[Assam] Caucusing In Texas

[Ram Sarangapani]

You are welcome C'da.
Amlan is correct - supposedly there was a mad rush in some precincts to be
the first one to grap the 'register' becomes the captain.

It seems that even with all this trouble, the Dems have bigger problems
ahead.

The person that can be nominated must (repeat must) have 2025 (revised to
2024) delegates, including the 'Super Delegates'.

The problem is neither Clinton nor Obama can garner this magic number - even
if one or the other can win all the remaining states. They will still be shy
of the the magic number.

So, what can they do?

The party leaders could weigh in on one or the other candidate to give up.
They could impress upon the Super Delegates to switch sides (at the Dem
Convention). Not that easy from what I understand.

Or they could have a primary in Florida & Michigan and count their
delegates. If they don't give either Florida/Michigan this chance and
dis-enfranchise the voters in these two states, there will be further
problems in November.
Many Dems in these states have said they would vote for McCain in November.

Both Michigan/Florida favor Clinton.
Obama is ahead (right now) in the delegate count, and Clinton has won the
big states (that matter) that the Dems must win in November.

Maybe Pureto Rico (I think in June) will be the deciding factor.

Its a mess!

-- Ram



On 3/5/08, amlan saha <a.saha at alumni.tufts.edu> wrote:
>
> Here is another - as per the dem state election manual, in answer to the
> question "who conducts the caucuses?", it says that - well, the precinct
> captains do but if the precinct captain fails to turn up at the
> predesignated caucus center on time, whoever  (voters) reaches there first
> becomes the precinct captain and takes charge.
>
> This on top of being able to vote effectively twice in the same election.
>
> I love honky tonk land :-)
>
> On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 12:48 PM, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for enlightening us yet another amazing Texan trait , Ram.
> >
> > I know weird is everywhere. But this certainly  stands out :-)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > At 11:33 AM -0600 3/5/08, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
> > >Very few people in Texas have voted in the primaries and much less in
> the
> > >Democratic primaries.
> > >And boy, was it an experience.
> > >
> > >For those who are not familiar with the process, Texas has, what they
> > call,
> > >a "two-step' process for the Democrats. The Republican, don't go thru
> > that
> > >process in the Primaries - its the regular 'vote your candidate'
> process.
> > >
> > >The first part is to vote for the particular Democratic Party candidate
> ,
> > >and a certain number of 'committed delegates' are given proportionally
> to
> > >the the candidates.
> > >
> > >The second part is what is called the "Caucus". Now, this is easier
> said
> > >than explained. But basically, from what I understand:
> > >After the last person in line (at 7 PM) has voted, the Caucus begin. In
> > the
> > >Caucus, people are supposed to 'influence and cajole' voters who don't
> > >support your candidate, form a goup and elect delegates to the
> > State/Central
> > >convention who will, in turn represent your candidate and cast their
> > ballots
> > >in his/favor.
> > >
> > >Confused? Well, so am I, and everyone I know is too.
> > >
> > >What really happened: from start to finish - it took about 5 hours.
> There
> > >were just 6 machines, 3 people to register, and a bunch of other
> > volunteers
> > >giving you wrong information from time to time.
> > >
> > >But we did get to vote, and then stood in line for caucusing (if thats
> a
> > >word). After an eternity, they basically told us to separate into lines
> > (one
> > >for Hillary and the other for Obama). The Hillary line had only a few
> > >people, the Obama line was long in the precinct we voted. In the
> > Caucusing
> > >part, we had to write our names/address etc on a form. Thats it.
> > >
> > >There was no 'caucusing' in the cacus. They could have just cut to the
> > >chase, and kept a form next to the ballot machines and people could
> have
> > >done the same thing.
> > >
> > >On the whole, it was fun, and exciting to have taken part in a process
> > that
> > >certainly seems important..
> > >
> > >Hope y'all enjoyed this.
> > >
> > >Well, that much for politics - at least as its done in Texas.
> > >
> > >--Ram
> > >_______________________________________________
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> > >assam at assamnet.org
> > >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
> >
> >
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