed three reminders in as many days including information on the GOP’s caucus location. Nary a one from the Dems.
But the thrills didn’t stop there. My worries I’d be the only Kucinich supporter and not sure whose camp I’d go to were for naught. Despite a poor turnout for my particular district, 19 souls from a pool of approximately 350 residents, 4 of us were DK supporters. Only two other candidates, Kerry and Dean, were represented enough to secure a delegate. Two Gephardt supporters ended up in the Kerry camp and the sole Edwards supporter swung our way after we shared our information with her. She’d never heard of Dennis Kucinich. How is that possible? Could it be due to the fact that this bright, articulate woman who worked in our school system for years relies on television for her information?
I could have been the delegate representing DK at the county caucus but work committments led me to accept alternate status instead. I also discovered that while plank proposals are submitted during the caucus, they’re not necessarily discussed. A vote is taken to send them on to a plank committee you can join where over the next few weeks, if you’re on it, you work with a few other people to prepare a presentation submitted to the county caucus in March.
There was a very disgruntled person in my district who worked on the plank committee formed during the last caucus. She related that after weeks of getting together with others and expending real effort to put their proposals together, the heavyweights refused to enter it into the record. She and the others were told “they’d already decided on the final proposal to be sent on to the state caucus.”
What is that all about?
She thinks the presentation was snuffed because it would have meant more work for them.
I did get the impression that this Iowa Caucus exercise is akin to an old locomotive that’s been on the same rusty track for some time. The record turnout in Iowa [55% increase according to one report] last night could change the direction of this event for years to come. I sensed real excitement at the prospect coming from the old guard at my caucus but I think it will probably generate confusion and resistance to change amongst the ranks as well.
Now that the momentum to get involved has propelled so many more of us newbies to get actively involved, hopefully it won’t be so easy to dismiss attempts to breathe new life into an old routine at this year’s county caucus.
So the question I have this morning is, will Fischer and other Iowa Dems squander this moment, leaving us with nice memories and a major hangover, or tap into that new interest to build a bigger, better party?
I’ll certainly be giving it my utmost attention.