[Assam] Caucusing In Texas
Chan Mahanta
cmahanta at charter.net
Thu Mar 6 04:55:32 CST 2008
Those of us who support Obama just have to work harder now :-)
At 5:23 PM -0600 3/5/08, Rajen & Ajanta Barua wrote:
>Message From a Obama Supporter:
>
>Our projections show the most likely outcome of yesterday's elections will
>be that Hillary Clinton gained 187 delegates, and we gained 183.
>
>That's a net gain of 4 delegates out of more than 370 delegates available
>from all the states that voted.
>
>For comparison, that's less than half our net gain of 9 delegates from the
>District of Columbia alone. It's also less than our net gain of 8 from
>Nebraska, or 12 from Washington State. And it's considerably less than our
>net gain of 33 delegates from Georgia.
>
>The task for the Clinton campaign yesterday was clear. In order to have a
>plausible path to the nomination, they needed to score huge delegate
>victories and cut into our lead.
>
>They failed.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Chan Mahanta" <cmahanta at charter.net>
>To: "A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world"
><assam at assamnet.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 12:51 PM
>Subject: Re: [Assam] Caucusing In Texas
>
>
>> >Its a mess!
>>
>>
>> *** That is the understatement of the day Ram :-).
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>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
>>>> > >_______________________________________________
>>>> > >assam mailing list
>>>> > >assam at assamnet.org
>>>> > >http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>>>> >
>>>> >
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