Well, I am a veteran PCO, and I ran my caucus like I always do. First, we had 2 precincts at my table ... mine, and our neighbors to the south. The PCO from that precinct did not show up, so I told them they could follow along with what we were doing. One of them became secretary of that group and filled out thier paperwork.
The room at Tahoma was packed full ... I would guess we had between 3-400 people there. The most annoying thing was the gal that kept grabbing the microphone to answer questions that were raised to her that apparantly were “important” ... but in reality were just unwanted delays in the real business. The other annoyance was that our caucus was a good 25 minute drive from our precinct ... I think in the future I will hold it at my house!
Before I showed up, I printed a list of all registered voters in my precinct, then when everyone signed in, I checked the names against the list to make sure everyone’s votes would count.
Of our delegates (my precinct got 6 delegates and 5 alternates ... and we sent 5 w/1 alternate), they were all for Romney except 1 for Huckleberry. We had a couple of people that did not want to go to the LD caucus ... one of them was for Hunter and the rest Romney.
To the people that posted comments about being upset that they did not get to discuss issues ... I am sorry ... maybe you should become the PCO.
In my caucus, I explained to everyone that even though we are all taught that we dont discuss politics or religion in polite company, that it was OK to discuss politics here, and that I was going to go thru a list of topics and we could discuss each one and it was OK to attempt to sway others to your point of view.
As we went thru the issues, I not only read them to the group, but I explained what the options meant, and then opened the floor for arguements. I made suggestions as to how to prioritize thier responses as well, and by the end of the caucus, most just wanted my analysis of the issue and guidance on how to vote. I know that my caucus was pretty unique in this, because we were the last group to finish in the room. It was kinda neet that even the other precinct stuck around to listen to our discussions about the issues and participate.
All in all, I made some friends yesterday, and I think that if I called on the participants to help in the future, that based on the experience yesterday, they all would.
You know, I am getting really sick of hearing this from the party. If you want people to be interested in politics, come to the caucuses, come to the conventions and then vote for your candidates at election time, you can't have your standard response be "well, if you don't like the way it is being run, then you must get involved to change it".
What happened to listening to criticism from those that are not part of your clique and considering changing the system to get more people to participate? The party complains all of the time that not enough people are involved, but then they dismiss people who comment about it and then refuse to change their little fiefdoms.
I would bet you serious $$$ that more than a few of the people in the room yesterday with me won't be back because they saw it as a waste of time, just as I did.
Didn't the party have stadard rules for how the caucuses were supposed to be run? Sounds like yours was done "right".
I was a pooled caucus leader of 14 precincts and ran my precinct caucus. We had a record turn-out, probably because of the Paulistinians and Huckleberries who wanted to make their voices heard. We seated 45 of the 47 allotted delegates at our pooled location. It too, was 35 miles from my house and even farther for some attendees from Hansville. This won’t happen again.
We gave all candidate representatives three minutes to address the group. Including any local candidates. We reviewed the caucus rules and then broke into precinct caucus.
If there wasn’t a PCO or PCO Captain the precinct attendees elected a caucus chairman. We elected a caucus secretary to fill out the nifty pre-printed minutes form I developed 4 years ago when I was on the x-board.
We reviewed and completed the WSRP issues and platform questionnaire. A property tax lid was suggested and soon became the topic of the pooled caucus. We discussed the local platform and discussed our “Charter with the Voters” pledge we developed for candidates who want the county Republican Party endorsement and financial support. (Think Contract with America)
I explained the rules for voting for delegates and alternates by position. Auto-delegate, 1st delegate, 1st alternate, etc. Then opened the floor for nominations and voting. We also CHARGE the delegates 20 dollars, down from 35 when I was on the x-board for attending the county convention. This includes lunch we buy from the Young Republican’s or one of the 3 county GOP gals organizations. The money goes to the candidate recruitment and development committee in our county.
We gave each precinct nominee for the position two minutes to persuade us to vote for them to represent their POTUS candidate at the county convention except the auto-delegate or elected PCO since they were going anyway without need of being elected at the caucus. The PCO was elected by the people at the last county primary before a general election for this purpose.
For the first time since I was elected PCO 10 years ago, we filled all the allotted delegate and alternate delegate positions. We also had the largest precinct turnout since 1980.
I’m going as a Romney spoiler and our two delegates were Huckleberries and we split the two alternate delegates with a Huckleberry and Paulistinian. I like the young Paulistinian we elected alternate...he is a dynamic young guy who isn’t certifiable and once his guy pulls out the young man will probably stay in the Republican party.
All in all it was a good caucus. People milled around afterwards even though the hall was booked for an evening event and they needed us to leave.
This whinnying I’m reading is crap. One or two people can make a huge difference in your county party as my description illustrates. I saw a need 4 caucus’ ago for a streamlined process for the production of the minutes so a novice could follow an organizational checklist that produces two results, maintaining the agenda and producing consistent county wide PCO minutes at the caucus. What can you bring from your private life to the party that will improve the situation?
The local GOP boards only meet once a month, go volunteer for more than helping during elections, even though that is a huge investment. I’m sure SW6906 you have plenty of ideas your local GOP x-board would appreciate hearing and with your help turning bring them to fruition.