Will Rogers: "I don't belong to any organized party. I'm a Democrat."

By Nancy Jane Moore

I experienced the truth behind the famous quote from Will Rogers (pictured at left) last Saturday at the Travis County Democratic Convention.

Though the problem wasn't infighting among the candidates; on the whole, Obama and Clinton supporters were quite civil to each other. Supporters of both candidates made speeches from the platform, and while they praised their candidates, they also all said the party was lucky to have a choice between two good barrier-breaking candidates and reminded us that the stakes in this election are huge.

The lack of organization was logistical, mostly because just about everybody showed up. There were somewhere between 7 and 8 thousand people there. Just getting to the venue was a problem: it took the people from my precinct about 15 minutes to get across town to within a mile or so of the county exposition center (I think it's for rodeos and such), and then at least another hour to actually get into the parking lot. And that was with carpooling.

Then we stood in line for another hour or so to get badges. Everything was supposed to start at ten, but it was well after noon before things really got underway. And it was after four before we finally did the most important thing of the day: electing the delegates and alternates from each precinct for the state convention.

My precinct only had one of each, but both the people we sent off are pledged to Obama, as were a significant majority of all the delegates chosen in Travis County. It was obvious from the crowd -- when Obama supporters Congressman Lloyd Doggett and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk made speeches, they got loud support from the crowd. Clinton supporter Terry McAuliffe got polite applause, but a great deal less noise when he made his pro-Clinton comments.

The Texas Two Step isn't over until the state convention in June, when delegates to the national convention will be chosen, but it's obvious from Saturday's results that Obama will win the delegate count. The Austin American-Statesman reports that Obama is likely to take about 60 percent of the delegates.

Meaning, as I said earlier, that Obama won Texas. He got the delegates. And it's important to understand how he got those delegates: grassroots organizing. My precinct was entitled to 18 delegates to the county convention. Because many more Obama people turned out at the precinct, 13 of us were pledged to Obama. And we all showed up. Only three of Clinton's five delegates showed up.

I was originally an alternate, but I moved up to fill a vacancy. That's why we got all 13 of our delegates -- our leader made sure all the delegates and alternates were kept informed. We even met in advance.

That's what organizing is all about -- communicating with volunteers and getting them to show up. Our group of Obama delegates was diverse: male and female, black, white and Asian, and young and old. Of those I asked, one was a nurse, another a chef, one worked for the state, another as an assistant to a TV reporter. The main thing we have in common, outside of supporting Obama, is that a large chunk of us live in the same apartment complex (it's a big complex). But none of us knew each other before the Obama organizing started.

Now we do. Now we know where to start if we want to organize more political activity in Austin. The Democrats need more of this kind of organizing if we're going to clean up the mess Bush and his cohorts have made of our country.

What really happened in the caucuses?

By Diane Silver

Did bands of unruly kids act as thugs for Obama in the Texas caucuses? Does Obama win caucuses in general because his supporters threaten defenseless, cowering Clintonites? That is the accusation included in comments on a post by my co-blogger Nancy Jane Moore.

Nancy has already responded once, noting that her experience in a caucus in Austin wasn't anything like that described by "K." She hasn't had a chance to respond yet to "JamesK." (The same person as K? There's no way to tell. Neither K nor JamesK posted a profile.)

I can only speak for my experience in Kansas. I went to a caucus in Lawrence that drew 2,200 people, far more than the handful of folks who usually attend. I live near the University of Kansas, and this caucus site was filled with college students. There were also many folks my age and older. (I'm 55.) I didn't see anyone intimidating anyone. We milled around for several hours, got tired, foot sore and hungry. We laughed and discussed politics, but no hoards of students were doing anything to Clinton supporters. I didn't even seen any individuals being impolite to anyone.

Hillary Clinton's supporters did seem miserable, though. There were barely enough of them to make up the 15 percent required for their candidate to be counted in the caucus. They sat quietly in one corner, looking rather stunned.

But this accusation of thuggery intrigued me, so I looked farther into what happened in Texas. I searched Google News, using the keywords Texas, caucus, police.

What I found were complaints about overwhelmed caucus sites and some concern about the large crowds getting out of hand. I found one incident where an Obama backer may have mishandled things and one or possibly two incidents where a Clinton backer mishandled things. For that last incident, involving former Dallas City Council member Sandra Crenshaw, even the local newspaper seemed to waffle over time about what happened and who was to blame.

So far, I haven't found any evidence of Obama's young supporters -- or any of his supporters -- engaging in wholesale intimidation.

Working backwards through time, this is what I found.

Dallas Morning News editorial
March 12

And if party leaders had any lingering uncertainty about the urgent need to simplify this process, the almost-too-strange-to-be-true Sandra Crenshaw saga should convince them to start rewriting their rules. The former Dallas City Council member ran a caucus that nearly turned violent and eventually ended in a standoff at a police substation after Ms. Crenshaw told Obama supporters that she planned to alter voting totals to bolster Mrs. Clinton.

Associated Press
March 11

In Hidalgo County, a border stronghold for Clinton, the count has been stymied because Democratic chairman Juan Maldonado changed his cell phone number after losing re-election and wasn't available for several days at his business, a bail-bond office that also offers state teacher certification.

Associated Press
March 6

Tempers flared among emotional supporters of Clinton and Obama. Birnberg said Houston police were dispatched to a half-dozen locations to keep matters under control.

"Someone walking into a room with a blue uniform on has a very calming effect," he said.

Dallas Morning News
March 6

Among the major complaints being investigated in Dallas County on Wednesday were reports that an Oak Cliff precinct chairwoman, former Dallas City Council member Sandra Crenshaw, was tailed to a Dallas police station by election volunteers. They say she said she was taking sign-in sheets home to "correct" them.

In another incident, an Obama backer from New York took over a caucus at Florence Middle School in southeast Dallas, and somehow lost all of the sign-in sheets dedicated to Mrs. Clinton.

"We're collecting information and we're forwarding it to the state" Democratic Party, Ms. Ewing said. "We're trying to weed out what's real from what's not."

Dallas Morning News
March 5

Election volunteers trailed former Dallas City Council member Sandra Crenshaw, who was serving as a precinct chairwoman, through Oak Cliff late Tuesday. They allege that she sent away hundreds of angry convention-goers and told them she was taking sign-in documents favoring Barack Obama home to "correct them."

Ms. Crenshaw, who supports Hillary Rodham Clinton, paints a different picture – of a mob of Obama supporters from other states who were so unruly that she had to seek refuge at a police substation.

Meanwhile, Salon posted an account of a caucus in San Antonio. Here are other reports from CBS News, The Washington Post, and the Austin American-Statesmen. The Washington Post and Austin American-Statesmen have the most in-depth review of problems in the Texas caucuses.

Participating in democracy: two hours at a Texas Precinct Convention

By Nancy Jane Moore

I just got back from my precinct convention. It was an informal, but very civilized affair, and we got the business done in a couple of hours. We were choosing 18 delegates to the Travis County convention and we ended up with 13 for Obama, 5 for Clinton.

169 people showed up, filling up the Galindo Elementary School library and causing everyone to want the air conditioning on despite the fact that today was rather nippy. (Turns out the AC is controlled from downtown, so we suffered in the heat.) I thought that was a huge turnout until I checked the local paper and found out other precincts had 400 - 500 people.

I ended up as an alternate to the county convention. We gave priority in choosing delegates to those who counted votes and helped people sign in. Seemed fair to me.

It occurred to me while sitting there waiting for the count that one advantage of the Texas Two Step is that someone who was really undecided could vote for one candidate in the primary and another at the caucus. Not a bad way to express your undecidedness. I wasn't undecided, but I know several people who have been agonizing over the choice.

At the moment, The New York Times is showing Clinton with 50 percent of the Texas primary vote and Obama with 48 percent. However, don't be surprised if Obama ends up with more delegates from the primary itself, even if that count holds up; delegates are divided up among state senate districts and those districts that had a better Democratic turnout in 2004 and 2006 get more delegates. The count's still far from over, but the sections of the state currently showing a heavy Obama lead -- Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Houston (and surrounding counties) -- are all areas with more delegates.

The precinct convention votes will come in even slower. It's an overcomplicated system. I don't know why they designed it this way, but I suspect compromise: Some people wanted the flash and glitter of a primary and others wanted to stick with the traditional precinct conventions. I do understand why the delegates are weighted toward heavily Democratic districts: The Democratic Party has been very weak in Texas in recent years and they wanted to make sure the hard-core Democrats had the most say in choosing candidates.

Primaries and caucuses are, after all, a party process, not a citizen process. And parties get to make up their own rules, within reason.

I note that the newspapers and TV networks are now declaring Clinton the winner in Ohio. I don't know how they divide their delegates up, but I suspect -- based on earlier races -- that it isn't just a simple matter of percentage of the popular vote. It'll be interesting to see how many delegates each candidate gets there, too.

One thing I am sure of at this point: the race isn't over yet. We might even see a contested convention. I don't really object to that, so long as we all remember we're on the same side. We treated each other with respect at my precinct convention, and I hope the Obama and Clinton campaigns will show respect for each other as well. Democrats need to come out of this contest stronger, not beat each other up until they're too weak to take on McCain.

Do the Texas Two Step

By Nancy Jane Moore

Everything's bigger in Texas -- including your right to vote (if you're a Democrat). Texas Democrats get to vote twice, once in the primary, where about half the votes for the national convention will be divided up, and once in the precinct convention, which will account for about another 30 percent of the votes (the rest are superdelegates).

You must vote in the primary to attend the precinct convention and vote again. So if you didn't vote early, get out there now and vote. And then get back to your polling place by 7:15 PM to vote again in the precinct convention (which works like a caucus).

The poster above is from the Obama campaign, but do the two step even if you're supporting Hillary. Texas Democrats need to show how strong we are, and a high turnout is one way to do it.