On the eve of the New Hampshire Primary, I thought I would write a few thoughts about the historic events on Iowa Caucus night, Thursday, January 3, 2008. I arrived at the caucus site a bit after 4:00 -- fired up and ready to go. I scoped out the best corner of the room for our supporters. I was amazed to have people begin arriving for caucus just after 5:00. I had a feeling we were in for a huge turnout considering the caucus didn't officially begin until 7:00. The campaign provided precinct captains a great caucus night tool -- signs (Hope, Trust, Unity) and stickers (I stand for Obama).
Unfortunately, the county organizers did not supply maps of the precincts, so people caucusing and didn't know what precinct they belonged in were sent throughout the building trying to find the proper room for their precinct. I was not familiar with the school and so many people were asking for directions to various rooms and I did the best I could to get people to the appropriate room.
The lines were unreal. I saw some people leave when they saw the lines, which is very unfortunate. The caucus rooms were overflowing, parking lots were full. It was an amazing night.
In my precinct, our room was overflowing. We divided into preference groups. I was shocked to see we were in 3rd place. Clinton had over twice as many people as us. Edwards even had more than us. Reallignmnent didn't go very well, most went to Edwards, we picked up a couple and Hillary got a few. For the most part, the undecides and not viables had their minds made up for second choice. Needless to say, I felt defeated. I could not believe what was happening. I feared the rest of the state was going to follow suit. I telephoned my parents and in their small town, the results were the same -- 1. Hillary, 2. Edwards, 3. Obama. When I got back to my house, I immediately turned on CNN. At the time, Obama had a slight 4-5% lead. I felt more hope, but there was still around 30-40% precincts to report in. Within 10 minutes of arriving back from my disappointing caucus, CNN projected an Obama win. I yelled so loud, they probably heard me in Des Moines.
I am so proud of Iowa. There have been so many negative comments about Iowa holding the first caucus -- too rural (even through over 60% is urban), too small (we are ranked 30th in population and 26th in area), too white (95% white), etc. So, we showed the world why we deserve to be first in the nation. We are honored to be first, we make the candidates work their tails off, and we ultimately make very good decisions to winnow the field. I hope the subsequent states will follow the historic steps Iowa took on 1/3/08 and send Sen. Obama to the democratic nomination and on the way to the White House.
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