I gave a brief speech last night at the District 66 Caucus in Saint Paul. The fun part? I gave it to a room that was vastly more full than in previous years. It could have been even more full, if only the large number of people who just wanted to vote and leave had stuck around.
I was also a precinct convener. My precinct (Ward Four, Precinct 15) drew about double the people that it did four years ago, and six times as many as two years ago. And – true to form – my district got done before anyone else!
We had a solid turnout across the board, but even more university kids. We also had two observers, international Fulbright scholarship students from the Humphrey Institute, a fellow from Burma and another from Georgia (Tbilisi, not Atlanta), and no, he wasn’t there because he mistook “Caucuses” for “Caucasus”.
In the straw poll, Ron Paul won my precinct, with McCain a close second – but, I’m gratified to say, Romney did rather better statewide, crushing McCain by over 2-1:
While Romney racked up big numbers in the Twin Cities, the range of support for him in the state was broader. In central Minnesota, he was winning by more than a 2-1 margin over McCain in Sherburne County with two-thirds of the precincts reporting. He had a nearly 3-1 margin over McCain in Isanti County.
The Strib – which, like most of the media, thinks Mac is just peachy – sniffs:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney owes much of his Minnesota victory to the peculiarities of the state’s caucus system, which rewards candidates who have a passionate, partisan following and punishes those who don’t.
And that is completely fitting; it’s a party caucus, not a general election. It’s a distinction that seems lost on a lot of people.
Unsurprisingly to me, Obama did very well in the Minnesota Tic primary; I’d like to have been a fly on the wall of one of their caucuses. I wonder if they start with group calisthenics?
There was room for a fly on the wall. Not room for much else. SRO stood for “squeezing room only.”
No group calisthenics. About 5 times the turnout of 4 years ago.
Room had 45 seats. More than 300 people stood in line to cast their preference. About 100 stayed around for the party business. Of those who stayed, largest demographic was probably people in their 30s.
What I didn’t see four years ago: quite a few young families showed up, kids in tow.
Caucused in the east Metro where the turnout was about quadrouple from 2006. They definately weren’t expecting the turnout.
What’s interesting is the swing in the last week away from McCain and Clinton. Seems to me that MN is dispoportionately effected by talk radio.
There were people with young children in our caucus too– Minneapolis, Ward 5. (North). The room was so crowded people had to be careful not to step on the rugrats.