A Report From The ME Caucuses

My friend David gave me an off-the-cuff report about his caucus yesterday:

It was a great experience.

Dennis Kucinich, Congressman Markey (MA) for Kerry, and Howard Dean all spoke.

I am afraid Howard came across pretty bad. He was obviously really tired. He tried to draw parallels to past presidents, most of which the average American could not identify. Warren Harding? Wasn't he the fifth Marx brother? The news cameras did not bother to tape his speech, only the reaction to their rhetorical question, "Do you honestly think you still have a shot at the nomination?"

The Kerry campaign really rubbed me the wrong way. I felt the atmosphere of Tammany Hall. Many of the people organizing the caucus were clearly Kerry supporters. The machine is behind him. The same machine that lost the House and Senate, and failed to win with Gore.

I still have hope, but sense that the easiest path for most voters, a path dictated by the status quo, is to go with the more traditional candidate. In that world a senator - even from Mass - trumps a governor from Vermont.

Indeed, Kerry was trumping Dean 45-26 with 50% of the precincts reporting (and maybe someday the results will be updated CNN now has delegate totals: Kerry 15, Dean got 9). Dean will get yet more delegates out of it all the same...

ntodd

[Update: I added a break between Dave's overall assessment of the experience and list of who spoke. In response to The Commissar's snark (which I appreciate!). Should capture the intent better.]  ¶ 4:27 PM