My caucus experience

[Horse with no Name]

Waited in line for about an hour.
Let me start by saying we live in an area that is 50% white/50% black so there aren't any minorities.
The precinct I am in is heavily African American.
When I got to the caucus, it was held in a Black church.
There were about 75 Black church members gathered around their preacher receiving instructions on what to do and who to vote for. This made me somewhat uncomfortable...although I do NOT think that he persuaded anyone who didn't want to cast that vote anyway.
It was a little tense when they locked the doors and people were beating on them to get in. I mean beating.
The sign-in process took quite a while.
One man collapsed and went to the hospital in an ambulance.
When the dust settled...the Hillary-Obama lines were drawn strictly by race.
There were no white people on Obama's side and there were no black people on Hillary's side. I actually found that quite sad.
Obama's caucus was either young or old...nobody in between. The young ones were very vocal--but not out of hand.
Hillary's caucus were middle aged for the most part.
I talked to some of the others...and most of the Obama people were very passionate about their candidate and said they would NOT vote for Hillary...some more so than others...but there WAS a racial tension present between the two camps.
Hillary voters said they wouldn't vote for Obama UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Obama ended up winning this particular caucus...they received 5 delegates and the Hillary side received 2 delegates.
Countywide though....the overall vote was 65% in favor of Hillary.


On edit: One point that I wanted to make. There was a VERY good representation of the town at the caucus. From the Bank President to the carry-out guy at the grocery store.

[DesertFlower]

1. thank you for sharing your experience. nt

[VolcanoJen]

2. Gack!!! Awesome post, but Gack!

Doesn't sound pleasant. Passions are high. It's intense out there.

Thank you for participating in democracy tonight, and even more so for coming and telling us all about it! Democracy is rarely tidy.

[Horse with no Name]

3. I was LITERALLY the first one out of the building when it ended

:D

[VolcanoJen]

4. Hey, I'm in Ohio. We were Junior Tuesday Partners tonight!

I'll kick this thread in the morning so more people can see it. It's the good stuff, and great reporting to boot!!!!

[Horse with no Name]

6. Thanks!

There were a few tense moments and things I would like to say...but haven't figured out how to put them into words...yet.

[Nutmegger]

5. Thanks for the report.

R&K

[Horse with no Name]

7. I have figured out something about Obama's platform on HOPE

I am STRICTLY speaking about my town...but it surely isn't isolated.
Hope means different things to different people.
I would venture to say that less than 5% of the people who showed up tonight to caucus for Obama could tell you what his platform is.
They were there, not because they needed hope for the country, but because they need hope for themselves.
This is a small town. A dying town. Schools are failing. Businesses are pulling out. There are no jobs. There is very little hope for many people here.
Most of the middle-class white people have pulled their kids out of this school district and their kids now attend other school districts. There are rumors abound that the State will be shutting down the schools soon.
We have had a couple of athletes go on to play college football...one actually went pro but got busted and booted back.
The other one never made it out of collegiate.
These two have been the heroes of the AA community. Both have alleged drug problems...in fact, there is a rumor that one was at the site of a recent drug bust and the bust was delayed until he left.
This town offers very little hope to the 50% of AA in it.
So...here we have a charismatic black man on the national stage poised to take the highest job in the land.
It gives those in this community HOPE that their kids and grandkids might have that same opportunity someday.
Knowing the platform isn't important because the rest of the country cares little about them...and their plight so they really don't worry too much about the rest of the country...or THEIR plight.
Their HOPE is derived from racial kinship.
I think tonight was the first time I actually UNDERSTOOD the support for Obama and the HOPE he represents to those in these types of communities.

[blogslut]

15. Thank you for saying that

He gives this old white lady that same kind of hope. :)

[Barack_America]

8. Yeah, it's sad to see that race has definitely been reintroduced into the election.

It seems that Ohio and Texas have shown us how many white people feel about an African American front-runner.

Our country did take a small step backwards tonight.

[misanthrope]

16. It didn't take a step anywhere...

...it's just that people are being forced to see once again--like they did in the wake of Katrina--how problematic the racial situation in this country is.

Racism is the specter that howls still through the hallways of our nation but we try to turn a deaf ear to its wailing. I see and experience it everyday in literally the majority of people I encounter. Sadder still, I'm so sick of it that I severely limit my interactions with others simply because I've grown so weary of the ignorance and bigotry. It is everywhere, from all quarters.

Nothing that has happened in the election thus far regarding prejudice and race-baiting has surprised me.

[woolldog]

9. Why did you lock people out?

of the caucus?

[Horse with no Name]

10. Rules

Door locked at 7:15. Nobody else can enter. No matter that they didn't finish signing people up until 9'ish.

[joshcryer]

14. Because it's "true raw democracy!"

Didn't ya know?

[dailykoff]

11. Who locked the doors?

Just curious.. thanks for the report!

[Horse with no Name]

12. The Election Judge.

Added on edit:
I was told they were going to start signing in at 7 pm.
They didn't start until 7:40.
The line was going outside and it was really cold.
A few that were locked out had gone to their cars to warm up--while they were gone, the election judge shoved everyone in the church and locked the door.
Some of the ones locked out were there before I got there at 7.

[woolldog]

13. K