Dohiyi Mir
In Which NTodd Says His Peace
How Caucuses Work
Jerome at dKos gives us a report from Washington:
In the precinct my parents voted in, as they went in, Dean was behind Kerry by six votes, 15-21. There was one uncommitted person that wanted to know who to vote for between Kerry and Dean. My dad went over and gave her 5 reasons why should vote for Kerry (took more special interest money, funded his own campaign with millions...), and she replied, 'those don't sound like reasons why I should support him at all'... then finally, he bribed her to Dean, offering up his delegate spot if she would switch to Dean, she went for it. That got Dean within 5 of Kerry.
There were 4 people who were in support of Edwards, which was not enough to claim a delagate. Immediately when it was announced, my mom and a neighbor tore over to the Edwards people and convinced all 4 of them to join Dean, which they did. Still one behind, my dad noticed a neighbor who had a "No War" yard sign at his house who was in Kerry's corner, and his wife was in Dean's corner. After a bit of persuasion, he too joined Dean, making it a tie at 20-20.
...
[T]here were seven delegates to award, three to Dean and Kerry each, but who would get the fourth. Without either ether side budging, it was finally decided to flip a coin. Dean's folks called heads, and it was tails. Kerry won 4-3.
Caucuses certainly are more interesting than primaries!
[Update: you really should read the discussion thread. Lots of people reporting delegate counts from their precincts and a few stories about how they worked. Very cool, even if the concept is a bit foreign to me.]
ntodd
