An Evening at the Caucus

Our caucus was held in our nine-year old's school cafeteria. It was reasonably well-organized. I helped count the votes, and we were out before the neighboring caucus, held in the school gym, had even finished their count.

Mitt Romney was the big winner in my precinct, taking 74 out of 245 votes, or 31.4%. McCain was second with 59 votes, or 24%, and Huckabee was third with 55 votes, for 22.4%. Thompson 25, Paul at 16, and Guiliani with 15 votes rounded out the field. Oh, and Duncan Hunter, with 1.

Still, it's a dumb way to pick a president. But I'm not (next to last place) bitter!

Some pictures...

Inside the Fairmeadows School cafeteria, where West Des Moines Precint 114 Republicans caucused. Another precinct caucused in the gym.



This one was taken at about 7:05, with people still signing up:



Here my wife registers as a Republican so she can participate. She feels guilty. I'll try to help her from straying back to the dark side.



I volunteered to help count, as the "Guiliani representative." Mostly I just wanted to see how it came out. Here's my tally sheet. I Twittered it even before it was announced in the room.



The Caucus Chairman phoned in the results, punching the totals in on his cell phone. Here he listens to it played back before he makes it final:



It sounds like Huckabee and Obama are winning. Fortunately, the rest of the country usually ignores Iowa. Please...

#114 Republican results
HUK 55, ROM 74, MCC 59, THO 25, RUDY15, PAUL 16, HUNTER 1 caucus count

Now they're passing out ballots - I will be a counter.

I don't know why they bother with the speeches. If you are motivated to squander your evening here, you know who you're voting for. 241 people

Now we're listening to speakers from of the candidates. My wife had to register republican to vote here, and it pains her greatly.

Liveblogging my caucus. I'm firing up the long dormant blog to liveblog my caucus. Our precinct, West Des Moines 114, has a big turnout and st