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1

or better yet, come to the Spitfire and talk to eachother about it...or you can bring your laptop and use the wifi...We will have the TV's on and the volume up.

Posted by mandy | February 7, 2008 11:40 AM
2

Check your location early and often--and hope the Party Machine doesnt move your caucus location at the last minute (like they did in Eastern Washington and on Capitol Hill)...

Posted by Andy Niable | February 7, 2008 11:44 AM
3

Okeydoke. Will be at the Belltown caucus anyway (cmon you poor folks hanging on in Belltown, don't let the condo bitches dominate!), so will drop by Sitnspinfire after. Thanks!

Posted by tomasyalba | February 7, 2008 11:46 AM
4

Central Dist. caucus representing!!

Posted by Mr. Clean | February 7, 2008 11:50 AM
5

Thanks to the 30 day wait on address change, I have to slum with the Bellevue High School crowd. Boooo.

Posted by Mr. Poe | February 7, 2008 11:56 AM
6

@2 AND @4! -

And the Central District!!

Posted by kid icarus | February 7, 2008 12:08 PM
7

Centralllllllllllllllllll here! Mt. Zion Church gonna Ba-Rock for Obama!

Posted by Andy Niable | February 7, 2008 12:12 PM
8

I bet I am the only Slogger who will be caucusing at Eisktein Middle School for District 46! (two blocks from my house on 75th Ave NE and 32nd) GO DISTRICT 46! We are God's chosen District!!!

But since there is no God I am not sure how that will work....

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | February 7, 2008 12:13 PM
9

Hey Poe, somebody asked this yesterday.

The 43rd dems are saying you should show up and vote in your current precinct, not your old one:

You can and should caucus with the precinct where you currently live and vote. You need to update your voter registration address, which you can do through King County Elections or you can do on the morning of the caucuses by re-registering to vote.

Also, go to www.43rddems.org and check Q.9 of the Caucusing FAQ.

They could be wrong of course. Typical Democrat organizational skill.

Posted by elenchos | February 7, 2008 12:16 PM
10

Can we e-mail results from out respective precincts as they happen? (the joys of having the Motorola Q!!)

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | February 7, 2008 12:26 PM
11

Magnolia. Lawton School.

Last time was sad. I found myself desperately blurting out the most asinine argument and getting blank stares from my neighbors. I'm still ashamed. (Kinda like I feel after posting on this dumb weblog)

"HE'S FRENCH! HE CAN'T WIN! NO RED BLOODED AMERICAN WANTS TO VOTE FOR A PHONY FRENCH WANNA-BE FROM TAXACHUSSETS!"

Posted by Curmudgeon | February 7, 2008 12:30 PM
12

If any Dems in the 43rd district (Cap Hill, Wallingford, Fremont, Queen Anne and nearby areas) still need additional info re where their precinct caucus is taking place, they can go to:

43rddems.org/2008Caucuses.aspx

Posted by Lulu | February 7, 2008 1:09 PM
13

Hey Caucusers:

Sometimes locations change at the last minute because organizers realize that 500 more people than expected are going to show up so they split up the locations.

Check your legislative district's website often to ensure you are still going to the correct place.

http://www.43rddems.org/2008Caucuses.aspx

Scroll down to find the final list of the 43rd District Caucus locations.

It's going to be a zoo so the best thing you can do is be mentally prepared for a lot of craziness.

Note: Everyone talks about how the 2004 caucuses were a huge problem, etc, etc. Mine was super easy and we were all out of there in an hour, fwiw.

Posted by Stephanie | February 7, 2008 1:14 PM
14

If I could participate, I would, but I have to be out of town this weekend, so I have no voice.

How are these things democratic, anyway???

Posted by jimmy | February 7, 2008 1:22 PM
15

Thanks, elenchos!

Yay!

Posted by Mr. Poe | February 7, 2008 1:34 PM
16

Thanks elenchos and Lulu and Stephanie!

Of course, if you have a religious holiday that doesn't permit you to vote on Saturday, like with Pastafarians (this coming Saturday is a High Holy Day and you can only work and have spaghetti for dinner, as we all know) or people of the Jewish, Muslim, or Seventh-Day Adventist faiths, you could have filed at the state dems with an absentee ballot - but the deadline was Feb. 1st I think.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 7, 2008 1:45 PM
17

I'll be at Keystone Church in the 43rd, baby.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | February 7, 2008 3:02 PM
18

@17: Ick. They couldn't have it at Milwaukee's Best Church?

Posted by Greg | February 7, 2008 4:06 PM
19

@18: Darling, if it was up to me, I'd be caucusing at the Boddington's Society of Friends.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | February 9, 2008 10:38 AM
20

My caucus today is at the Nalanda West Buddhist Center in Wallingford. Yay, Buddhists!

Posted by Stephani | February 9, 2008 10:53 AM
21

it's nice to live in the mini-precinct that gets to caucus at victrola. the spoils of democracy...

Posted by kinkos | February 9, 2008 10:55 AM
22

Anybody have that 43rd district caucus list in a non-proprietary, non-Excel format? Like, say, an HTML web page? I'm on a Mac without Excel so I can't open it.

Posted by David | February 9, 2008 10:57 AM
23

I would log in after the caucus today but Cornball would just call me a nazi for voting for Obama.

Hey Cornball, WHERE WERE YOU A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO WHEN I CHALLENGED YOU TO MEET ME AT STARBUCKS?

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | February 9, 2008 11:16 AM
24
Posted by Alan | February 9, 2008 11:17 AM
25

@24 - Perfect, thanks!

Posted by David | February 9, 2008 11:19 AM
26

@23

Nobody wants to go to Starbucks. For any reason.

Posted by Mr. Poe | February 9, 2008 11:39 AM
27

Looks like 19th and Prospect. Hmmm.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 9, 2008 11:57 AM
28

Will be caucusing it up in Lakewood in the 29th precinct. Should be interesting. Nearly all of my closest friends are caucusing somewhere, and we're all under 25.

Posted by ktharmoney | February 9, 2008 12:05 PM
29

Wooo Pacific Cascade Middle School represents!

Posted by Jessica | February 9, 2008 12:15 PM
30

Olympic Hills Elementary up in the Lake City end of the 46th. Surely I will report alone.

Posted by Tina | February 9, 2008 12:19 PM
31

In 2004 I was grouped with all the precincts that used Roosevelt High School. (It was a mad house there then.) This year, it's part of the precincts that go to Univ Heights center.

I guess I'll head there now. Nice sunny caucusy day outside.

Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 12:31 PM
32

Live at Lowell - we are all being divided up by precinct and sent to different rooms. Our precinct is in the school gym where they have the room set up with a table and chairs at each end. The chairs are divided equally but I think there will be more Obama supporters than Clinton, so am anticipating some chair shuffling.

The volunteers are rushing around looking excited, but don't seem to be doing much yet.

Posted by shannon | February 9, 2008 12:45 PM
33

u heights center is nice chaos so far.

This upstairs room has about 5 precincts in it (other precincts shoved into small rooms). Very crowded at the moment.

Hold, we're being relocated to the basement (my precinct and another) due to the crowds.

Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 1:02 PM
34

I just finished at the caucus in Belltown at the Labor Temple. I've worked at the polls for the last several years (in Queen Anne, not Belltown), and there were more people there in the 10 minutes I was than I've ever seen all day at the polls in any other election. I signed in, and since I didn't feel like listening to others try to change my opinion, I left. I was out of the house for a total of 15 minutes.


As for H vs O, I have no idea who had more supporters, but Hillary had more and better signs.

Posted by Chris | February 9, 2008 1:08 PM
35

btw, in 2004 (which was pbviously less important) there were maybe 10 or so people from my precinct atthe caucus. Today there's about 40.

Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 1:14 PM
36

University Heights is crowded and horribly disorganized. WOOT!

Posted by PGC | February 9, 2008 1:16 PM
37

The Mt. Zion Baptist site (43rd District, 19th & Madison) is basically a mob scene right now. The building's full, the courtyard out front is full, the line wraps clear around the building and almost to 20th. One of the organizers said they were expecting about 200 people - I think they left off a zero.

Obama stickers were the most common by far.

Posted by Nicholas | February 9, 2008 1:18 PM
38

Some random guy in our precinct has the forms and he's waiting for a volunteer to come by and tell him when to begin as he's clueless. A few people want to sign in and leave but they can't.

Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 1:18 PM
39

Howdy.... 43-2928 @ Melrose Terrace Apt. Place was packed and had a line from the door to bellevue ave and probably wrapped around somewhere. I estimate 400 -> 600 people in all.

I left early to make room for others. The caretaker of our apartment is trying to become a delegate. Hope he get sit!

Voted Obama. Age 28, White, Straight, Non-Religious Male. 4 years college. Computer nerd.

Posted by crk on 43-2928 | February 9, 2008 1:29 PM
40

Oh yeah, our location was very well organized and had free food & drink. There was a King5 newscrew of some kind up in the lobby and a newish looking camera guy in the conference room were we met.

Posted by crk from #39 | February 9, 2008 1:30 PM
41

Still nice chaos in the basement of the uheights center. The other precinct down here apparently has no sign-in sheets. Random dude is starting to read the script now at 1:32pm.

Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 1:32 PM
42

SCCC is a fuckin madhouse. Way way busier than I expected it to be. There are some Obama campaigners who, imho, are a little over the top. I didn't stay for the discussion/attempt-to-win-over-your-neighbors, just signed for Obama and left.

Posted by brettro | February 9, 2008 1:54 PM
43

Mt. Zion was a mad house... People lined up down the block and around the corner. Had to open open up the annex building across the street and move some of the precincts into that building.

Obama Stickers EVERYWHERE!

Posted by Queen_of_Sleaze | February 9, 2008 1:56 PM
44

Ok, my precinct room (1888 woo!) has started getting it together, only an hour late. A miracle, considering the hannah montana-esque (except older) crowd. The guy who volunteered to secretary got a huge ovation. I have seen exactly one Hillary button.

Posted by Finn | February 9, 2008 2:08 PM
45

First count at 43-2109 (thin strip on the north part of the u-dist) is:

clinton 1 del
obama 7 del


Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 2:09 PM
46

University friends center is utterly packed hot and sweaty with a ton of college students...I'm 24 and I'm probably the oldest here. My precinct is 9 delgates for obama out of 12.

This is definitely a fire code violation...sweet stampeding democracy...

Posted by maureen | February 9, 2008 2:14 PM
47

Also, saw a precinct volunteer BREAK THE LAW while signing in. Telling a guy with a question about the sign in sheet "don't forget to put Obama on the box on the right."

Posted by Finn | February 9, 2008 2:18 PM
48

The caucus for my 9 block area in Wallingford for Precinct 43-1373 turned out 4 delegates for Obama (72 supporters) and 2 for Clinton(21 supporters). ad it was definately a fire code violation for that house.

Posted by apres_moi | February 9, 2008 2:19 PM
49

The few hillary people in our precinct remind me of the few Wes Clark people in 2004. Although I'm sure she's during way better elsewhere.

Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 2:19 PM
50

43-2018 looks to break about 75% Obama, 25% Clinton.

Posted by M | February 9, 2008 2:23 PM
51

The four hillary people in our precinct seemed pissed. They won't be changing their preference. They seem annoyed by all the obama hype.

Posted by stinkbug | February 9, 2008 2:24 PM
52

Caucus results for 36-1723: 5 for Obama, 1 for Hillary.

Posted by L | February 9, 2008 2:27 PM
53

@47 he/she wasn't breaking the law. What happened at ours was that when people who were standing in the Obama side forgot to sign Obama next to their name. Most people didn't do this.

Just curious but did people enter in anything under the LBGT box?

Posted by apres_moi | February 9, 2008 2:27 PM
54

i said yes in the lgbt box

Posted by brettro | February 9, 2008 2:33 PM
55

The 37th, meeting at Madrona School was jam-packed, probably as many as 3,500 - 4,000 showed up. It was so crowded, a school administrator got on the intercom and urged people to vacate the building once they'd registered, so that they could get under fire-code capacity.

If my precinct (37-1885) was any indication (and it appeared to be typical based on the counts in the adjacent precincts), the 37th is going heavily for Obama, roughly on the order of 7 or 8-to-1 over Clinton.

Official Count - Precinct 37-1885:

Obama - 81
Clinton 9
Undec. 2

We are alloted five delegates to County, so I'm not sure how this will work out, but it means a minimum of 4 delegates for Obama (and possibly all 5?), and maybe 1 for Clinton.

Presumably, the overall counts are going to be somewhat less lop-sided in many other districts, but based on what I saw today, I'm predicting state delegates will go about 4-to-1 for Obama.

Posted by COMTE | February 9, 2008 2:33 PM
56

District 42, Precinct 213 (Bellingham, Lettered Streets E-J)

Obama 9
Clinton 2

Over 150 people, undecided broke evenly between Clinton and Obama.

Posted by don't break the oath | February 9, 2008 2:35 PM
57

correction to #39... there were 238 at our location, not my over estimate.

Posted by crk on bellevue ave | February 9, 2008 2:39 PM
58

SEA 43-1360, which met at University House on Stone Way N. Represents the area around 45th on the Wallingford side of 99:

About 153 for Obama
About 54 for Clinton

Delegates were at about 7/Obama, 2/Hillary, with one more to be picked up for the undecided people.

Posted by dreamboatcaptain | February 9, 2008 2:39 PM
59

Obama won my precinct caucus by 70%. Also, they ran out of Obama swag and Clover Park Technical College is not supposed to hold that many people. The student center was made for about 1000 people standing, and we had at least 1500. At least. Probably more.

Posted by ktharmoney | February 9, 2008 2:41 PM
60

@53:

I put "no".

No offense, but us hets have to represent too!

And as an addendum: the 37th Caucus leaned VERY YOUNG - it was a little difficult to tell, because a lot of parents brought their kids, and so the number of teenagers sort of skewed the demographics in the rooms, but regardless, there were a LOT of under-30's in attendance.

Best guesstimate: probably 2-to-1 under 35 versus over 35, with roughly 1/3 of the total under 30.

Posted by COMTE | February 9, 2008 2:41 PM
61

PCT 43-2009

195 attending

Final results :

43 Clinton
147 Obama
5 undecided


2 delegates for Clinton
6 Obama


Confusion over "cut off" time for people walking in the door... finally cut off around 1:45.

Posted by copper | February 9, 2008 2:41 PM
62

29-501 precinct had 70% Obama, 16% Hillary, 14% Uncommitted. I had to leave before we could do the delegates, but clearly, Obama got most of them. The location was Lakewood, Wa, @ Clover Park Technical College.

Posted by ktharmoney | February 9, 2008 2:48 PM
63

SEA 34-1438

4 Obama
1 Clinton

Too crowded and hot, too hard for people to figure what do to (who decided to put the info table at the back corner of the room?), too hard to hear, but in the end I was charmed by the volunteers trying their best execute a complicated process. Give em a break, you know?

The Obama crowd in my group was friendly and (while still mostly older white folks) represented the broadest range of ages and races. The Clinton crowd was about 8 people, which consisted of six older white women, one younger white woman and one white man. Plus, it was dominated by the only person I encountered the whole day who was angry and felt polarizing. Go figure.

Posted by alkit | February 9, 2008 2:50 PM
64

God, that was a nightmare! We go in to the Madrona School caucus site and it is packed and sweaty and hot. We were in the largest precinct for the area and the votes were:
Clinton--25
Obama--80-ish
Undecided--6

So Hillary ended up with two delegates and Obama with nine. However, when they gave the little speeches for the candidates people were booing the Hillary speakers and not letting them talk. It was kind of embarrassing. Then when the Hillary team tried to chose the two people to be their delegates for the next level, two Obama people came over and literally started screaming in everyone's face that they were
"Stupid and wrong but Obama motives me! Hillary doesn't motivate anyone! She's been on the board of Wal-mart for 40 years! She is not a great motivational speaker!!!!"
It was so fucking annoying that other Obama people started slinking away to separate themselves. The Hillary people tried talking to talk to them and the undecided, but they just kept getting shouted out. We were so disgusted we just left.
Boo to the Obama assholes!
p.s.
The precinct coordinators and volunteers were great! Good job Democratic party!

Posted by chickpea | February 9, 2008 2:51 PM
65

A few numbers I was able to gather from Alki Elementary:


34-1420: 48 Obama (3 delegates), 12 Clinton (1 delegate), 2 undecided


34-1434: 20 Obama (3 delegates), 9 Clinton (1 delegate), 1 undecided

34-1435: 36 Obama (3 delegates), 14 Clinton (1 delegate)

Very crowded, very loud (hard to hear peoples arguments for their candidates), but all good natured and enthusiastic. Sorry that I couldn't get more numbers, but didn't wanted into other precinct rooms more than necessary.

Posted by rlv | February 9, 2008 2:55 PM
66

A few numbers I was able to gather from Alki Elementary:


34-1420: 48 Obama (3 delegates), 12 Clinton (1 delegate), 2 undecided


34-1434: 20 Obama (3 delegates), 9 Clinton (1 delegate), 1 undecided

34-1435: 36 Obama (3 delegates), 14 Clinton (1 delegate)

Very crowded, very loud (hard to hear people's arguments for their candidates), but all good natured and enthusiastic. Sorry that I couldn't get more numbers, but didn't wanted into other precinct rooms more than necessary.

Posted by rlv | February 9, 2008 2:55 PM
67

43rd precinct 2853 district (Pine and Summit area, bout two or three squre blocks))

A few numbers for ya

1. 2004 precinct caucus attendance: 18 (doubled the previous record)
2. Today's attendance: 80

The vote

1. Obama: 59
2. Hillary: 15
3. undecided: 6

Posted by Billy | February 9, 2008 3:04 PM
68

@67

43-2853 here also.

I wasn't there until the end but heard that the final delegate count was:
Clinton 2
Obama 4

Posted by brettro | February 9, 2008 3:14 PM
69

46-2228. 111 people. And I was the unfortunate chair.

4 for Obama, 2 for Hils.

Utter, sheer chaos. Nuked the rules. Few happy. But it's done.

Posted by dw | February 9, 2008 3:20 PM
70

Record turnout at Lowell Elementary. Long process, and disorganized. Hard to hear people.

43-1855: 6-2 Obama
43-1856: 5-3 Obama

Posted by matthew e | February 9, 2008 3:25 PM
71

I think we only had three buildings our tiny precinct SEA 43-1788 but the result was:


Obama - 21
Clinton - 14

Posted by Lindsey | February 9, 2008 3:25 PM
72

@67

hay neighbor! go 43-2853!

Posted by brettro | February 9, 2008 3:26 PM
73

There was a traffic jam a mile long to get to Pacific Cascade Middle School (on Issaquah-Fall City Road, on the Samammish Plateau). The parking lot was packed, and people were parking all over the neighborhood across the street and along the roads. Really enthusiastic and HUGE crowd.

Our precinct (ISS 05-0548) went:
46- Obama
16- Hillary
Most people stuck around for the arguements, but there were no switches. So our delegates were 5 for Obama, 2 for Hillary. Saw lots of people I recognized from around town, and they seemed to be pretty pro-Obama.

I saw Big Sven, but didn't say Hi because it was packed. And because I already know where he stands.

Pictures from it are on my Flickr and I added some to the Stranger Photo Group: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ipomoea/

Posted by Jessica | February 9, 2008 3:32 PM
74

37-1824

5 Obama
1 Clinton

I had a blast today meeting my neighbors and practicing democracy face-to-face. I will definitely sign up to be a precinct officer next go 'round because I'm great at herding cats.

Posted by Ellen | February 9, 2008 3:59 PM
75

Precinct 93-1359 (?), Wallingford/Fremont, University House

I went to Hamilton first where several different internet sites had told me to go. When I got there, they said my precinct had moved to University House, an assisted living place on Stone Way. It was way overcrowded and chaotic, with 200 people in a small room off the lobby. Many people had forgotten to declare a candidate on the sign-in sheet, so they had to ask each person who had forgotten what their choice was.

The initial count was 135 Obama, 55 Clinton and 10 Undecided. This worked out to 6 delegates for Obama, 2 for Clinton and 1 for Undecided. After the speeches (5 on each side) they recalculated and an Undecided had gone for Obama and another for Clinton. That boosted Clinton's total to 3 delegates! Then I left, but I think the next step was to select delegates.

Posted by Babaloo | February 9, 2008 4:00 PM
76

The 33rd (Des Moines/Kent) wasn't nearly as packed as what's described above - maybe 200-300 people at the Carpenter's Hall in Des Moines. My district, 33-2820, had 21 people, compared to 8 in 2004. The votes were 14 Clinton, 8 Obama, and 1 undecided, so we ended up with 2 Clinton, 1 Obama, and 1 undecided delegate.

Posted by tim | February 9, 2008 4:03 PM
77

43-2541 sent 4 delegates for Obama, 1 for Hilary.

Posted by UnoriginalAndrew | February 9, 2008 4:12 PM
78

I was shocked because not only did the caucus I went to (in the U-District) seem to have planned for far fewer people, but even the volunteers had no idea what was going on, entire packets of papers were missing, and one rather blustery dickhead took it upon himself to be PCO. He actually said, "Anyone wish to run for PCO?" At least three hands were raised, and someone else verbally said "I'm interested," and he responded with, "I accept your nomination." He then proceeded to be the PCO. I was repulsed by this.

Posted by Roxanne | February 9, 2008 4:18 PM
79

Precinct 05-3504 in Issaquah ended up 58 Obama (4 delegates), 15 Clinton (1 delegate).

Posted by Liz | February 9, 2008 4:18 PM
80

SEA 43-2049
Obama 6
Clinton 1

Hey stinkbug (#33): I think we were the other group relocated to the basement. :) We did have sign-up sheets, just not enough. Someone went to Kinko's.

Ours took over 2 hours, but was organized (eventually, and by volunteers) and open. I learned a lot about the process because our captain was reading the rules as she went. We even wrote up a resolution, and I learned a bit about our neighbors. Lots of young people/students, but all ages present.

Also, one very eloquent young man for Mike Gravel who really impressed me. Go kid! Very good discussion, which did disintegrate into a debate at one point but same kid called us on it and it remained civilized.

I'll have pics in the Stranger flickr photo group soon as well.

Posted by tamara | February 9, 2008 4:26 PM

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