Strong turnout in Nebraska

[SoxFan]

According to Omaha.com

10:27 a.m.

Caucus sites are being overwhelmed across Omaha.

Thousands upon thousands have shown up, eager to take part in this historic vote.

At the Elkhorn campus of Metro Community College Campus, the lines are wrapped around the building.

Confusion reigns. Some are worried they're not going to be able to caucus.

No one knows how the counting can be done amid the cacaphony.

* * *

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10254218

[hedgehog]

1. Compare this to the current (11:30 EST) low turnout in Louisiana.

Clearly, what we have here is an illustration of a cultural divide between Midwesterners and Louisianans! Midwesterners have trouble sleeping in on a Saturday, Louisianans apparently are still recovering from Mardi Gras!

[ginnyinWI]

2. Someone has named Omaha, "Obamaha" for the day. n/t

[Colobo]

3. Go Obamaha!

[CoffeeCat]

4. These Nebraskans can do it!!!

We did it in Iowa!!

It was mass chaos and lines out the door, but things have a way of settling down.

We had a 100 percent increase in participation from last year. It was total nuts.
I didn't have enough room for the Obama supporters in my precinct. I had to count
and I was worried that I wouldn't everyone. I had supporters winding around corners
and sitting all the way up stairs.

We got it done!! It's nuts, but everyone works together and gets it done!!

I'm so proud of my neighbors in Nebraska---showing up in these exciting record
numbers!!!!

Democracy in action!!!

What a proud day for the people of Nebraska!!!

[neutron]

5. it'a easy to Cheat the Caucuses

[cali]

12. Really? How, pray tell?

I look forward to more of your bitter bullshit.

[CoffeeCat]

24. LOL! You don't know what you're talking about...

Yeah right. There's no way to cheat.

You obviously don't understand the caucus process...AT ALL.

First, a total head count is done...TWICE. Then everyone knows
how many bodies are present.

Then, supporters divide into camps. Each camp counts their
supporters---twice.

The numbers in each supporter group must total the initial
head count.

Then, with everyone witnessing, the numbers are called into head
quarters. Tallies of the numbers are publicly posted.

Caucuses are practically foolproof.

You obviously have some kind of agenda or opinion that hinges
on this distortion about cheating in caucuses.

Please stop spreading misinformation.

[alteredstate]

27. Are you saying your candidate is gonna cheat?

:)

[TwilightGardener]

6. Either way, Obama or Hillary, it's a good sign for Dems. Go, fellow Nebraskans!!

[Thrill]

7. Obama is bringing in so many new democrats. It will be a long time before Repukes

win anything again

[GarbagemanLB]

8. ...unless Hillary wins the nomination.

Then we will have to wait 4 more years for another shot at the white house.

[goldcanyonaz]

9. Uh huh... You don't say.

[Thrill]

10. Yup

You're right

[paulk]

11. a deep and well thought out argument

I can see you put a lot of time and thought into this....

[GarbagemanLB]

14. Need I explain more?

Look at her negatives compared to McCain or Obama (who, by the way, has the lowest of them all).

Look at the testimonials from Republicans saying they could see voting for Obama.

Look at the donations to his campaign versus Hillary's, and look at the Democratic turnout. We have this election, yet for some reason a portion of our party wants to nominate the person with the strongest negatives and the one person who has the ability to draw out an otherwise unmotivated conservative base. You are fooling yourself if you don't think the thought of a strong woman leader with the name Clinton doesn't scare the conservative base shitless.

[CAcyclist]

16. McCain's negatives are higher than Hillary's

And I've been wanting to say something about these purported polls for a while.

How is it possible that if the democrats are routinely bringing in twice as many voters to the polls as republicans that any republican has a chance against either of the democrats. Look at Florida: Clinton beat McCain and she didn't even campaign in that state. In Iowa, all three democrats beat the front runner Huckabee.

The fact is the polls are not reflecting reality. Not only is the republican party outnumbered in this election by almost 2 to 1, but a good chunk of the republicans are likely to stay home rather than vote at all. And for every republican that is voting for Obama, another one is promising to vote for Hillary.

[GarbagemanLB]

23. I'd like proof that McCain has higher negatives than Hillary.

The conservative base is divided and has been from the beginning of this mess. They have been unmotivated and they have dislike for all the candidates in the GOP race. Yes, the Democrats have had much higher turnout. The thing is, McCain now has months and months before the convention to consolidate the conservative base. Of course there will be conservatives refusing to vote for him on principle, but if Hillary emerges from a divided Democratic primary as the winner, I'd say that an 'anti-Hillary' vote would be strong enough to motivate enough conservatives to turn out.

Combine that with the fact that the whole Iraq situation will be like 2004 again (remember where Kerry tried to portray himself as the anti-war candidate after voting for the war?), which definitely just provides more ammo to McCain to further blur the differences on the Iraq positions. He has a strong history of voting against his party, which will appeal to Independents. I have seen absolutely no evidence that Hillary has a similar ability.

And if you are referring to Coulter who said she would vote for Hillary over McCain, I'd say that is hardly an endorsement.

[Carrieyazel]

37. I know McCain has some high negatives, but higher than Hillary?

I doubt it.

[paulk]

18. testimonials from Republicans?

Why the fuck should I care what a Republican thinks?

You don't think the thought of a black man as President is going to draw out "an otherwise unmotivated conservative base"? How many Republicans do you know? Racism is their lifeblood!

Oboma has low negatives because both the press and the Republicans are giving him a free ride. That will change.

[surfermaw]

20. If they say that can vote Obama, they are trying to select our nominee

Wake up!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

38. another Obama cicada....how's the pay?

[MS Liberal]

13. Obama is not bringing in "so many" new Democrats...Bush is.

I totally disagree with yours and the MSM dumbasses assessment that Obama is bringing in new voters to the Democratic Party. If George W. Bush was not such a big fuck-up, this election would be like anyother. Americans as a whole are just ready to see his ass gone and do not want another close one for the repukes to steal.

I am voting for Hillary.

[GarbagemanLB]

15. Another close election?

Do you honestly think a McCain/Hillary election would be anything other than close? Talk about motivating a base that all indicators show is completely UNmotivated this election...

[F.Gordon]

17. Another Obama caucus "win"

:eyes:

From your link....

It doesn't look good for Clinton at Monroe Middle School.

The line to the Clinton box is empty. The line to vote for Obama is about a half block long.

Can someone..... anyone... tell me how this can be?

[paulk]

19. hey - what was your CO caucus experience like?

just curious...

[F.Gordon]

22. Hi paulk

:hi:

Let's just say.... I will never caucus again. I've already withdrawn my Delegate status. I was pretty disgusted with the whole thing.

[paulk]

26. pm me - I really want to know

I've thought our caucus convention system here was a total clusterfuck for quite some time.

And to have a presidential caucus instead of our usual primary was just bullshit. A lot of people didn't even understand that it was going to be different this time around. I didn't figure it out until 3 days before! I mostly think the Colorado Democratic Party is a bunch of idiots, which may seem strange since I spend a lot of time on here defending the Democratic Party.

[F.Gordon]

28. Will PM ya'

I agree with you. re: Colorado Democratic Party. After 2004 I really thought they might get their shit together but it's apparent to me that they are still .....(intentionally left blank)

[paulk]

35. Pat Waak?

Mike Miles gets his revenge....

[Renew Deal]

21. Hillary has support on the coasts

They don't like her as much in land.

[CoffeeCat]

25. There was a post on the Nebraska DU board...

...about the mock caucus night in Nebraska. We did this in Iowa too.
A few days before the actual caucus, they have a dry run, to help others
understand the process before caucus day.

The post said that about 250 showed up and less than 25 were for Hillary.

Obviously, this might not reflect the outcome, but it is interesting.

Also--remember Hillary did not visit Nebraska. She had no appearances there.
Obama was there. He had a big rally and 7,000 attended. I watched the Nebraska
media in the past few days. It was all about Obama because she had no presence there.

Also, Obama had a ground game in Nebraska. He had at least 7 Field Organizers.
There was an article in the Omaha World Herald, quoting a Clinton supporter saying, "We'll
have staff there in Nebraska." That was two days before the caucus, and no Clinton
people were there yet.

She circumvented Nebraska, so a very solid win for Obama is not out of the question.

[F.Gordon]

29. Everything you say wouldn't explain the huge difference

Don't you find it a bit odd that Obama, and Romney on the other side, do/did well in clusterfuck states? Why is that? Think about it.

[CoffeeCat]

30. I'm not sure what you're saying...

What's a "clusterfuck" state?

Obama did well in Iowa and took first. Huckabee took first and Romney was a distant second. The
Iowa caucus attendance was massive. It was chaotic, and people had to move to bigger rooms. However,
everyone worked together and it was all sorted out.

Romney came in first in Mass, but Obama didn't.

I'm not following you. Maybe I need more caffeine.

Please explain. I'm interested.

[F.Gordon]

32. clusterfuck = caucus

Look at all the states that Romney did well in. Look at how well Obama has done in clusterfuck states. Think it through.

I'll need more caffeine myself soon. No biggee.
:crazy:

[CoffeeCat]

34. The only potential commonality I see...

...between Obama voters and Rommey voters is that they would
be relatively younger than voters for the other candidates.

This is true moreso, for Obama--but one could make an argument
that Romney's supporters are younger than McCain's.

Therefore...they stick around longer and wait out the crowds.

They're able to stand around for hours and hours--and wait. They
don't leave.

Am I totally off? Do I need another coffee?

[Captain Hilts]

31. This is a flat state the Dems have NO CHANCE to win in November with either candidate. nt

[returnable]

33. So they shouldn't be involved in the nominating process?

:shrug:

[zfromOmaha]

36. Wrong.

Nebraska is divided into 2 electoral districts, one for Eastern Nebraska(Omaha, Lincoln, pretty much where the people in the state live) ans Western Nebraska (Farmland) In 2004 the Eastern district could not be called until late into the night. It may be less likely than say Oregon or California, but given the galvanized Democratic Party, due to mostly Obama and the job that GWB has done, It is in great likelihood that Dems could receive our few electoral votes.

I was at the Caucus today. Around 1400 people at the Middle school I was at. 76% for Obama. The Clinton Supporters took up about half a bleacher, while Obama supporters took up all the other bleachers and the entire floor to the other side of the room where the Clinton supporters sat. I have heard first hand accounts of how Clinton was not a "viable candidate" in three other caucus sites in Omaha, meaning she had less than 15%.

I was also at the rally for Obama in Omaha a few days ago, 7000 is a very conservative estimate. I have read anywhere from 10-12000 people where there. It was a great site to behold.