Caucuses Suck
I recently experienced my first and (in all honesty) probably only caucus. I left the caucus confused as to why a caucus is considered to be a legitimate form of selecting a candidate. Caucuses are annoying, long, and extremely ineffective at finding out the true opinions of the people of the state. I don’t like them, and I wish we (Mainers) had a primary…or something that actually resembles democracy.
I arrived at the Scarborough Town Hall to caucus at around 9:55 a.m. the morning of February 4, 2012. After a few minutes of small talk and petition signing for various local candidates, the small group of approximately fifty to sixty people sat down and the caucus officially began. Although I was still unsure as to what a caucus actually was, at least we had Tim Horton’s.
After a few minutes, it soon became apparent that the caucus was overwhelmed by Ron Paul die-hards. Now, there’s nothing wrong with liking Ron Paul, but when an actual army of people armed with lists and information about the caucus comes in to the room, it transforms the “organic” feel of a town meeting into a systematic campaign stop for Ron Paul. But, I digress.
After the typical nitty-gritty intro speech by town officers, and the unanimous election of the leader of the party for the town and director of the caucus, we got down to business.
First, someone from the Ron Paul campaign spoke. Anyone who’s attended a conservative conference in the past 3 years knows the ability of Ron Paul supporters to mobilize for a poll. The room was pretty enthusiastic during questioning; a member of the audience who wasn’t permitted to speak tried to speak and was shut down. Who he was and why he wasn’t thrown out has yet to be answered, but he definitely had that ‘crazy old man’ vibe.
Next, a well-dressed woman Mitt Romney supporter from New Hampshire spoke, admitting she had initially been a Tim Pawlenty supporter. She spoke for quite a while, and her presentation was much more professional than the speaker from the Ron Paul campaign. A representative from the Ron Paul campaign attempted to bring down the Romney worker with hostile questions, but she did a pretty good job defending herself.
Then, a speaker supporting Newt Gingrich spoke for about 45 seconds. I wouldn’t have minded him, except for, after the caucus while I was driving back to school, I noticed a piece of paper under my windshield wiper saying that Newt Gingrich has a plan for 250,000 jobs. Fantastic. Don’t do that. I thought it was a parking ticket and had severe anxiety until I stopped for gas in the middle of Massachusetts.
Nobody from the Santorum campaign spoke.
After the speeches, the caucus officials announced that the maximum number of people had not signed up as delegates to the state convention, so everyone who had said they wanted to go gets to go. Hooray. Then we voted. I’m not sure as to which candidate won locally, but if the crowd and amount of Ron Paul stickers present were any indication, it was probably Ron Paul. I honestly wouldn’t have known about the caucus had a Ron Paul worker not called me a week in advance to make sure I was going
The whole caucus was, quite frankly, annoying, long, and irritating. Why did we need to stay at a meeting for two hours to be able to vote? Why can’t voters absentee caucus? The whole process reeks of inefficiency. Caucuses attract mostly the die-hard followers of a candidate; if a person happens to be busy on the day of the caucus, well, they’re SOL. There are more people in the state than just diehards of certain candidates and they deserve to have their voices heard as well.
Post-caucus, I was greeted by my brother with a, “What the hell are you doing home?” He had no idea the caucus was taking place. Nobody really did. The system is flawed and should be fixed.
There’s a reason the Iowa caucuses do such a poor job at picking the eventual nominee. There’s a reason why a miniscule number of Nevada voters came out to caucus last week. That reason is that nobody in their right mind would want to spend their Saturday morning (or afternoon, whatever) caucusing. Caucuses are terrible ways to pick a candidate. Period.
Christine Rousselle :: Providence College :: Providence, Rhode Island :: @CRousselle
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Christine: You have identified all the negatives such that now you ought to be railing against the inordinate coverage and value attached to the Iowa Caucuses. Town Hall government works because people are directly affected by decisions as contrasted with these caucus results that often wear people down before a result is obtained.
The Iowa Caucuses represented a very small per cent of the state population but the winner rides out of Des Moines as though the torch has been truly passed.
Let’s shorten the process. All states have primaries and schedule them such that one or more states do not have any more prestige or influence than others. I wonder how many people know that Florida lost half its delegates because it had a winner-take-all primary prior to time set by party. It too was supposed to be proportional as all should be so everyone’s vote counts.
Keep writing. You do it well.
I agree with you, but I’d like to take it one step further. Personally I think that the entire system needs an overhaul nationwide. Whether that’s possible or not I don’t know. Even in states that hold primaries it is too easy to switch one’s party affiliation a few days prior just to cast a sabotage vote. Also, by having the caucuses and primaries spread over many months not everyone gets to have their opinion heard. Why should Iowa and New Hampshire republicans get to have more options than voters in Maine or other states? Does our voice not matter as much as states that hold their primaries/caucuses before us? If we as a party were to have twelve states hold their primaries/caucuses per week for a period of four weeks (with two extra states on the last week) we’d get a much better picture of which candidate is favored by the entire party. As it is some candidates have to drop out after a handful of states due to lack of funding when they could have done much better in the majority of remaining states. As a party, at the national level, we should be able to come up with a format which will better reflect the will of the entire party. I believe that your view of having only primaries instead of caucuses would play a part in this as it would show an exact reflection of the will of the people.
As for the results in Maine, I can’t say that I am surprised. The Maine “republicans” that have voted for Snowe and Collins for many years chose the most liberal of the four candidates, with the wing nut as a close second. That’s just my opinion and I know I’ll take some shots for it, so be it.
Great points. Missouri has a caucus for the first time this year. I am not looking forward to it, but I will try to go. My husband has to miss because of a National Guard conflict. That would not happen if Missouri would just stick to the primary. The RNC threatened to take away half our delegates if we didn’t move the primary. The governor vetoed that bill, so the party panicked and decided to have a caucus. Thanks for your observations.
Despite what you have said about the caucus I will attend ours March 3rd in Washington state, I’m new to the political arena, did not even know the average citizen could voice their opinion till recently and am eager to offer my voice in who will become our next president. Last night I attended a Santorum rally here in Tacoma, let me tell you that is the last open venue rally I will ever attend. The occupy bowl movement was on-site doing there disruptive thing and it made it hard to both hear Rick and participate. I’ll pay the next time for the honor to see him and hear him speak. And what surprised me the most was the large amount of young men and women who came to hear Santorum speak, maybe there is hope for the Republican Party. Although I’m late to the game I encourage everyone to attend the caucus in your state and vote Republican. Those of you who say they won’t vote for Romney, or Newt or Paul or Santorum because of what ever, if you don’t vote for the Republican, you are voting for obama.
I guess you don’t read my newsletters or you would have known about the caucus at least two weeks in advance.
I agree that it is not very efficient or representative, but a primary would cost towns a lot of money. So like so many things, it comes down to financing.
Amy,
Your newsletters actually come through our staff email address…I didn’t realize they were intended for Christine. Ha! Will forward from now on.
Rep Volk–This was definitely not meant to be a slam at the Scarborough GOP, just the caucus system as a whole. I know a lot of people who were interested, but just had no idea.