I have one of these signs hanging proudly in my front window. Since late in the summer, I have been an active volunteer. That was after being contacted by the organizer from the OFA office in our county. I didn't want to start doing the volunteer things of phone calls, etc, this early for the 2012 election. But, the organizer was convincing that we needed to start. We needed to build our base and prepare for the caucus while the republicans were still disorganized. I knew he was right. Besides, there was no way I could live with myself if inaction contributed to electing one from their field of candidates.
Johnson County is different from most in IA. We have a strong liberal and progressive community due to the influence of the U of IA. The cities of Coralville and Iowa City make up the urban area since they abut one another. This year we knew the caucus numbers would be lower because we knew President Obama would be our candidate. As a result, the county was divided into several areas that included several precincts in each area. My area included the town of Coralville. We had 7 precincts lumped together into team 4.
This is a brief report of how it went for us last night. It was an exciting evening. I didn't sleep well since I was thinking about it a lot. This morning I woke early to offer this account. Join me below.
People started showing up at 6 pm. Registration was to start at 6:30. We hurried to get set up in the lobby to accommodate what appeared to be a larger than expected turnout. The doors were going to close at 7. Our OFA organizer had worked hard to get a set of core team members for each area that was going to caucus tonight. Our team 4 was busy putting up signs to direct people, getting the sound and projection systems to work, and making sure the data link was ready to use after we collected the new volunteer cards. Everything was set and people started signing in. Names were checked and booklets were distributed and people filed in to take a seat. We had 300 people in attendance. It was a large turnout and more than expected.
Doors were closed at 7 and an official count was taken from the registrations. The local Democratic party officials would need that number for their reporting. The local party official greeted the caucus goers briefly. We had to stay on a tight schedule. The video feed to the screen showed signs of life. In the corner it said something about the President in 5 minutes. Barack Obama was going to make a live appearance and speak to all caucus goers in IA for a few minutes. He was going to field 2 questions after his remarks. Our caucus site was selected to ask the first question.
Our team captain had prepared well and worked with a representative from the national Democratic headquarters in Chicago. They had rehearsed how this question interaction would go. She was ready. The President appeared on screen for all the caucus sites around the state. For us, it was really special. It was our site. You could see the President on half of the screen and our team captain on the other half with the excited caucus goers behind her in the audience. She asked him how he was going to maintain the message of hope and change in the coming campaign knowing how difficult things have been for the country. He gave a thoughtful and deliberate response. One other question was asked by a person from the Cedar Rapids area. That was fun to have a personal interaction like that with the President.
After the video feed was off, our team captain turned to the audience and made her pitch for them to remain active themselves in the coming months. She expressed appreciation for the fact that they all came to their caucus and showed their interest. She encouraged them to fill out the volunteer card in the back of the caucus booklet and turn it in so we could add their names to the list of others already working for the re-election of the President. A count later showed 25% of them did return their cards.
State elected officials spoke a few more minutes to thank people for coming. The people were told what part of the building to go to in order for their precinct to meet. The 7 precincts left the auditorium for their caucus meetings. Some were quite small. Others were large and stayed in the auditorium. Two people from the Occupy movement attended caucus meetings and spoke up. Each caucus group officially voted on their candidate, the President. There was discussion of issues and possible planks to be offered for the state convention. Some state delegates were selected. By 8:30 pm, the caucus meetings were over and folks went home.
Those of us with team 4 gathered up the new volunteer cards, helped to take down signs, and put the community center back in order before we left. We exchanged a few hugs and talked about how cool it was to have the President talking directly to our caucus members. I headed back to the OFA headquarters and finished entering the data for the 76 new volunteer cards we collected. I came away feeling inspired and enthused. The coming months of the campaign will be long. I will need that inspiration to keep me moving forward toward success in 2012.