What the heck is taking so long in Texas?

[LittleClarkie]

Do caucuses normally take all night and into the next day?

[Breeze54]

1. Caucus results may come Friday ...

Caucus results may come Friday

http://www.caller.com/news/2008/mar/05/caucus-results-may-come-friday/

By Denise Malan (Contact)
Originally published 11:21 a.m., March 5, 2008
Updated 11:21 a.m., March 5, 2008

CORPUS CHRISTI —

Caucus results are trickling in this morning, but the full outcome might not be known until Friday.

Unlike results of Tuesday's earlier primary, Democratic caucus results don't go through county and state election officials. Primary results are nearly fully reported this morning, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton leading the popular vote 51 percent to Sen. Barack Obamas 47 percent.

For the caucus, leaders in each precinct were given an access code to dial in to the state Democratic party Wednesday night to report results. That system was overloaded, though, and there were widespread reports that access codes didn't work, said Susan Reeves, longtime Nueces County Democratic Party elections administrator.

Precinct leaders must send minutes and sign-in sheets, where each caucus participant recorded a candidate preference Tuesday night, to state party officials by Thursday and county party officials by Friday.

The number of delegates elected in each precinct depended on the number of votes residents there cast for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell in the 2006 election. A precinct got one delegate for each 15 votes cast in that election, making about 87,300 statewide, 1,400 of them in Nueces County.

As of 10:30 this morning, Clinton received 344 delegates in the county to Obama's 127, with about one-third of precincts reporting, according to the Texas Democratic Party.

Even if the full precinct delegate count is known this week, the results won't be official until the state convention in June.

Through the party's complicated county and state convention system, precinct delegates will be whittled down to 67 for the national convention. That's the number that counts for Clinton and Obama.

Precinct delegates elected Tuesday night declared their candidate preference at the caucus, but party rules do not bind them to that choice.

Tuesday's primaries decided 126 delegates, and 35 Texas delegates are superdelegates, not bound by voters choices, for a total of 228. Of the 126, Clinton won 65 and Obama 61 as of this morning.