A report from the lowly Precinct/caucus level of the Texas Primary

The bud who keeps me up on the Border Wall and Border Region issues sent this e-mail:


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Actually, it's supposed to be called "precinct convention," with the part of the meeting where the candidates' supporters physically separate out into different sections of the room being the "caucus" part.

So earlier I had called the Dem Party headquarters and complained about this system, on the grounds that it is UNdemocratic, that candidates with FANATICAL supporters are the ones who benefit since their supporters go all the way to participate in the caucuses while NORMAL voters don't go, that this system DISTORTS and DIMINISHES the popular vote. The Dem people who answered the phone said that yes, everybody complains about this system and hardly anybody likes it, and that I could submit a Resolution to change the system. So I looked up the Rules on the website and there were instructions and a form for Resolutions, to be submitted in triplicate. So I wrote this:

"Now Therefore be it resolved that the Texas Democratic Party... Allocate ALL delegates to the Democratic National Convention proportionately among the candidates based on the results of the primary within each Senate District."


So there were these five or so sexy girls in their early 20s with OBAMA buttons, all in skinny jeans and flip flops---a couple of blonde ones and one Hispanic. Silly/naive-me, I thought it was odd that they acted like they were in charge, mingling, and telling everybody about the process and about three Resolutions about "Green" issues. Later it turned out all the Resolutions were theirs. So the Resolutions part was the very last thing to do. Meanwhile, the OBAMA Girls went around the room, sexily, spreading out and talking to anybody. I signed their petition against the Border Wall and joked with the blonde. O.K., fine. They were obviously on a mission and totally organized.

There was mass confusion and changes on how the sign-in for candidates would be done. When it shook down, it turned out like this: You specified the candidate at signing-in, and could LEAVE. So of the total 123 at the beginning, everybody left except the last 30 of us. And the results were 47-OBAMA and 76-CLINTON, meaning 4 delegates for OBAMA and 6 CLINTON. So even though CLINTON got 73% of the local popular vote, she is losing caucus votes. Then we elected the delegates for the county convention. It was strange how some of the weirdest people were SO aggressive about wanting to be picked. Of course, ALL of the OBAMA Girls became Delegates, and were smarter and more focused and organized and aggressive, so they will WALK ALL OVER the rest of the delegation.

Oh, and the temporary Precinct captain turned out to be Judge ***** ******, a weirdo himself by his behavior on the bench, who had 2 or 3 OBAMA stickers on his coat. And HE seemed to be adamant about wanting to be elected permanent Precinct Chair. Another complaint about the caucus system, that you have to vote for and against people right to their faces, although they don't seem to be embarrassed about it. But if you vote against them, they will probably vote against your Resolution later, haha. He had three opponents, but won in the end.

So then came the Resolutions. Mine was very precisely written, following the language of the current Rule. So first the Judge claimed his prerogative and made up a Resolution of his own without it being written down in the prescribed way, for his benefit, wanting that his name be put on the main Primary ballot as Precinct Chair. Then he started with the OBAMA Girls' Resolutions, which were also not in the prescribed form nor in triplicate. They all passed by voice vote without opposition. It was near 10 P.M. and everybody just wanted to go home. So finally MY Resolution was read out loud by the Judge. He said, "So whose is this and what does it mean?" I said it was to simplify this system, to do away with the candidate voting in caucuses and to go by the popular vote. He seemed perplexed. Sort of shocked, he said, "You mean you don't want caucuses and delegates?" I said that, no, there would still be caucuses (or rather, precinct conventions) to conduct this other business and elect delegates, but the numbers would be determined, still proportionately, by the results of the voting in the Primary, not by caucuses. The blonde OBAMA girl jumped in and explained it more to the judge, so I thought my interaction with her and the Hispanic on the Border petition had paid off. Finally, the judge said, "Well, I don't have a problem with that."

Well, imagine my SHOCK when the vote came! The "Ayes" were definitely the majority, but there were "Nays"! Then the Judge called for a show of hands and the Nays were THE DANGED OBAMA GIRLS!!!!!!!! The hand count came out 20-For and 10-Against. Who knows whether these bozos in charge will actually submit the Resolution at the County convention. It can be voted up or down every step of the way. I KNOW that I can't be the first or only person to want to SCRAP this ridiculous system, but something-------institutional INERTIA?-----keeps it where it is. I got home at 10:05!

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