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Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
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The 2008 caucus: When, where, and why |
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| The 2008 caucus: When, where, and why | |
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by Janice Van Cleve -
Special to the SGN The caucus is coming - so what? The Washington State caucus is Saturday, February 9, four days after "Super Tuesday." The Democratic presidential nominee will be decided already before we get to weigh in - at least that's what the media talking heads and over-eager pundits would have us believe. But they are wrong. The facts show that Washington State can make a big difference. The Democratic convention in Denver will choose the candidate that will lead their party in the 2008 elections. Of the 4,049 delegates, the winner will have to secure a simple majority (2025). As of this writing (January 30), Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner with 232 delegates, or 52%. (She won 55% of Michigan's primary and 50% of Florida's, giving her a huge lead over the other Democratic candidates. However, Democratic National Committee rules have disqualified both of those primaries because they were held earlier than the DNC wished. It is noted that Latinos backed Hillary Clinton 2 to 1 over all the other candidates.) Barack Obama has 153 delegates with 34% and John Edwards has dropped out of the race. The total pledged delegates up for grabs on "Super Tuesday" are 1688. So even if Hillary Clinton sweeps Super Tuesday, she would still be 105 delegates short of sewing up the nomination. So whatever happens on Super Tuesday, the Washington State caucus is still a critical and important step for anyone seeking the presidential nomination. Washington State has 78 delegates to the national convention. Our caucus on February 9, along with Louisiana, Nebraska, and the Virgin Islands will yield 161 delegates total. That's enough to make a big difference! (There is a primary election as well in Washington State, but it only counts for some of the Republican delegates. Democrats may vote for Hillary or Obama in the primary, but only the caucus will determine Democratic delegates.) Yet the caucus is about much more than delegates. It is a chance to discuss important political issues with your neighbors. For us in the LGBT community it is another opportunity to tell our neighbors how important it is to achieve the right to marry in Washington State. It is a chance to ask their support for the bills that Senator Ed Murray (Senate Bill 6716) and Representative Jamie Pedersen (House Bill 3104) are forwarding in our state legislature to add to the rights and responsibilities of our existing domestic partner law. It is a chance to talk about the presidential candidates' stands on Gay issues so our neighbors can keep those in mind along with Iraq, the economy, and the environment. We are everywhere. We are in every neighborhood in every town in Washington State. There is no reason why our issues should not be on the table along with everything else. The caucuses are a good platform to air our issues, but it takes our voices to speak them. How do you find your caucus location? Very easy. In King County, go to www.kcdems.net. In the middle of the page are the big words "Click here for Caucus Locator." That takes you to a Google map of Washington State. Zero in on your neighborhood and click as close to your address as possible. Presto! A little red balloon will mark your address and another will mark your caucus location. The caucus address will be named at the top of the page. Your precinct will be outlined in blue. The area of the precincts meeting at your caucus center is outlined in magenta. Pretty cool, huh? The Democratic caucuses begin at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 9. When you arrive, you will be asked to sign in and write your first choice for presidential candidate. Then you will gather in your precinct with your neighbors. Your Precinct Committee Officer will chair the meeting or you may have to elect a chair. If you are just one precinct meeting in someone's home, the meeting will be fairly simple, self-explanatory, and short. If you are meeting in a huge hall with many precincts, it will take a bit of time to give instructions and sort people out before they get down to business. At about 1:30 p.m. the sign-in will be closed and no more people will be admitted. This is because each precinct needs a final total against which to proportion delegates. Then the real work begins. A good chair will make sure everyone gets to speak and nobody hogs the airwaves. You and your neighbors will try to win each other over to your favorite candidate. When the dust is settled, the chair will do the math to calculate the allocation of delegates against the total participants in the precinct. Voters who are still undecided may constitute a large enough bloc to gain an undecided delegate - a perfectly legitimate outcome. Then you elect from among your number those who will represent your allocation to the legislative district caucus on April 5 to do the process all over again. Finally, delegates from all over the state will meet on June 14 in Spokane for the state convention. So pay no attention to pollsters and propaganda. Dismiss the predictions of television and newspapers. Anytime people gather to discuss politics in a democracy, it is important. Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, was fond of saying that "all politics is local." What happens locally, in your precinct caucuses, is the basic foundation of our American system of government. So please find your caucus and make your voice heard. Reforge the bonds of community with your neighbors to take back our country! Janice Van Cleve is an area coordinator for the 43rd District Democrats. Her area covers the center of Capitol Hill and she will be convening caucuses for 19 precincts at Seattle Central Community College. |
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