Following is something I wrote two days after the caucus here in Nevada. Hope you find it interesting!
With the caucus done, I have some new targets for analysis and some updates on positions previously stated.
1. The caucus system. This is now at the top of my grievance list. I still very much want to see Senator Obama in the white house, but when Hillary gains 6% more votes and yet Obama comes out with one more national delegate than her, there is obviously something wrong with the system. The reason for this was that they were relatively close in every region; Clinton won regions with an even number of delegates, and the difference was small enough that the delegates would be split down the middle. Obama won some regions with an odd number of delegates, which despite the close margin necessitated that he get an extra delegate. I suppose it could be called strategy, but I call it the luck of an undemocratic system. Hillary won this state, and although the methods may not have been perfectly fair and square, she deserves, at least for the moment, the majority of the delegates.
2. Campaign antics. Accusations are coming from each major campaign about voter suppression and fraud at caucus sites. Some of this may be chalked up to the inexperience of caucus chairs (see below), but some of the stuff was a blatant attempt by campaign staff and volunteers to throw the results. Most of the claims so far have been aimed at Clinton supporters, although allegations have been aimed at Obama's people as well. Some of the violations were minor and usually resolved with ease. These infractions included posters being put up in prohibited areas or in quantities that were not allowed. Some chairs closed the doors to their caucus at 11:30, and while some of those incidents may have been genuine mistakes, others were most likely attempts by campaigns to seal off their caucus while the scales were tipped in their favor. There are also stories of people attempting to be counted multiple times. My friend Caity watched as a Clinton supporter attempted to move to a different caucus after hers was finished, attempting to be counted again. There were also stories of out of state volunteers and staff attempting to participate in the caucus. While I don't doubt the results of the caucus as a whole, many precincts should definitely be suspect. Which leads me into...
3. Nevada Democratic Party. Well, where do I begin. Harry Reid was right in his predictions about turnout, and everybody snickered at him. A day or two before the caucus, I heard the buzz around town about it and knew turnout was going to be large. However, the party underestimated when distributing supplies, resulting is some precincts running out of voter registration forms and many running out of presidential preference cards. In some precincts, clever chairs worked around the preference card shortage, but in many others I fear that the lack of supplies resulted in some people getting disenfranchised. The lack of adequately trained chairs resulted in a wide variety of interpretations of the caucus rules and process. Some chairs simply had attendees mark their cards and leave, without electing a permanent chair, without asking for resolutions, without determining viability, without completing the caucus math sheet. In my mind, these precinct results are completely untrustworthy, as they are missing signatures and documents which help ensure the authenticity of the proceedings. Also, with a general lack of volunteers, the overcrowded precinct registrations were often backlogged, time-consuming, and stressful for all parties involved. I personally registered people for an hour and a half, and we barely got through everybody by noon. Additionally, the party didn't provide an efficient on-site system for people to determine their precincts or caucus rooms. Speaking of caucus rooms, the decision to put multiple caucuses in one large room was highly unwise. I set up at the entrance to the cafeteria at my location, and thus became the information source for all confused caucus-goers, which hampered registration of people in my precinct. Once the proceedings started, we all had to yell over each other. The party should get individual classrooms to eliminate this problem, and provide maps at the entrance, not only of the premises but of precincts, so that people may find their way easier. This would require minimal additional planning but would necessitate more volunteers. This leads me to another point, which is that caucus volunteers should be paid. Temporary chairs should be paid a modest wage in order to provide incentive for them to do their jobs properly. This wage could be 50 bucks. This would also attract more volunteers. There should be a greeter/information person at every site. Overall, the party just needs to tighten up their game for next time.
4. Barack Obama. Shame on him. After all the work staff and volunteers put into trying to win the state, what did we get? Nothing. After his defeat in New Hampshire, he gave a speech and thanked his supporters. He wasn't even here during caucus day. No event, no speech, no mass-emailed letter thanking us for our hard work. Nada. All he did was tell the press about his delegate victory. You should know better than to just abandon supporters without showing them some love and attention, especially after a defeat.
5. The media. I'm really sick of the media. They have become that kid in class that everybody hates because they're always reporting every little thing that happens and blowing it out of proportion. The race battle between Clinton and Obama was completely overblown. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, the AP never printed the full quote that Clinton made regarding President Johnson and MLK. In actuality, the remark was factual and had no racial undertones in it whatsoever, and did not downplay the role of MLK in the civil rights movement as the Obama campaign and media have claimed. Major stories now consist of verbal spats between the candidates, turning my headlines into a game of "He said, she said". Let's follow the advice of my high school English teacher, and try and dig deeper. I'd rather have less frequent stories with more substance than vice versa. Which leads fairly well into...
6. Negative campaigns. I, as well as a small percent of the American public, am sick of attack ads and statements which distort the truth in an attempt to score political points through media coverage. Obama, Clinton, and Edwards are all guilty of this, and Clinton is double guilty because she pipes some of her negativity through her husband. Obama promised to run a clean campaign, but apparently in presidential politics that just isn't possible. Facing a double digit deficit in the polls, Obama quickly climbed neck and neck with Clinton when he decided to stop trying to be a nice guy and started verbally scrapping with the Clintons. Many Obama supporters have bashed Clinton since the beginning, which I was opposed to since it was against the spirit of Obama's campaign. It seems that the necessity to attack opponents and exaggerate statements in an attempt to look strong wins over the public and is thus a crucial piece of Presidential politics. It's shit like this that makes me want to stay out of politics.
If you have caucus stories, post them as comments to this blog! I'm interested in your experiences.
