The Precinct Caucus

Dear Friends,

Tonight I attended my precinct caucus, a biennial event that I really enjoy.  Two years ago the gym in the local grade school/community rec center was full to capacity but that was really unusual and many people left after the Presidential straw poll.  Tonight there were just over 100 people which is a pretty good turnout by historical standards and everybody stayed after the straw poll for Governor.  All the regular suspects were there along with some new young faces which is always uplifting. 

The main job for the precinct caucus was to elect delegates to the next level of conventions.  In our case this year the one with the most interest is the Senate District convention which elects delegates to the State convention which will give the endorsement for Governor.  We could elect 38 delegates and 38 alternates to the Senate District Convention which is the one that was of interest to me.  Forty people wanted to be delegates but two agreed to be alternates so those of us that wanted to be delegates were elected without dissent.  This congenial atmosphere made the caucus very efficient, but it lacked the chaos of the walking caucus system that true political geeks (me included) love.

I cannot even try to be a delegate to the State Convention because I cannot attend that weekend.  But I want to go to the Senate District Convention because I am quite sure that with all the candidates for Governor and with an open State house seat for our district there will be walking caucuses which with a large group are really fun.  Without trying to describe how walking caucuses work, they are designed to be sure that the delegates elected are proportionately representative of the people electing those delegates.  There is no such thing as winner takes all in Minnesota DFL processes.


Anyway it is great to participate in grass roots democracy.  I am looking forward to the next convention.

Thanks for reading and please comment,

The Unabashed Liberal