Wampum

A report from the caucuses

[In a comment to Dwight's "Bush and His Base", Nell Lancaster writes:
This is only a bit off-topic, since it is electoral: Will MB or Eric be posting at all about the Maine caucuses? I realize the results weren't exactly what they'd hoped, but the process is still interesting to non-Mainers. And I thought they might provide some insight into why the reports took so much longer than other primaries/caucuses.
This began as a comment-response, but I decided to promote it to a post.]

Strictly speaking, there was no delay, as there was no vote tally, as there was no vote.

The work-product of the caucus is delegates-elect to the state convention, elected by the preference groups which obtained a whole number of delegates from the pool allocated to that precinct, and should any delegates remain after the allocation of whole numbers to each preference group that obtained a whole number, the preference groups with the largest fractional remainder each designating an additional delegate-elect, until the pool is exhausted. The process is repeated one time, should it be necessary, to allow caucusees to reform preference groups (and "uncommitted" is a preference) where preference groups are too small to obtain a single delegate allocation. Under the rules, ties are resolved by coin-toss. Absentee preference forms allow only a single expression of preference. Caucus conveners have 7 days to report and certify the results of their caucus to the state party.

So much for theory. In District 5, Precinct 4, 39 Democrats (some previously unenrolled, aka "independent" who registered at the caucus) and 6 absentee preference forms were present. One attendee had also submitted an absentee preference form, so that form was voided. A Republican spouse of an enrolled Dem was present, wearing a "visitor" badge (and not participating in the division(s)).

The first division:

The Kerry preference group had 12 (present and absentee, including one who was the caucus convener/chair in the adjacent room, for another precinct in the 5th district). The Kucinich PG had 11 (including the caucus convener/chair). The Dean PG had 10 (if memory serves, remember, this isn't the important detail), the Clark PG had 4(?), the Edwards PG 4(?), and the uncommitted 1. There were none who preferred Sharpton in this precinct.

I allowed 10 minutes for the PGs to "settle". During this time, a quick thinking member of the Edwards PG (who happened to be my spouse) went to the Clark PG and offered them a delegate if they would join the Edwards PG. The "uncommitted" then joined the Kucinich PG.

Doing the math, Kerry and Kucinich PGs tied with 3 and a half-plus delegates. The Dean PG had 2 and a half-plus. The Edwards PG had 1 and a half-plus. This resulted in the delegate distribution to the PGs as follows:
Kerry 3, Kucinich 3, Dean 3, Edwards 2 and a coin-toss for which of the Kerry or Kucinich PGs got the last delegate. The 12th delegate was awarded to the Kucinich PG after coin-toss, so after the 1st division we had Kucinich (4), Kerry (3), Dean (3), and Edwards (2), with no remaining PGs. Therefor the second division allowed under the rules was waived.

Each PG then had to designate their delegates-elect and their alternates, with the instruction that gender equity was strictly required, first across the delegates-elect, and then across the alternates, if an odd number was allocated), or both if the allocation was even.

I went over to the Kucinich corner. There were two women who were that PG's chiefs, so I said to them I wanted to be a delegate or an alternate and wandered off to each PG in turn. No one in the Kerry PG actually wanted to be a delegate or an alternate, so they were playing "stuckee", so I reminded them that the chair/convener in the next room was part of their PG and she wanted to be a delegate. One down, two primary and three alternates (gender balanced) to go. The Dean PG had their 3 primary and 3 alternates in short order, and the Edwards PG had theirs. I checked back in with the Kucinich PG to find I was a primary (selected only because of my gender, not my wit, charm, or the illusion of authority and grandure the teacher's desk had imbued upon me during my tour of duty as precinct convener/chair).

Eventually the Kerry PG found their delegates and alternates, and people filled in the bottom part of their preference form -- delegates-elect stating their preference, alternates stating the name of the delegate-elect to which they were the alternate-delegate-elect. Everyone else left that part of the form blank, or if they wrote something on the "presidential preference" line, they were not delegates, so it didn't matter what they wrote. Shortly before 8pm my classroom was empty. I checked that each PG had delegates and alternates in the numbers 4, 3, 3, and 2, for a total of 12, each, put the forms in an envelope and gave that to the municipal convener (who happened to be my spouse). Then I went home, as Megan and Liz (Jonah's, and formerly Sam's teachers) were "on" with the kids from 4-8. I confess, I wasted 10 minutes shmoozing with the guy I almost ran against for schools committee, and the 5th district city council member, and kissed the municpal party chair (who happened not to be my spouse) goodnight.

This process was simultaniously carried out in 20 classrooms at Deering High. Two precincts were so large (2-3 and 3-3) that they had to return to the Gym, where the pre-caucus rally (more on that later) took place.

The caucus participant preference form did not provide any means for the participants to designate their preference. The absentee preference form did. The instructions to the caucus chairs did not contain instructions to record participant preference, only delegate allocation to preference groups. The instructions to the municipal chairs did not contain instructions relating to preference collection from precinct chairs.

In truth, the Maine delegate selection process isn't over. The 15% rule exists at the state convention, not the precinct caucuses, so there are delegates for "uncommitted" and Sharpton/Clark/Edwards who may switch to a candidate with more than 15%, and then there is the possibility that some delegates and alternates won't even show, e.g., all but one of the 5-4 Kerry delegates. Our story won't reach closure until May, and "percentages" only obscures the Maine political process of delegate selection by, and between cooperating, precinct-level preference groups -- that's "neighbors in neighborhoods".

Neither MB or I were over on the Gym-side of Deering during the 5-7 period, so we missed the speakers in the big hall while setting up the 20 precinct rooms for the 7-8 period. I was flipping through the channels yesterday evening and on local access there was footage. Dennis was at the top of anyone's form. I was stricken by how much his voice had the timbre and cadence of FDR. It was the national convention in miniature. There hasn't been an event like it since the Harkin supper last fall, uncluttered by moronic media princes and princesses, where candidates spoke to all the 1s in driving distance. Pity that Kerry, Edwards, and Clark were down south, chasing votes, and not here, getting a sense of where the Party is. They could have had a share of the northern sun.

The Portland pre-caucus speaking event was historic in Maine Democratic political history, and a preview of the National Convention. It pulled just under 10% of all registered Dems in the city.

Turning to our personal hopes, we'd none except that we'd not fail. We expected 1k participants. We distributed 2K forms. We got 2.5k attendees, with 1.9k actual caucus participants. We ran out of preference forms, we had to use nearby copiers to create sufficient forms. I hoped to be home by 8pm. We were both selected as delegates to the state convention.

Portland's caucuses' delegate counts were reported to the state party chair Sunday night. The preference group totals, uncommitted and those committed to all candidates, were reported to the state party chair Tuesday.

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Posted by at February 15, 2004 09:13 AM | TrackBack