What A Beautiful Day to Caucus In WA!
My husband and I got up early today to get to our caucus site by 9AM for doors to open at 10. It is just gorgeous today, blue skies, a soft breeze and it finally feels like Spring. When we pulled up there was already a line formed and it grew behind us as we waited to be let in. We stood and talked to our neighbors, laughing and sharing stories. This was for Bernie and Hillary supporters alike, there was no animosity. It was like a festival. Bernie supporters walked the line passing out campaign buttons and pastries. There was families, all ages and races.
It was a bit of a jumble because it really didn't seem like many knew what to do. Our caucus was at a high school split between the cafeteria and the gym. It was such a nice school with beautiful views of the mountains, it made the high schools I went to as a kid look like dumps. But we live in a more affluent area although we are not one of the affluent. I watched and grew increasingly happy as the crowd grew and grew, eventually filling up the lunch room. Our caucus location was at one of the tables in the gym. My precinct had 34 participants with 5 delegates to dole out. There was a caucus chair manning the table but he seemed as clueless as we were. He said that there was supposed to be 3 volunteers besides him but nobody else had showed up. I and my husband volunteered our services and together we tried our best to muddle through to the best of our abilities. It really was the blind leading the blind.
We gathered the forms and there was only 1 undecided in our group. An older lady who was waiting for each of the candidates followers to make their case. A woman came forward first to make the case for Hillary. She talked about how she felt the Hillary was best for national security and she wanted to see a female president, that it was time. After her, a woman immediately popped up, made her way to the front and gave some impressive credentials. She works in national security and has been in the government for over 20 years. She talked about the emails and that there is no way that Clinton did not know what she was doing. She talked about privilege and how some just don't think that the rules apply to them. She said she struggled on who to support but she didn't think that anyone with that mix of privilege and paranoia (she compared it to Nixon) should be anywhere near the White House. Even though I am nervous to speak to crowds, I piped up. I said that Bernie is the only candidate in my living memory who is talking about a group of people that have been given the shaft since the beginning, our Native American brothers and sisters. During this I started to tear up and a young women watching me from the bleachers yelled out YEAH and raised her arm. After that, the young woman that shouted made her way down. She said the she has social anxiety but felt she had to speak. She was a pan sexual, with Native American blood and she spoke nervously but eloquently about why she supports Bernie. It was impressive and moving. At the end, I was happy to see the one undecided fill in that empty candidate space on her paper with BERNIE SANDERS!!
We ended our caucus with 24 for Bernie and 8 for Hillary giving him 4 more delegates. I wanted to be 1 of those delegates and with me we were able to get all the spaces filled. It was a little harder to get even 1 Hillary supporter to agree to be one, it took some cajoling. If that is indicative of the excitement she generates, it does not bode well for the general. I didn't know anything about choosing resolutions until I read it on here afterwards. I hope we didn't mess everything up by not having those. I really didn't know all the steps as I volunteered at the last minute and the chairman seemed just as in the dark as the average participant.
In the end, our little group came in big for Bernie and I will be back to help Bernie as a Delegate. I am so proud and excited! Looking around and talking to others, our experience was duplicated all over the building. It was a wonderful experience. Even better then my first caucus experience in 2008. Washington is all about Senator Sanders and his landslide victory in my beautiful state will propel him all the way to the White House.
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I'm glad you had such a positive experience. 
Thank you! 
PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE
