Another caucus account, my experience at Des Moines-42

[DaGimpster]

Also posted on reddit, but figured I could also post here.

I thought I would post this before it all leaves my memory, but here is my account of how the Democratic caucus came to pass @ Des Moines-42.

I just read on the Iowa Democratic Party website that, as of six hours ago, my precinct results were STILL not in! My wife and I are trying to get to the bottom of this. If any Bernie staff sees this, lets keep on top of the party!

Here is the post: http://iowademocrats.org/statement-from-idp-chair-on-tonights-historically-close-caucus-results/

UPDATE: I just got word DSM-42 is now in, and for Sanders.

For reference, Des Moines-42 encompasses most of zip code 50311. This is a mostly modest/working class neighborhood on the western reaches of Des Moines. This is where things start to transition to the "western suburbs" of Windsor Heights, West Des Moines, Urbandale .. etc. It is tied as the 4th largest precinct with Des Moines-39 and holds 12 delegates. In 2008, ~400 people attended the caucus in this precinct.

The venue selected for 2016 was the Waveland Golf Course Clubhouse, which is a pretty small building. It's a typical layout of a house except its broken up with a bar and a pro shop.

Here is a picture of the place to give you an idea: EDIT .. for whatever reason I cant paste a link to the pic here. If you google image "waveland golf course clubhouse" you will find it. Its a cottage/tudor style house.

It was immediately clear this was a terrible choice. The clubhouse is basically in a big L shape, so people were getting stuffed back into spaces and couldn't see the process. We had to shout back and forth to get news of the goings on.

Here is a pano I tweeted of the crowed in one half of the building: https://twitter.com/dagimpster/status/694329182562578432

It was chaos inside.

One the caucus began, a woman stood up and announced she was only a temporary chair of the caucus and we needed to nominate a chair and secretary. Thankfully a couple people volunteered quickly and we moved on.

We took an initial headcount, because they believed the registration numbers weren't right since some people had left due to the crowding. The initial count was 327 in attendance. I should note there was a sign hanging on the wall that said maximum occupancy of 92!

At 327 people, it meant O'Malley needed 49 to be viable.

At this point, we broke up into Bernie/Hillary/O'Malley/Undecided camps and the next count was taken. The Bernie folks got stuffed into the pro shop and part of the bar area. The count was 174 Bernie and I can't tell you what the Hillary or O'Malley was due to the venue and news not getting into the back of the room they stuffed us in!

The one bit of news that did get back was that O'Malley was not viable and so for about 10 minutes people talked to his supporters and undecideds. We won some supporters, and Hillary won some. We also had a couple people come over from the Hillary camp... including a woman who's husband was not happy she went to Bernie.

The final count was taken and it was:

Sanders 181 (7 delegates)
Hilary 135 (5 delegates)

At this point people started to leave, which I don't blame them, and then the Hillary people started to want a RECOUNT!!! All Bernie supporters who were left went into revolt and the idea was dropped.

My wife and I stayed behind and volunteered to be 2 of the 7 delegates, and the night was over.

I had to type this out fast so I'm sure I missed something.

[peacebird]

1. Your precinct results are not counted in the tally still?

[DaGimpster]

2. As of 6 hours ago in that post, no.

I have tweeted that person who wrote the post to see what the deal is, and my wife is calling the party.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

3. That's bizarre!

Why do you think they aren't reported yet?

[DaGimpster]

4. I can't even speculate on that, we're trying to get to the bottom of it.

[DaGimpster]

5. UPDATE!!!

Just got news DSM-42 is in:

Des Moines - 42 has been decided in Sanders' favor. All precincts have officially reported in, but no call has been made by the Des Moines Register

idpcaucuses.com: 1683/1683: Clinton is ahead with 0.2% (49.8% - 49.6% - 0.5%).

Des Moines Register: 100% of precincts reporting - Clinton 49.86%, Sanders 49.57%, O'Malley 0.57%

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

6. Great news! Thanks!

nt

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. Yay! Thank you! So Bernie got the last of the 44 delegates, right? making it 22-22.

PEACE
LOVE

BERNIE

[DaGimpster]

9. I'm letting the dust settle on this...

... but as of right now, they are deadlocked it seems. For either of them to claim victory at this point is premature.

IMO the state is deadlocked.

The demographics of the candidate choices are pretty staggering IMO. This is a race between young/old and men/women. If Sanders can work on his demographics a bit, this gets really interesting IMO.

Whatever the case, this is going to be a slog.

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. Thank you! Thank you for helping Bernie last night! n/t

[karynnj]

11. Interesting

I wonder if what Bernie needs is to get Vermont seniors to speak of all the work he has done for them and how supportive he is. I am a relatively recent transplant to Vermont - or in Vermont terminology " a flatlander.

Last June, I went to a talk given by the VT former head of AARP, Jim Leddy at a Burlington synagogue. In a Q&A after his talk, someone asked about Bernie, who had very recently announced. One comment he had was that two surprise groups he could gain was seniors and vets - and that he had incredible support in Vermont from both. It was clear that he was saying that the support was well earned.

Bernie had three excellent positive ads at the end of Iowa - one that used S&G, another used some images from that recast as backdrop to Sanders' voice listing things like a $15 minimum wage, and one that was likely purposely created for Iowa with a Vermont dairy farmer looking straight in the camera calling Sanders "a rock". I wonder if - seeing those demographics, whether they will have one with endorsements of regular Vermont seniors and vets. Remember that vets include WWII, Korean and Vietnam war vets.

Note that he could not win state wide with just progressive Burlington.

[JDPriestly]

14. Yes to ads with testimonials from seniors and veterans. Yes. Yes. Yes.

That would help in all states.

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. I would send this to Bernie's campaign! They need to know.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[pnwmom]

16. They already know. The OP is just describing a typical caucus. n/t

[JudyM]

12. Thanks for this and welcome to DU!

[JDPriestly]

13. K&R. Thanks.

[pnwmom]

15. I told everyone before the caucus that if they didn't already hate them,

they would by the time this was over.

People told me I was just preemptively complaining.

No, we have caucuses here in my state. They are incredibly messy, time-consuming, frustrating, and non-representative ways of assigning delegates. Every state should switch to primaries.

[winter is coming]

17. I'm curious: have you caucused in this precinct before? If so, did they use the same building?

It sounds like a wildly unsuitable locale. I'm surprised they didn't use a school gym or something like that.

[DaGimpster]

18. I last caucuses in the next precinct over.

I was told by people it had last been held in a school gym.

And yes caucuses are messy, but having places at 300% fire code capacity is no bueno.