I Elected Barack Obama Tonight
March 4th, 2008 by 
Rory Harper
I just now got back in from the Democratic Party caucus for Precinct 53 in Bryan, Texas. In Texas, you vote on the goddam non-paper-trail machines during the day for 126 delegates to the national convention, then the remaining 102 are determined by a byzantine process that begins with country precinct caucuses.
The caucus room was jammed full of Dems, about 100 of us, with a table separating us from the Republican meeting, which had about 15 people. Our room also included people in Precinct 15, and they ended up separating us out.
My precinct is a tiny one, so we only had 11 people. Voting is open, by writing in your candidate preference on a sheet of paper that’s passed around.
Precinct 15 is allocated 1 delegate to the state convention. The vote tally for us was 6 to 5 in favor of Barack Obama.
For the first time in my entire life, my own personal political preference counted for something real.
I’d like you to remember this when that one Obama vote swings the Texas national delegation in the direction of one more Obama rep, then the national floor fight is decided in favor of Obama by one vote. And then Obama goes on to become President in a 400-electoral-vote landslide and the face of civilization is changed for the Twenty-First Century.
That was me that caused that.
I am drunk with power and am currently eating some BlueBell Dutch Chocolate Ice Cream to celebrate my electoral victory.
This democracy thing rocks. This country should do it more.
:
Posted in Daily Life, Dammit!, Politics, Rory | 
4 Comments »
March 4th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Good job,Rory!
I also voted in the primary and attended the caucus. It was crowded (300 or so), chaotic, and absolutely fascinating. I’m not one for new age nonsense, but there was an energy in the room. People were excited. I felt like there may be some hope for this country after all.
March 5th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Rory,
Eat a couple of spoonfuls of that BlueBell Dutch Chocolate for me. My wife and I attended the caucus in precinct 106 in Manor. We are both alternate delegates for Obama to the convention on March 29th.
The outcome was 7 delegates for Clinton and 8 for Obama. The difference in enthusiasm was noteworthy. There were 16 people who wanted to be delegates for Obama and only 9 for Clinton.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Rory–
Can you explain, for the Texas-impaired, the difference between the primary and the caucus, and how (at least according to counts I saw yesterday) Clinton was leading in the primary but Obama in the caucus?
Signed: very confused.
March 5th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Madeleine,
Texas caucus goers are not obliged to vote for the same candidate they voted for in the primary.
Also, the number of caucus goers for any candidate is determined by who shows up to caucus. More Obama supporters showed up for the caucuses than Clinton supporters, hence his lead.
However, delegates to the county convention (decided last night at the caucuses) are not committed to the candidate they supported at the precinct level and may change their votes.
I can’t remember at what level, either State or National, is when the delegates must commit (no vote changing) to their candidate. At each level (precinct, county, state, and national) the number of delegates get narrowed.
And I am a delegate to the Travis county convention