Richardson Got Screwed Last Night by Iowa Caucus Rules

[Carrieyazel]

He did much better than 2%. In many precincts throught the state, he was at about 12-13%, just short of the viable 15%. Meaning that his supporters either had to go home, or joined the media-selected viable candidates. Read these VERY interesting accounts from two Richardson caucusgoers last night:




ALMOST! Reply
By Iowan for Richardson Yesterday at 9:27 pm MST
In our precinct this evening, we had 55 Richardson supporters, but we needed 63 to be viable. In other words, Richardson had 13% of the total vote, but, due to caucus rules, we walked away empty-handed. So don't let the low Iowa numbers fool you, Richardson is definitely in the double-digits in the Hawkeye State!



From Precinct 1, Boone County Iowa Reply
By User from Ames, IA Yesterday at 9:47 pm MST
We've had record turnouts in Precincts all over Iowa tonight.

Our tiny little precinct turned out 222, I know that doesn't sound like much, but the last caucus turned out 120... so WOW! We aren't going in there to put a piece of paper in a box or to pull a lever or to punch a button. We are going in there to stand up for our candidate, convince others to join us, make speeches and finally choose delegates.

I hurried to the line to sign in, a line just long enough for me to say, Wow, what a turn out. I take my turn, and as most before me, am greeted by a marvelous lady who's known me all my life, calls me by name and chastised me for arriving at nearly the last minute... as I'm sure she did to dozens of others! :)

We take our seats in the gym, and they begin the head count. After twenty minutes and no agreement in the totals they finally have us stand up and count off one by one! In a strange quirk of fate I counted off at 81, the very year I stood in that gym and accepted my high school diploma.
We are amused but patient. They finally announce our record turnout of 222. 34 people are needed for a group to be viable.

I look around the room anxious that my candidate, Richardson, my not have enough to be viable. But determined I will do my best to convince other non-viable groups to come to our camp. Mentally rehearsing my own little Richardson sound bites.


As I walk towards the Richardson sign I'm amazed to see a dozen or so already there. The smiles I see get bigger and bigger as we start to look around at more and more people headed in our direction. I'm not even seeing the other candidates groups. The entire gaggle of Richardson supporters realized almost at once we may have a viable group, that maybe we did it! It was such a glorious moment. I think each of us thought we'd have to work hard to bring more people to our group or sadly choose another. But all those worries vanished in an instant. You could feel the delight. We were even laughing out loud so happy at the sight.

We quickly got organized, did a head count, and had 39 supporters. WOW! A viable group that would take 2 of the 10 delegates from our precinct.

Now comes the fun part. There are 20 for Biden, 8 for Dodd, 4 for Kucinich and a hand full of undecideds. It's time to get to work.

I wander over to the undecideds to convince a few of them to come to our group. The first guy I go up to looks at me like I'm something he scraped off his shoe and kinda backs himself into a corner. My though, Dude, you're in the undecided group... everyone in this room is gonna come up and try to get you to join their group. I'm relieved to see he pretty much treats all commers the same and move on.

I found 5 of our local firefighters who were supporting Dodd. It took about 10 minutes, but we won out over the Clinton supporter and they joined our ranks to make 44. We managed to get 2 more from the Biden camp to make 46. Then, sigh, lost one young man to the Clinton group thanks to the insistance of his wife. Alls fair in love and war I guess. :)

Can you imagine? For 30 minutes we talked and talked issues, qualifications, the Iraq war, you name it, to draw people to our candidate. And to keep 'em away from Clinton! :)

Finally we have our second count. 45 & 2 delegates for Richardson, 52 & 2 delegates for Obama, 58 & 3 delegates for Edwards, and 67 & 3 delegates for Clinton.

Each viable group now gets a chance for one 3 minute speech to perhaps convince more to change sides... we all know its now pretty much over... but the Clinton speaker is desperate for just one more person to change to their candidate. If one more moves they get 4 delegates and we would be left with one.

Sadly for her and wonderfully for us, she muffs her speech by going over time and begging for that one person. She doesn't even get one. And finally, since there are no more undecideds or non-viable groups and no one changing sides, our caucus is now sadly over and the numbers final.
But, we did it. We got our 2 delgates against all odds. As you've probably seen by now, Richardson only received 55 delegates from the entire state. But I am so very proud to have been part of 2 of 'em!

And take heart, Mr. Richardson, talking with friends across Iowa who participated, you were quite close to having viable groups at all of 'em. If it had been a primary rather than a caucus the vote totals would've brought to a much closer 4th place finish than the delgate count indicates. That is the one drawback to a caucus...

Thanks for listening... good night.

[no name no slogan]

1. That's how caucuses work

If you're not viable, you either join another subcaucus that is, or you go home.

[FormerDittoHead]

2. Exactly. Them's the rules. Hey, the electoral college is even worse...

...besides, I like giving Gravel what he deserved - NOTHING.

Thanks for sucking up the air in the room, Mike!

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

[Tarc]

3. That's why caucuses suck

is the reality here.

[no name no slogan]

5. Depends on who you talk to

Speaking as somebody who has gone from his precinct all the way to the state convention three times (WITHOUT being a party insider), I'd have to say they're pretty darn cool. It's the only way where a concerned citizen with no political background can not only get involved in a political party, but also get elected as an officer, too-- without any previous connections.

[LiberalFighter]

4. 3rd option was to convince others to join them

[KittyWampus]

10. Exactly! Richardson didn't have experienced teams working for him trying to peel support

from others. Doesn't say much for his campaign.

[MethuenProgressive]

6. On NH TV Richardson thanks the "over 21,000 Iowa Democrats" who stood up for him.

I thnk them too.

[murbley40]

7. Well, guess what? He was not alone.

[jillan]

8. So did Biden.

Thankfully alot of Iowans have been sharing their stories with the Bidenites.
The end result is only part of the story.

What is Richardson going to do? Is he going to stay in and fight?
He should at least stay thru NH.

[Kucinich4America]

9. If all of the allegedly "non-viable" supporters had pooled together on one candidate

they could have made that candidate viable. Unfortunately, the supporters of Richardson, Kucinich, Biden, and Dodd couldn't agree on one guy amongst themselves, so they all split off, and most joined up with one of the "top 3". Richardson, like Kucinich, had suggested that his supporters go to Obama on the second ballot, if he wasn't viable, so that may have had some effect as well.

For what it's worth, I wish Richardson had done better. I believe it's a mistake for us not to have a governor or VP in this race, since the Repukes top two candidates (at the moment) are governors. Obviously neither Huck or Romney are bulletproof, but if the Chimp managed to get enough votes to steal an election, even a DUMB governor has the advantage in the general.