Caucus news from rural Cedar County

[petersjo02]

There were 202 in attendance at our caucus this evening representing Cass, Center, Iowa, Rochester townships. The breakout went 86 for Obama, 65 for Edwards, 51 for Hillary. It will be very interesting to see the final results from Iowa. I'm a bit surprised that Hillary didn't do better. The Petersjo02 family split our votes with one for Edwards, one for Hillary.

[Bluzmann57]

1. And from D44 in Davenport, IA

This is a strange type of precint in the layout. But strange as it is, we had 180 people crowded into an elementary gymnasium. Three viable candidates emerged, Yep, the "big three". I believe the final vote broke down something like 90 for Obama, 60 for Clinton, and 30 for Edwards. Obama had a LOT of young people, as there are a lot of college kids in the precint. Edwards, whom I supported, mostly had the so called average person and HRC had a variety. It looked like Obama had more of the younger women supporting him as opposed to HRC. All in all, a very well run caucus and I made a proposal to impeach bush. It got a lot of applause, but no real legs. Sort of like Congress I guess.

[youthere]

2. Fremont/RedOak went for Obama...

22 Obama
19 Edwards
14 Clinton
11 Richardson
0 undecided.

Congratulations to Obama!

Edit..My bad..19 Edwards.

[HuskiesHowls]

3. From Madison County

In my precinct, there were 151 people.
56 for Edwards
39 for Hillary
33 for Obama and
23 for Richardson

The delegate count was 4,3,2,1

I also heard that Edwards won every precinct in Madison County, and that attendance was more than double from 4 years ago.
(In checking the results now, he didn't win every precinct)

In talking to my son, we figured out that the attendance figured out to about 35% of our estimate of Democrats in this precinct!! Not bad at all!!

(edit for update)

[Cairycat]

4. Cedar Falls Ward 1

3rd precinct - sorry I can't give the exact numbers but we had 256 people - up from 146 in 2004.
Delegates were 3 Obama, 2 Edwards, 1 Clinton, 1 Richardson

I volunteered to be a delegate for Edwards at the BH Co. Convention

[Pirate Smile]

5. Cedar Rapids - NE side - 249 people - previous it had never been over 100.

Obama: pre-realign:100, post: 120 = 3 delegates

Edwards: pre-realign 57, post: 74 = 2 delegates

Clinton: pre-realign 50, post: 50 (maybe 51) = 1 delegate

Nobody else viable - Biden 22; Richardson 9; DK 1: Uncommitted 6-8

[justgamma]

6. Jackson County 6th

Twice the people as last time. Lots of young new voters. Lots of independents changing to Dem.

Obama -41
Edwards - 31
Hillary - 14
Biden - 3 Not viable. His delegates went over to Hillary.

Funny thing is the Hillary people elected one of the Biden people for their one delegate.

[Pirate Smile]

10. That was probably part of the deal to come over to Hillary. In 2004, a Clark

person joined Dean because we made him a delegate.

I know someone who I believe was essentially for Edwards but started with Richardson because he wanted to become a delegate - he tells the Edwards people he will join them if they make him a delegate.

[rurallib]

7. Oh My God - what a tidal wave

We had 250 in West Liberty, 70 + in the same building for Wapsie township and something like 90 Republicans in another part of the building. I thought someone had backed a train up to the door.
Obama won followed by Clinton and Edwards & Richardson.
Felt like I was herding cats.
And thanks so much to Cyberswede who was the secretary without whom all would have fallen apart.

[Blue Gardener]

8. Record turnout in Coralville 02 precinct

585 in attendance! Wow! Four years ago I believe there was around 320. The gymnasium was packed to the rafters, some had to caucus in the hallway. Not sure of the final total, but Obama won, with Edwards and Clinton in a race for the number two spot.

[rurallib]

14. Holey smokes. What school were you in?

[Blue Gardener]

22. Kirkwood Elementary

We need a bigger room! I'm sure we were violating all kinds of fire codes.

[mruddy]

9. Over double the attendance from 4 years ago.

Very rural - Iowa County.

93 in attendance.

Obama 40 (3 delegates)
Edwards 31 (3 delegates)
Clinton 22 (2 delegates)


Before realignment there was 1 Richardson, 4 Kuccinch, 2 Dodd, 3 undecided. All went to Edwards except the 2 Kuccinich that went to Obama.

I'm so proud of Iowans for turning out!!

[yellowdog]

13. More than double 2004.

We had 124 people in 2004. Our space was way too small.

[progressoid]

11. Pottawattamie county - precinct 8 : 237 turn out

LOTS of newbies. It was a zoo.

Finals:
87 for Obama (8 delegates)
87 for Clinton (8 delegates)
63 for Edwards (6 delegates)

The 3 Dodd people went to Biden. Kucinich and Richardson people went to Obama.

Final round: the Biden/Dodd people (28) went mostly to Obama, a couple went to Clinton, 8 went to Edwards.

[yellowdog]

12. Dubuque County, Precinct 4

278 attending the caucus
Obama - 111
Clinton - 96
Edwards - 67
No one else viable.
4 Biden people went home which gives you the discrepancy in vote counts.

[emmadoggy]

15. Allamakee county here...

My precinct went for Edwards, whom I supported.

We had 122 people, which put viability at 19. It started out with Obama at 41, Edwards at 38 and Hillary at 28. There were 10 for Richardson, 1 for Biden, 1 for Kucinich. There must have been a couple undecided's or something that I didn't see since that math doesn't come out right.

Anyway, I think about seven of the Richardson people came to Edwards as did the Biden person. Edwards ended up at 47, Obama at 45??, and Hillary at 30, I think. I didn't hear the final numbers that well so I could be a little off.

Edwards got 5 delegates
Obama got 4 delegates
Hillary got 3 delegates

I volunteered to be a delegate at the county convention! Tonight was my first caucus and now I will be a delegate - cool! There were a lot of first-timers there from what I gathered. Interesting and exciting night!

[Counciltucky]

16. Rural Council Bluffs...

Hillary 76
Edwards 50
Obama 39

I went for Biden at first because he wasn't going to be viable, brought almost all Biden people over to Edwards with me, and that gained momentum as Edwards then went from 3rd to a solid 2nd.

[IA_Seth]

17. Marion 3-2

It went a lot better than I thought it would. As the caucus chair I had my work cut out for me.. a very late change in venue (due to space) and then an overcrowded new location. We came very close to running out of new voter registration sheets (we had less than half a page left!) and we ended up at 215. We were told to expect about 120 or so at the high end. It sounds like it was the same all over!

Pre-Alignment we had:

Dodd: 3
Edwards: 61
Obama: 75
Clinton: 56
Richardson: 12
Biden: 8

Post Alignment:

Edwards: 78
Obama: 76
Clinton: 58
3 of the Richardson people went home

Delegate Counts:
Edwards-3
Obama-2
Clinton-2

I had a good time, but I was very disappointed that I had NO volunteers, NONE, for the committee positions. In fact, I believe that after the Presidential Preference portion of the caucus all but about 15 folks left. We passed one resolution, and the two of us that are current Central Committee people remained CC members. It didn't feel like a party builder the way my last one was, but I dont know what I could have done differently? I almost wish I would have run through the agenda backwards.

[youthere]

19. Sorry about Clinton's showings tonight Seth. I know you worked hard for her.

[IA_Seth]

26. Thanks..

I was disappointed, but I am still in good cheer. Seeing the wave of new folks at the caucus last night really did a lot to assuage my disappointment.

What I AM very disheartened by is the removal of Biden and Dodd from the campaign trail. I think they both offered a nice balance to the "big three" and it's sad to think that all their time spent here in Iowa failed to produce any real results. In my precinct the Biden/Dodd/Richardson folks were talking of re-aligning together, but even then they would have been short by about 10 or so (can't remember off my head). I tried and tried to get the Obama campaign to give them some of their people (they wouldnt have lost anything due to the math), but I think my pleas were falling on deaf ears. The captain consulted the staffer and gave me the big thumbs down.

[Debi]

21. Ya know Seth, I just told Cornfield that I was disappointed in the behavior

of the precinct captains of the candidates. They did not want to work with the caucus - helping sign folks in or set up chairs and tables, they set up their candidate presentations wherever the hell they wanted - not thinking about this being first a party (community) builder and presidential preference indicator second.

Mr. Debi made them all leave their candidate groups to convene the caucus and to talk together regarding central committee members, etc. And then after the delegate count he didn't let anybody leave until we had slots filled.

By the end of the evening we were talking like neighbors, but man it was a very sterile and selfish beginning.

(but hey, the did all bring food :P)

[youthere]

23. I would agree..the precinct captains were disappointing...

but I will say, the Clinton precinct captain was very good...my neighbor and a prior republican..but I think I got a little food poisoning from the sandwiches. My stomach was not good last night, and I'm pretty queasy today.

[IA_Seth]

24. It was a little of both with mine...

The Clinton Captain actually helped a lot. He helped me get the signs up directing people away from the published location and to our new location, he helped arrange tables/chairs, and he helped clean up afterwards (which was the most appreciated!). Neither Dodd's nor Biden's campaign had a precinct captain so I went and picked up signs for them at their offices (aren't I a good little caucus chair?)... anyway, the Clinton captain even helped me get those set up.

The Richardson "captain" was actually an observer, an out of stater named Kwan (not sure of the spelling). He showed up very early and was a huge help. I actually ended up with him staffing one of the registration tables and sort of overseeing the couple running the other table. I hardly was able to thank him, but without him I'd have been hosed.

The Edwards captain was a thorn in my side. I asked her for help a few times and she said that they didn't have anyone to spare. So I just skipped over her and yelled out to the group as a whole and was able to get someone to help me out with crowd control. The captain kept walking up and down the lines as people waited to get registered, pushing Edwards in a sort of hostile/pushy way that caused a couple of loud arguments. I finally asked her to just go inside and work on those people that were interested in being worked on.

The Obama captain was a nice guy, but he had his hands full trying to herd his group together and explain the process. There were so many new people in his group in my precinct! So he was basically busy doing his own thing.

Anyway, so it was a lot harder getting help as the caucus chair than I thought it would be. I was really disappointed that the staffers/captains didn't explain the role of the caucus better, and encourage their folks to stick around. I was my own secretary, and we didn't get anyone for the platform or committee on committees.

[Debi]

25. A young Hillary observer ended up manning the kitchen and she was great!

And everyone helped clean up at the end. So we evolved into a party group by the end of the evening.

Richardson was the only group who didn't have a PC so the staff gave me signs to put up - he did end up having 8 supporters (split 5 to Edwards and 3 to Obama in realignment) but only a couple were previously registered Democrats.

What a crazy fun night - I still think you should find your way to the ID tonight - at least for a photo op! :hi:

[Strelnikov_]

18. Ames 2-1

550 total (385 in 2004) 83 required for viability.

1st/2nd/3rd Round, Delegates

Clinton……125…..132…..147…..5
Edwards….…90…..117…..127…..4
Obama…….162…...176…..179…..5
Biden………46…….34..
Dodd……….14……..0..
Kucinich……..7…….0..
NotCommit….40……0..
Richardson…..60…..88…..97…..3
Gravel…………0……0

550 total final count, so everyone who came moved to a viable candidate.

So, in the end, Clinton and Obama tie (delegates).

Final count/tally was not completed until 8:45 P.M. (too many people to separate and count in too small of a place).

[Debi]

20. Union Twp in Black Hawk County

Initial count:
First round:

Biden 5
Clinton 18
Dodd 4
Edwards 16
Obama 16
Richardson 8
Non-committed 2

After realignment:

Clinton 18
Edwards 26
Obama 23
non-committed 2

With only two delegates to give out Edwards and Obama got them (needed 18 to be viable) - Mr. Debi and I remained non-committed. We had 69 in attendance, which was 40 more caucus-goers than four years ago.

Great turnout!

[cbear70]

27. Oakland/Concord Township

total of about 67 people. Very small. Breakdown was Obama-44 Hilary-13 Edwards-8 Biden-2 no dodds, richardson, undecided..nothing.

We were for Biden and stood firm. The only viable groups were Obama and Hilary. We talked to those who told us their wives/husbands made them sit with them...but wanted Biden. It was upsetting.. the Obama people definitely tried to get us, really at times not very nicely. They turned me off to him very quickly. Hilary camp tried , they were very sweet and saw we were not budging.. in the end the edwards and biden combined to be undecided because neither of our groups would go to the others. We all stood our ground. didn't even last an hour.. barely made 45 minutes..

[Debi]

28. What county are you in?

Which campaigns had headquarters in your county?

[cbear70]

29. I am in Louisa County

I work in Iowa City... I cannot tell you which campaigns had headquarters because Conesville is a blink and you are through it town so there are none here... I have not seen any in Columbus Junction..Washington is a drive and that is where I met Joe Biden. With the ride to Iowa City every day that does not leave me alot of time to go out and see where campaigns are.. I know Bill Clinton was supposed to talk to the school but couldn't because of an ice storm, the same reason he had to cancel in west branch...

I was in contact with Biden's regional field director, Holly Savage. Due to a death in Pennsylvania I could not help as much as I wanted but Holly knows I tried my best... and my take on the caucuses is my take.. I know you do not agree with me but it is my take.

[Debi]

30. And you have every right to disagree with me

I hope that if you don't like the political process that you get out there and work to change it. That is the only way progress will be made.