caucus madness!

Went to the caucus tonight and, man, there were a lot of people representing. Once again, this is a good and a bad thing. It's good that so many people are voting. It's bad that I have to wait around while they get their say. (Damn them.)

The caucus was supposed to start at 7:15, but it turns out they can't start the caucus until all voters have finished. Apparently quite a few people must have showed up to vote at 6:59, because it was after 8:00 when they finished. Anyway, here's the order of events:

7:15 - I meet my neighbor (and co-worker of my wife) Scott at Barton Hills Elementary. We're led into the school and put in the gymnasium with a few hundred other people. There's a bunch of anatomy posters on the wall and Scott points out that one of them has a label pointing at the jaw that says "mandibles". He would like to tell the maker of that label that there's only one mandible.

7:15-8:15 - We sit and wait. Stand and wait. Most people are like us, and haven't a clue how this is supposed to work. At one point, we find ourselves standing next to a woman who's explaing things to another person. (It's worth mentioning she was wearing a Clinton button.) Scott asks her a question and she starts to answer, but interrupts herself. The conversation finishes like this:

WOMAN: ...Oh wait, are you a Clinton supporter?
SCOTT: No, Obama.
WOMAN: (making a face like someone just farted) Well, I'm sure you can find some Barack person to explain it to you.
SCOTT: Really? You're not going to answer my question because I'm voting for Obama?
WOMAN: No, I'm not.
ME: So this is your attempt to disenfranchise people who aren't voting like you?
WOMAN: (scowls and turns to talk to friend about how she almost offered some Obama supporters a bottle of water.)

Anyway, that was interesting. After that, we went and sat out in the hall so we would have easy escape routes. (Kidding... it was just less crowded.)

8:15-8:45 - We get in line to sign our names. It turns out moving to the hall was a good move because we had a way shorter wait than the people who stayed in the gym. It was a very simple process. You write your name, address and who you're voting for.

Now the election results are trickling in. It's a pretty tense night. Clinton took RI, Obama took Vermont. CNN just called Ohio for Clinton where she was leading handily. Right now (10:15 on Tuesday night), it's 50% Clinton, 49% Obama in Texas.

Wow, two posts in one day. Top that DV.