Texas Caucus System—I’ll Get To Vote A Third Time!

I attended my precinct caucus last night here in Houston to show my support for Barack Obama.

This in addition to the vote I had cast earlier in the day.  

There were many people there.

Something like 230 people signed in for Mr. Obama or Senator Clinton.

I overheard that last time there were maybe 20 people at this caucus.

( Here is an explanation of this process.)

Waiting outside to be allowed into the church to start the process, Clinton and Obama supporters stood apart from each other.

I will support whoever wins the nomination.

I felt that the process was organized well enough and that people were respectful of each other.

Oh well—Maybe I’ll see a street fight somewhere soon. 

In my precinct, Mr. Obama won more delegates to the next round than did Mrs. Clinton.

People were asked if they would like to attend the next round. I guess these are caucuses of State Senate districts.

They will held on March 29.

I said I would go since this would allow me to vote a third time.

What a silly process.

And what an unfair process.

Mrs. Clinton won the popular vote in Texas.

That should be the bottom line.

Yet Mr. Obama appears to be the statewide winner from this process.

Still, I want to vote as often as I am able.

It’s like I’m getting away with something.

Please click here for Texas Liberal posts on the Texas Primary.   

Rick Noriega Has Work To Do To Win U.S. Senate Race In Texas

Good news from the Texas primary last night for State Representative Rick Noriega of Houston  was that he avoided a runoff.

Mr. Noriega was 51% of votes cast against three weak opponents.

The bad news for Mr. Noriega was that he won just 51% against three weak opponents.

2.86 million people voted in the Democratic presidential race yesterday in Texas

2.16 million voted in the Senate contest.

Nearly a quarter of Democratic primary voters did not get very far down the ticket.

Maybe they they were in a hurry and had someplace else to go. 

In the Senate race there was no real reason for a Democrat not to vote for Mr. Noriega.

By any conventional standard, Mr. Noriega was the likely nominee, the strongest candidate for the general election and pretty much the only “serious” candidate on the Democratic ballot to face incumbent John Cornyn.

There was no reason that would serve the party in November, or any type of ideological split, that merited forcing Mr. Noriega into a runoff.

Just under 39% of all Democrats who voted yesterday voted for Mr. Noriega.     

It simply seems that many Democrats did not know who Mr. Noriega was.

From the Republican side it was more good news/bad news for Mr. Noriega.

The good news was the superior Democratic turnout.

1.38 million Republicans voted in the Presidential race. 

1.21 million Republicans voted in the senate primary between Mr. Cornyn and a man named Larry Kilgore.     

Hopefully Democrats have been energized to show up in November. Almost twice as many voted people in the Democratic Senate primary as did in the Republican primary.

On the other hand, Mr. Cornyn won 81% of the vote in his race and 72% of all Republicans voting cast a ballot for Mr. Cornyn.  

Republicans know who Mr. Cornyn is and are basically willing to vote for him.

Mr. Noriega has overcome one challenge by winning the Democratic primary without a runoff.

Yet in addition to making the case against Senator Cornyn, it appears he still has work to do in introducing himself to Texas Democrats.  

Get to know Rick Noriega a little better by clicking here to visit his homepage.

Texas Nominating Caucus Requires Hat, Book & Loud Bell—I Hope Caucus Is Full Of Trouble

In half-an-hour I’ll leave to go the Texas Democratic caucus to help select delegates not allocated in the popular primary today. 

Here is more about this process. 

I’m not sure how the church I voted in this morning will have enough parking.

I’m going to wear a hat this evening such as we see here on General De Gaulle’s head.

It’s called a kepi.

If anyone asks me why I am wearing this hat I will tell them to get the hell away from me.

Will I also wear the uniform?

Yes.

I’ll also bring a book to the caucus. I figure it is going to go on for hours and I might need a distraction.

Here is the book I’ll be reading–

 

Book with words make my head hurt.

I’ve heard that some of the campaigns are encouraging supporters to be aggressive in gaining the tactical upper-hand at these caucuses. Along these lines, I am bringing this bell to get attention.

 

I hope the caucus is fun. I hope it is disorganized and contentious. Short of violence, I hope it is full of trouble and disagreement.

That’s democracy for you.