My WA caucus had 6x the turnout of 2004! Some groups had to meet outside in the wind/rain!

[Mrs. Overall]

(I'm reposting this from earlier because I got a strange error and it isn't showing up in My DU as a post, so sorry if you already read it)

What an amazing number of people showed up at our local high school for the caucus. The entire parking lot was filled and the gyms couldn't hold all the people.

I live across the Sound from Seattle in a somewhat rural area that is about 60% Dem and 40% rep. The organizers were shocked at the number of people who came out--over 6x the number who caucused in 2004.

I went in undecided, but leaning toward Obama, and ended up being one of our five Obama delegates to the legislative convention in April.

Our meeting was rather heated--several strong environmentalists who actually don't trust Obama on nuclear power and worry about his ties to the coal industry. Several military families with children in Iraq who were in tears just wanting someone to end the war. Many spoke negatively about the "baggage" Hillary will bring to the job as opposed to the charisma of Obama. Our precinct was 70% Obama supporters and 30% Hillary. I was also surprised at how many elderly people were there, worried about their health care and keeping their homes.

It was a powerful afternoon and I came away with a sense of how pissed off people are and how worried they are about the future (young and old alike). Everyone also made it clear that he/she will support either Obama or Hillary, whoever wins the nomination. It was an interesting mix of disagreement and agreement. I'm absolutely inspired to volunteer for whoever the candidate is!

[ClayZ]

1. Yay, Washington!

K and R

[Beregond2]

2. WA

Yes, I'm feeling pretty darn proud of my home state today.

[BanzaiBonnie]

3. Our caucus was great

Everyone said how difficult it was to choose between the two.

[Adelante]

4. I am so proud of all you Washingtonians

And grateful :grouphug:

[tavalon]

8. I should get extra kudos

It happened in the middle of the night for me, but I got up and even changed out of my bathrobe for it, though I considered.............

[Adelante]

10. Extra for you

:hug:

[tavalon]

11. Thanks

Extra points too, to my anarchist friend who got my ass out of bed with coffee in hand and the directions to the caucus in his back pocket. I don't think I'll figure that guy out if I live to be 100.

[Adelante]

12. He needed to do it vicariously, I guess, because he couldn't miss it nt

[CanonRay]

5. Good for you guys...

we had a very similar experience here in Colorado. Very uplifting, despite all the bickering on this site.

[Sanity Claws]

6. We had a huge turnout in 2004 too

I lived in the Ballard/Sunset Hill part of Seattle in 2004. Our caucus was much better attended than expected based on earlier years. Six times that must have been HUGH!!!! Series!!

[tavalon]

7. Yeah, I mentioned to my anarchist friend (who was kind enough to wake me with coffee in time to go)

that the sleeping electorate seems to have awoken. He rolled his eyes but had nothing to say since the quarter mile we had to walk from our parking to the packed school gymnasium was proof of what I said. Funny, he made sure I woke up (I'm a nightshifter) but he refused to participate because it required that he sign an oath of being a Democrat and he didn't feel he could soil his hands that way. Now me, even though I've figured out I'm actually a Socialist, I have no problem aligning myself with the Democrats as I know I will never get anywhere as a third partier and the Dems hold so many of my values, I just hold them tighter. I should caveat that not all Dems hold my values and the group currently soiling the legislative branch of our government are, for the most part, Vichy Democrats and I would muchly like to see them purged from the system.

It was fabulous to see the sleeping giant begin to stir. I heard snippets of angry conversation about Iraq, Presidential lies and the gasping economy, all from people who looked as straight laced as my grandparents. We could be running a turnip this time around and that turnip, come January, would be Mr or Madame President Turnip. We actually have two very viable candidates, both of whom are actually much more competent and smarter than a turnip. We'll do just fine this fall.

But we won't see justice within our land, so then it will be time to enlist the international community to bring War Crime Tribunals together. It's a shame that neither of these candidates has the guts to call out this administration in any but the most oblique ways. Tiresome, really, and not very savvy. If either did, it would be an amazing thing to see the electorate, not just the DU electorate, but the general middle of the road person, line up behind him or her.

[tavalon]

9. I moved from Texas recently

and I just have to say, I'm so grateful to live in such a wonderful state and so close to my favorite city in the state. I live over in Bothell, but I can see Seattle just over the horizon, almost close enough to touch. Sigh, it's nice to know in the moment, that I'm in love with where I live and the life I lead. Too many times in life, that recognition happens after the fact, not during.