Posted on 02/09/2008 8:39:46 AM PST by Checkers
The Cauci don't begin until 1pm pacific time, but it's never too early to start a live thread.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsrp.org ...
In the end, it is only worth half of the final tally of delegates, the other half coming from the primary that is not until the 19th!!
What a joke this state party is.
Blame Seattle.
What a joke this whole Republican primary season has been.
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.
I really dont see how these results can be accurate. 20,000 people voted statewide in the republican caucus ... I dont think so. Look at how many showed up at each of the polling places listed! I think they are off by an order of magnitude!
The largest group of votes in our caucus was undecided, maybe they counted those as McCain votes.
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".
Or did you do some kind of a show of hands that was then recorded and reported as the votes of the caucus?
There was no explanation of what the "results" of our caucus were going to be.
That’s what people wrote down on the sign in sheet, and that’s how they sent their delegates to county.
SW ... I am really sorry that you feel the way you do, but I am going to throw it right back at you. If you want to change the world, dont b*tch about how it is not easy to do it. If it were too easy, we would have anarchy. Process is put in place to separate the wheat from the chaff.
You my friend, just identified yourself as chaff.
There are basically 5 levels of commitment to politics in this state.
1. Non-voter ... (aka sheep)
2. voter
3. caucus goer
4. activist
5. elected
Now, you participated at the 3rd level, and dont like that to change things, you would have to get to at least level 4. Well boo frickin hoo to you. The reason that Washington has become Massachusetss Left is because people like you stay home in droves.
The party aparatchink are becoming more and more liberal ... and its because they care and you dont. People like you dont want to invest “large amounts of time and money”. Gimme a friggin break!
You wanna know what the large amount of time required to be a PCO is? Here is your large amount time ... 2 hrs a month for a PCO meeting, and you dont have to go. Leading up to the elections, you may be asked to sit in a phone bank, or doorbell ... but it is not required. Get yard signs (at the monthly meetings) and distribute them to other R’s in your precint that you know. Oh, and going to a training on how to run a caucus ... but you would not be interested in that cause its a waste of time right.
Now, if you ARE committed to change, and you ARE willing to invest time, you do things in the off season, like doorbell on issues, identify which neighbors are R vs D, L vs C. You enter info into the voter vault and mine it to help in GOTV campaigns. You read up on the issues and understand all sides, and create compelling arguements to pull your neighbors to your views.
The financial commitment ... mostly gas. Maybe participating in a raffle at the PCO meeting if you go.
My guess is that most precincts did not select thier full slate of delegates yesterday. Heck, I know as a fact that we have a huge number of precints without PCO’s. In most cases, if you want to be the PCO, just ask, and you will be appointed. If your PCO did not show up yesterday ... maybe they lost interest, and you could be appointed. Regardless, even if you are not the PCO, you can help your PCO. Lord knows it would be a lot easier to do things in my precinct if others were willing to help.
Sorry for piddlin on your parade bud, but I am not buying what you are selling. The only way to stop liberalism is for you to get off your rusty dusty and invest 1/10th the amouont of time that you spend on FR bitzen about liberalism and actually do something about it!
My point is that if you expect more level two - let alone level threes and fours - then you have to be willing to listen to them and not just tell them boo fricken hoo and calling them chaff. Thanks for alienating me even more. Does the party give awards for that?
Heck, there were delegates "elected" who weren't even there!!!
Yep, they had misleading article header for a while, then they changed it. In any case, Ron Paul did win the WA state caucas, since the "undecided" are almost all Ron Paul's state delegates. The campaign staff instructed them not to declare preference or carry any R.P. signs in order not to warn off the opponents (as it happened in LA caucas, where the Republican party pulled a fast one after seeing that Ron Paul would win it in a landslide).
I don’t understand your attitude. You have two choices, lunatic Dems or McCain. How can you even consider not voting for whoever wins the nomination? Any Rep. beats the alternative all to Hell. I want to win the war don’t you? If you don’t you might as well give America to the Dems.
As a matter of fact, yes they do ...
http://tartarus.org/martin/essays/burkequote.html
I have seen your postings over the years ... we have been on FR about the same length of time, and I respect you, but in this regard I am calling BS on you. If you have indeed done 4, then you know as well as I do that your time commitment is completely up to you. Of the hundreds of precincts in the 5th LD, maybe a dozen PCO’s in addition to the district leadership show up at the monthly meetings. This is no vast conspiracy ... this is a simple truth ... most people dont care, and those that do care are completely overwhelmed. When someone comes along, there are always some zealots that want to “take over”, but if they are only committed to a candidate they dont stay long (i.e, Paulistinians, Perotistas, etc).
Now riddle me this ... why should a political party go out of thier way to create a process that is easy to hijack, knowing that the hijackers are transients. What if ... they create a process where the transients can participate ... and if they truely are committed, and think it can be done better, help invoke change in a fashion that depends more on logic than emotion.
You know what ... I despise McCain on a number of levels. I honestly dont think I can vote for him in Nov. I felt sick that Thompson dropped out, then Romney dropped out. In spite of all that, I showed up yesterday, and I did my job ... not because I was excited about the candidates at the top of the ticket, but because I care about the issues at the bottom of the ticket. I hate living in one of the most liberal states in the nation.
But you know what else ... I know that if I sit back and wait for someone else to change things, that this will still be the most liberal state on the day I die. I may not be able to change a lot, but I CAN change a little. I can take control of my little precinct, and maybe, just maybe, if I am lucky, my one little precinct balances out a precinct in the Rainier Valley. I know that if I am not at least active, then I give up my right to complain about the direction.
I showed up and did my job, even tho I wanted to skip it, because I know that if I stay home, then my precinct caucus will sock for everyone that DOES care, and DID show up, because it is tough for the blind to lead the blind.
You want to throw a guilt trip on me because I alienated you even more ... like I said ... boo frickin hoo. If your skin is that thin then you deserve the government you get, the rules you deem unfair, and the candidates you get to vote for.
I really dont care if I alienate you. I want others that are sick of our choices, our process, whatever, to stop LETTING it happen TO them, and do something about it. If you want to join me, and fight by my side ... then grab your sword and shield and lets go, I will be right at your side. If all you want to do is complain, then you really are nothing more than a keyboard cowboy.
Rev. 3:15-16.
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
We had numerous precincts which were unrepresented, so they didn’t get to send a delegate.
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.
Now that’s more how I expected the caucus to be run. It is FAR from what I experienced yesterday.
http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/02/10/fox-exclusive-huckabee-campaign-calls-for-full-investigation-on-washington-state-results/
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