Caucus! Precinct 15, Iowa City, IA

Holy crap! It's caucus night! The line is out the door, the wind is blowing, we parked in an ACE Hardware parking lot. There was a woman behind us who said it was her first time to caucus, and she forgot her ID! Hope she returns. I'm wearing a big green OBSERVER sticker in green. There's a kid for Edwards drawing on the chalkboard in the school cafeteria. His mom said they could erase it later. The Hillary Clinton and Obama parts are huge, HUGE. THe Edwards campaign isn't as crowded, and Biden and Dodd don't have very many people at all. The little kid writing on the chalkboard has a baby sibling who's being fed right now.

Ran into a friend who's for Obama. She does sexual abuse victims advocacy work, and she says that is why she supports Obama. The HOPE and Obama '08 signs are everywhere. So are the AFSCME HILLARY signs. Where's SEIU? Where is Big Purple and the turnout for Edwards? (The Edwards precinct captain, wearing an SEIU t-shirt, tells me they're not in this precinct but at other places around the city and the state. "There's some Oregon SEIUers here!" he tells me. "Alice Dael was here!")

My blood sugar is low. Good thing Edwards people have a cake ready!

The drum is banging at the front of the caucus. There are undecided folks up front; the neighbors of my friends have split into three parties: Mother-in-law for Hillary; son for Obama; wife undecided.

It's 7:10 pm. More soon, after the jump.

UPDATE: It's 7:25 pm now. The woman running the caucus said, "As soon as my temporary secretary makes it to the front, we'll start." Note to self: Hard to juggle laptop, digital recorder and cellphone all at same time!

There are around 330 people; more may have been added. The baby in front of me is freaking out. The woman in charge is a captain for Iowa City 15. She moved here in September of 2006. She was precinct captain in Iowa City precinct 21 before she moved here. *Note to Iowa Dems: Process stuff can be a bit boring. There are about 375 people here, including a crapload of kid observers and other observers, not including me, who are working for candidates.

"We need a motion. Here is the agenda: Registration, we're all registered. Call to order, which we did. Iowa Democratic Party presentation, I have to read some letters...and then we will elect the permanent chair and permanent secretary. ... You need 50 to be a viable group. Then we'll do the delegates; then we'll report the caucus results."

"We have 7 delegates total in Iowa City 15."

So not the exciting stuff. Kid for Edwards is throwing Jena blocks into a box. Baby sibling is crying dramatically. Now Karen (chair) is reading the Democratic chair's letter.

UPDATE: Some signs.

The four-five Kucinich supporters. Obviously not Eugene, nor one of the precincts I lived in when I was here (I'm betting there are more Kucinich supporters in Precinct 19, for instance0.

And the Gravel supporters. I missed the Richardson people on first look, but they're in front of the Obama folks, which makes me wonder if they're prepared to throw in with Obama after the "viability" part of the caucus. WHICH IS COMING SOON.

UPDATE: Candidate rep speeches:
Biden: "Clearly the most experienced in foreign policy. He's been talking about the growing rift in Pakistan for 6 months. He called Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto two weeks before George Bush decided to do that. He's electable, has an exit strategy for Iraq. We can build support from other countries around the world. Senator Biden is not only respected by world leaders but by his colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle. There's no learning curve for Joe Biden. He's not running for Secretary of State; he's running for PResident. As a nation, wouldn't we be excited to have someone qualified for Sec of State as our president?"

Clinton: "I live on something street, and I'm proud to be a Democrat tonight. I am standing up for Hillary Clinton tonight and wanted to say a few words from my heart for why I'm standing up for Hillary Clinton tonight. My brother was 21 years old when he developed a serious health condition without health care. I'm a small business owner and just moved in across the street. I need a president who will cover everyone with health care, and that will be Hillary Clinton. She has a record of getting Republicans to vote for her. She is highly respected in upstate New York ... she will get elected president. Getting elected is only the beginning, however; you have to be prepared to be president. She is prepared to do this job."

Dodd: "I have a torn ACL, drove 80 miles to be here tonight to be supporting Chris Dodd in the area where I live. I believe he's the best candidate for this position because of his record in terms of bipartisan initiatives. Chris Dodd helped to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act. He has a realistic plan to exit Iraq in the next 8-10 months. We need a candidate who will end the war in Iraq, and Chris Dodd can do that. I saw him on Meet the Press with Newt Gingrich. I'm not a particular fan of Newt Gingrich, but Chris Dodd showed him the utmost respect. We need a president who is willing to make a bipartisan effort."

Edwards: "People like you and me who work for a living have taken it in the shorts for far too long. John Edwards is ready to stand up for you and me and take on a system ... he was the first to come out with a universal health care plan that covers everybody, every man, woman and child in America. The other things that you get with an Edwards presidency...dependent care tax credit, he will double that to help people pay up to $5000 in a year for health care. The college for everyone initiative. John Edwards will end the war in Iraq in 10 months, and allow our soldiers to come home ... it's time that we take back our democracy, take back our country, and allow the troops to come home. I urge you to support John Edwards."

Letter from Mike Gravel: "Those who are more concerned with power than substance will get neither."

(Here, I'm getting a phone call from a Portlander. Hey person, I'm kind of busy!!)

Kucinich: "You know that Dennis Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate to stand for peace." Young guy appeals for people who might be going with Obama as a second choice to please come and help Kucinich be viable.

Obama: "10 reasons I'm suporting Obama: 10. Canvas South Side. 9 can't hear 8. Republicans would vote for Obama over Clinton. 7. Wrote book. 6. African American who is articulate and nice looking. 5. can't find anyone smarter than him. 4. Thinks before he speaks. 3. Has actually read the US Constitution. 2. Speaks truth to power. 1. At every stage of this campaign, has said something that makes me think he should be the president.
The first presidential candidate whom I have ever heard say vote, even if it's not for him, because when you vote, you make this country stronger." (Super sustained applause. There's no doubt who's winning this precinct without a massive move to one of the other two.)

Richardson: "I like the way that he's talked about his plans. He's running for president to offer a new leadership. He brings both experience and change. He offers a plan for bringing the troops home from Iraq. He's the only person who's added 80,000 new jobs to New Mexico, he's cut taxes in NM as well as balancing the budget ... he wants to restore America's global leadership."

UPDATE: Determine viability! Precinct captains collect cards. Obervers, that's me, have to move. No more blogging (at least not specifically).

Ha! More blogging! She (Karen) is saying that she will make a general announcement about viability and that then people will have 15 minutes to realign.

UPDATE: Obama got 4 delegates; Edwards 2; and Clinton 1, with the lowest possible viability number. Across the state, the story seems to be similar if more balanced between Edwards and Clinton.

I'm surprised:
• That the Richardson people didn't just zip to Clinton automatically
• That people I consider feminists didn't leave the obviously packed Obama camp and head for the Clinton camp when it seemed she was in danger of not being viable
• That they didn't check IDs at the door, and that I easily could have gotten in as a voter instead of as an observer
• That they reported numbers, which they were not supposed to do
• That the chair was so incredibly bad and disorganized and without a microphone

I'm not surprised:
• That Obama got the most delegates
• That so many people in the unaligned candidates gave up
• That I had an awesome time.

Friends are reporting that Obama cleaned up all over town. The NYT says the same thing.

Time for the post-caucus party. Clinton is going to do better in New Hampshire, I predict. Gotta go.