Olympia Time

History, politics, people of Oly WA

Author: Emmett O'Connell (Page 99 of 176)

Comparing other states, Washington Dem caucus turnout not so great

February 14, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Particle man says:

In fact, the Washington caucuses were the largest caucuses in the nation with more attendence than in any other state. This is what it looks like anyway.

Well, that’s of course true. Raw numbers wise, Washington does have the largest amount of caucus goers. But, because Washington is the largest state to still use the caucus system, I should hope we had the most.

If you look at the number of caucus attendees as a percentage of the voting eligible population (according to here) and Kerry votes in 2004, Washington isn’t so great. Here’s my spreadsheet.

VEP percentage is 5.42% (4th out of 11 caucus states so far) and Kerry vote percentage is 16.55% (4th of 11 again).

Guess which state had the most Democrats attending caucuses as a percentage of their population that voted for Kerry in 2004. New Mexico with a whopping 41 percent!

Record caucus turnout vs. actual turnout

February 13, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Quarter of a million people turned out for the Democratic caucuses on Saturday. No wonder they were crowded and noisy.

That’s including the 10,000+ that showed up in Thurston County. But like our attendance in Thurston County, if you put it against actual voter turnout, caucus turnout is depressing.

In 2007, there were 3,288,642 registered voters in Washington. If you double the caucus turnout to include Republicans (which I think is generous), you still only get 15 percent turnout. That’s not great.

For only the Democratic primary two years ago, over 600,000 ballots were cast.

Obviously, primaries get better turnout than caucuses, but when we talk about caucus turnout, we should compare it to the participation we usually see and not just throw out raw numbers. 250,000 is better than four years ago, but nowhere near as good as we could be doing.

Plus, from the looks of things, we hardly had the capacity to take care of the 250,000 good people that attended their caucuses.

From Republican PCO to Democratic delegate in an afternoon

February 12, 2008 / / 0 Comments

One story from over the caucus weekend continues to intrigue me. It starts out with the crashing sounds of web servers at the Thurston County Republicans. I assume because the state party website was sending all interesting parties to county party websites for caucus locations, the Thurston Republican’s website crashed.

So, if you were an interested party on the morning of caucus Saturday, looking for your Republican location, you were sort of out of luck.

This includes on Republican Precinct Committee Officer from Olympia 15.

Now on the Democratic side, if a PCO didn’t know where his caucus was weeks before, we would be screwed. Not only did we depend on that PCO to know where the caucus would be, but to bring with him or her a manila envelop full of paperwork so he could run the caucus. No so strict on the Republican side I guess.

But, this particular Republican PCO for Olympia 15 didn’t let the failure of the internet stop him. He just went to a Democratic site and became a delegate for Obama:

I was all revved up to attend the Republican caucus as the PCO for the 215. Only I couldn’t find the place. The Thurston County Republican Party’s website was down all morning, and the information I had written down ahead of time–that I should go to the Madison Elementary School–did not appear to bear itself out in reality. I could not find the caucus’s location.

So I went with D to the Knox Administrative Center for the Democratic caucus instead.

Because there website failed, the Republicans lost a PCO who was “revved up” for the Republican caucus.

Granted, this is a guy who became a Republican PCO through the Ron Paul campaign, and then disavowed Paul because of some of the Texas Congressman’s more… uh… weird stands. Someone who probably should have been on our side anyway. But, a failure on their side nonetheless.

Day of caucus notes

February 9, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Stopped by county headquarters to pick up some filled out proxy forms for my site, and a fellow came in to ask some questions about caucuses. Mostly had to do with how long it would take (you can sign in and leave, takes about 20 minutes at least) and how late he can show up (don’t show up later than 1:30 or you’re toast).

This is all information that was available online in a dozen or so locations, but he decided to stop by the county party headquarters to find out. Just reminds me that people like to get information in a myriad of ways.

I’ve been home for two hours sweeping and mopping, and I’ve gotten two robo calls. This is added to the three I got earlier this week.

I was talking to one of my work mates all week about the caucus. We talked about where he should go, what he should expect and how to get the most out of the process. Late yesterday as I was leaving he tells me that it turns out he can’t go, his roof is leaking and he needs to take care of it.

Leaks happen. Democrats should realize that.

Fuse points the light on our bad attitude about caucuses

February 8, 2008 / / 0 Comments

One of the arguments for the caucuses back less than a year ago when we were debating which process to use was that people should get out of their houses and caucus. It wasn’t an argument about whether people would, but that it was morally better to engage in person than through a slip of paper.

Sure, I’ll agree with that. Showing up is way better in all regards of democracy. But, most folks (90 percent of voters lets say) still won’t be bothered.

But, of course everyone that voted to have the caucuses will show up, so we tend to have a holier than though attitude about this kind of stuff.

Fuse Washington shows exactly how holier than though. They put together a list of all the reasons someone can’t attend a caucus. Of course they forget about “I have to work,” but they bother to put in my wife’s reason for not going:

I don’t have childcare

Bring the kids with you! Anyone can attend the caucus (although you have to be 18 years old by election day to particpate). Then you can make them write a paper on the democratic process.

My son will be napping throughout the caucus process, so we’re under no circumstances bringing him to a crowded room full of excited Democrats. And, if we did have childcare, who do you think is providing that childcare?

Someone shut out of the caucus.

And I thought our caucuses were bad (closed caucuses in Montana)

February 5, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Our caucuses that will get a ten percent voter turnout are bad, but not this bad (via Left in the West):

Only party leaders will vote in today’s Republican presidential caucuses in Montana, but many in the rank-and-file apparently didn’t get the word.

“The public thinks there’s a Republican election tomorrow,” Deb Mart, elections supervisor for Cascade County, said Monday. “There’s not.”

Northcentral Montana clerk and recorders were besieged by calls from residents about where and when to cast ballots in today’s Republican caucuses, which are advertised as part of Super Tuesday.

At least we invite the public, yikes.

By the way, I got the total turnout number by assuming about 200,000 turnout to both the Dem and Republican caucuses together and dividing it by the number of registered voters in 2007. Montana Republicans may suck more, but we still suck.

Crist v. Baird, will she get Move On help?

February 1, 2008 / / 0 Comments

One interesting note from the Thurston Democrats meeting on Monday that I forgot to pass on:

Cheryl Crist, who ran against Brian Baird in 2006 2004, is going at it again. The difference this time is that Baird made waves in Southwest Washington (and the country for that matter) by supporting the Iraq surge.

Before finally announcing her run on Monday, she’s been getting some vocal support:

Linda spoke about the need to get the attention of those who represent us in Washington, DC. The people are angry that their voices are not being heard. “I am pleased to tell you that Cheryl Crist is seriously considering running against Brian Baird in the Democratic primary,” she told the audience. Cheryl rose to a standing ovation. It was another gift this holiday season for those who have begun to lose faith in the political system.

She was also listed at a potential “Peace Candidate” here.

Though not the most liberal of congressmen, Baird certainly didn’t face much discontent among Dems in 2006, especially given the blue wave that year. No one was going to waste time challenging a sitting Dem when we had so many Republicans to beat.

But, this time around, it might be different for Crist. People have been downright disappointed with Baird. So, if Moveon is still as serious as they were last September when they were considering putting money behind D challengers, Crist might have a better (or at least better funded) chance this year.

From the Hill:

“There are a few key things to keep in mind,” the e-mail said. “We would only get involved in a primary race if MoveOn members in the district or state wanted to — and a majority supported that primary challenger. And we’d focus on races where a progressive had a good chance of beating the sitting Democrat and also winning the general election.”

Last month, the group began airing ads in Rep. Brian Baird’s (D-Wash.) district. Following a trip to Iraq, Baird had announced that he would withdraw his support for a withdrawal deadline and wanted to give the troop surge more time, saying that it is showing positive results.

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