I am so proud to be an American and a Democrat today!!

proud2BlibKansan

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Wed Feb-06-08 12:06 PM
Original message

I am so proud to be an American and a Democrat today!!

WOW I am so proud to call myself an American today. I went to caucus last night in the reddest county in the state of Kansas. The party expected 100 to show up at our caucus location and told us we would probably be in and out in an hour or so. Caucus locations were in every state senate district.

When I got to the church where my caucus was being held, the first thing I noticed was the line. It snaked around the parking lot and went on for 3 blocks. Cops were blocking off streets and directing traffic. I thought maybe there was another event being held at that church, since I knew there weren't that many Democrats in my senate district. And I really did know, since I am a precinct captain and have the registered voter list for my neighborhood. My neighborhood is only a small part of my senate district but there are so few Democrats here that I could take a guess at the number for the whole district.

By the time I parked my car, the line was 6 blocks long. And the weather was horrible. It had been freezing rain all day and snow up to 5 inches was forecast. It turned out that yes, all of those people had come to caucus for a Democrat for president. Most were indeed Democrats and the rest of them were registered as Independents or Republicans. The caucus rules allowed any registered voter to show up to caucus and change their party affiliation at the caucus location. They split us into two lines, one for registered Democrats and one for the others. And even with the line split like that, it was still 6 blocks long.

Representatives from both the Clinton and Obama campaigns came out and explained to us that we were being allowed into the church in groups of 100, since the church only held 100. Each group of 100 would caucus and then a final count would be given after the last group caucused. They also asked if anyone was too cold or had health problems; those people would be allowed to come into the church and join the next caucus group. No one left the line. We asked the cops how many people were there and they oh at least 3000, maybe as many as 5000. I figured we were in for a long night.

After about 30 minutes, we had moved a block. My phone rang and it was my friend at another caucus location a few miles away. He was having the same experience. Massive crowd, mostly Democrats and everyone was pumped up and in a good mood, in spite of the weather. He said his mother had just returned from voting in Missouri (they had a primary in that state) and said the line was the longest she had ever seen at her polling place. She also said MSNBC had just reported that record numbers had shown up in Kansas to caucus for the Democrats. (The Republicans here are caucusing on Saturday.)

One hour into our wait, a bunch of ladies started passing out coffee. I asked them what campaign they were with and joked that this coffee had earned my vote. They said they weren't with a campaign, they had been in the first group to caucus and it had been such a great experience they didn't want any of us to get too cold and leave. So they went and got us coffee. That happened with every caucus group. One man went out and bought umbrellas and passed them out. Several went and moved their cars to the parking lot and the street next to our line and offered to let people sit in their cars to warm up. The church opened up a side building that had a small reception area and a few offices. But the vast majority of the people in line stayed in line. And very few complained about the wait or the weather.

Two hours into the wait, it started raining ice. A few people went into the church side building but most stayed in line. I looked around and was just so overwhelmed by the sight of all these people standing in line while ice rained on them. What a great night for America.

I showed my new friends in line pictures I had on my phone of some of the peace rallies I had been to here and in other cities. I ended up giving out my email address to about a dozen people who want to get more active, come to a rally or a Democratic party event. Several of us were able to get the internet on our phones and about two and a half hours into our wait, we learned they had called Kansas for Obama. One man with a Hillary button on left. Everyone else stayed in line. The excitement and enthusiasm was just infectious.

I stood in line for 4 hours and finally got to caucus at 10:45. My group's vote for 3 to 1 for Obama. The total vote for our caucus was 1200, with 75% for Obama. (Shows how well the cops can count LOL) But the most exciting part of the evening for me was seeing all those people standing in that freezing weather, with ice raining down on them, waiting to vote for a DEMOCRAT for president. Looks like Bush finally did something right; he motivated my neighbors to vote his party out of DC.

When I got back to my car, I had a ticket. The cops had given out tickets to a lot of the caucus goers. The weather was so bad and parking was so scarce that people were parking anywhere, just to get into that line to caucus. I had parked along a side street but too close to a stop sign. I thought I was close when I put my car there but decided to risk it anyway. And today I don't care. It was worth the price of that ticket to watch democracy in action. It's a small price to pay.

Now I can't WAIT till November. No more Bush and no more Republican majority in my neighborhood. :woohoo: