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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.