1. Go armed with literature. Especially comparative literature on their positions and be prepared to debunk lies about Edwards
2. If Edwards has a ton of support and you can spare it, wander over to Kucinich if he needs it.
3. Observe closely and raise a stink if you have to
Here are a few posts I saved on other DUers experiences at caucuses. Wish I had saved more.
Just be prepared and KICK-ASS!!
Oh and 4. Write a report when you get back :)
Good luck!
Deathadder Sun Feb-08-04 11:18 PM
Local Democrat Committee Meeting/Attempted Robbery in Killingworth CT
The Kerry Krew then get up there, or as I like to call them at this cozy town hall meeting, "The Suits" A lifer and his trainee. This guy's dropping names and showing he's a real good "Smiler" The whole "I'm one of you" They play on fears, they praise their boy. They let everyone know, "Hey, This election is over. So, we're going to pass a paper around, everyone write your name down, and get on board the Kerry train."
Well Killingworth, CT didn't buy into it. They had a mind of their own. They started asking questions. "The Suits" started dancing around the topics, getting fuzzy. Saying things that weren't true. When people started disagreeing with them, they tried to get the people to listen but not speak, at their own town meeting. "The Suits" started acting like they were running the show, and not invited. They started saying the information wasn't in on the war yet, not true. They started saying raising lots of money from special interest was a good thing, now is it? When Killingworth showed they had a mind of its own, that liked many different candidates, "The Suits" put on their coats and got out of there. All the other reps stayed to shake hands and talk.
I'm not saying we won Killingworth over to Kucinich, because we didn't (Though we did good in Washington and Maine) I'm saying Killingworth could think for it's self, and was tired of being told what to do, and I really think that great group of people won't make up their mind until March 2nd. I hope all of America is starting to get like Killingworth. If Kerry wins, Kerry wins, but let our party be heard, let it run to the Convention. No more tricks or suits. Real people, real issues, for a real candidate.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... ==
Hoppin_Mad Mon Feb-09-04 12:30 AM
23. Not if they're true - Here is one first-hand account from WA
"Here is what happened in my precinct. We won 4 delegates for DEAN because none of the other candidates were viable. In our precinct Dean had over 71% of the votes...
BUT
When I went to the 36th district HQ's to find out what the caucus numbers were for the whole district and I looked on the computer that AMY HAGPOLAIN was entering data on - I discovered she had completely reallocated the delegate allocation for my precinct! She had entered only 1 DELEGATE FOR DEAN (instead of 4) and gave 1 delegate to Clark (note - we did not have a single Clark supporter at our precinct caucus), 1 to Edwards, and 1 to Kerry in my precinct - The precinct that went 71.1% for DEAN with no other candidate being viable or receiving a delegate. That single error affected Dean's delegate count by 1% at the Congressional District level. Looking further into the available paperwork, I found another error in another precinct that was next to mine at the caucus. Of the twelve precincts I had time to look at, I found two errors that gave delegates to Kerry that were not his. I also noticed that the head count in our district said we had 13 people signed in, when it was actually 21!!! That effects the percentage for viability and the delegate allocation!
This woman (AMY) got unbelievably angry (defensive) with me as soon as I pointed out the mistake. She immediately started berating me and started a big argument. We had quite an unpleasant shouting match. Then, she and another 36th District Official named PETE started a viscious passive aggressive game, blaming me for keeping them there to late, calling me a jack-ass, on and on and on. Eventually, they won the battle with the District Chair to stop the recount that we had in progress. I made them all stay as long as I could and we started recounting precincts to make sure that the sign-in (head count) numbers were accurate. We found that the majority of the precinct head counts (from the sign-in sheets) were under counted by one or two people and in some cases by as much as 5 to 10 people!!! A couple of the precincts were over counted.
Then PETE (last name unknown) told the Chair that no copies of the minutes needed to be made and he would keep them at his house. He started loading the Caucus Minutes into his car to take to his house and AMY was taking out tons of paperwork (I don't know what, exactly) while we were discussing when to start the recount again... the few people on my side who were trying to get the re-count done gave up as Pete and Amy talked the Chair into counting tomorrow and then she let them take all the minutes and delegates papers out the door... UNBELIEVABLE… I could not have made this up if I had tried my best! Truth IS stranger than fiction.
THE DEMOCRATS ARE F&^%ED in this District and, quite possibly, this state! I was treated so horribly for finding that first mistake and only wanted to look for more problems. Based on my intial findings this woman named AMY was either (1) inept or lazy and didn't care that she entered the data wrong or (2) she was stealing delegates from DEAN. Either way, it was wrong. When she was asked to correct her error and to look for others - she lost it and BLEW UP! She and her cohort Pete had absolutely no interest in accuracy... they kept repeating to me - "The election is over... Kerry won". They weren't accountable to anyone! This is not about who won - at least not now, anyway. This is about all of the votes at the caucus getting accurately counted so that the delegate allocation is correct. People like AMY and PETE need to be banned from doing this kind political work. I felt like I was a REPUBLICAN 'hanging chad' Party in Florida - or at least what I imagined it to have been like..."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... ==
IndianaGreen (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-09-04 08:54 AM
94. How about the DoveTurnedHawk post about the Kerry supporter he caught
Edited on Mon Feb-09-04 08:55 AM by IndianaGreen
at his Clark meeting. DTH posted a thread about that in this forum last week. The Kerry supporter was ID'ed by someone else. When DTH confronted him, the man confessed that he wanted to be a delegate so bad that he would have gone in as a Clark delegate.
DTH (in rightful indignation IMHO) got the Kerry supporter to leave.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... ===
KaraokeKarlton (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-09-04 12:18 AM
13. Well, I find it offensive that when people report inconsistencies they see
in the primary elections (and there are plenty to report) that people try to censor them by trying to make them feel guilty for asking questions when they believe there are valid questions to ask. I don't think anyone is implying that Kerry is messing with the votes, but rather that perhaps the party leadership (or individuals within the leadership) might be up to no good. Caucus sites are being moved at the last minute leaving Dean supporters unaware while Kerry supporters mysteriously know where to go. Changed polling places are being closed after voters who complained about the relocation were promised extra time to get there to vote. And right now, I've personally read many reports from Maine caucus goers who reported Dean won their caucuses or it was a dead heat between Dean and Kerry (Dean was faring VERY well in the largest population centers, by the way), yet the returns we're seeing are implying Kerry is way ahead.
If you were in our shoes you'd be asking questions and raising your eyebrows as well.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... ===
Egnever (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-14-04 10:04 PM
My Vote went to Dean!
What a strange day it was today here in Nevada.
Today we had our caucus and I was fortunate to be able to cast my vote for the candidate I believe in. Not because the party wanted me to but because I stood my ground.
Strange things that happened today,
Kerry showed up outside the caucus. Apparently thats his right but I found it extremely strange that a candidate should be standing outside on the steps while the people are making their decision. It wouldn't have bothered me nearly as much that he showed perhaps if he hadn't been an hour and a half late and they hadn't held up the vote till after he had time to make his appearance.
Yup thats right Voting was supposed to begin at 9:30 but it didn't begin till 12:30
Rules were changed throughout the process which is something I also thought was strange.
Originally we were supposed to gather in the football field of the a local high school where we would wait till our precincts were called to go into a room that was filled conspicuously with only Kerry posters to cast our votes and elect our delegates. How Kerry was the only one allowed to have posters in the original voting room is beyond me but hey thats politics I suppose.
The Dean camp made arrangements for one of our representatives to stay in the football field and make us aware of when our precincts were called so we could show our support outside the room since we were unrepresented inside of it.
This lasted all of 15 minns before the fire marshals decided that it was unsafe to have people waiting in the courtyard outside the classroom ???? so we were all told that the caucus would be held entirely on the football field.
So off we marched to the football field our Dean contingent gathered on the field and we held our signs high in support of our candidate, There much tongue wagging ensued from the "democratic party leaders" on how we remembered Vietnam and how proud we were to be patriots willing to stand up against this war and asking how many veterans were in the crowd!
I wanted to puke. Our caucus had obviously become a Kerry rally from the top down from holding the voting till after he made his appearance to the speakers pushing the whole Vietnam veteran thing and thanking all the other candidates supporters for participation in their caucus.
The last thing to happen before we were sent to our corners for our precincts was a group of Kerry supporters came and stood in front of us as Kerry signs were passed out to them. Whole football field to stand in and they choose to come line up directly in front of us and then get their signs handed to them I was appalled at the gall but thats politics I guess.
The one thing I heard repeated over and over by the Kerry folks when asked why they made their choice for Kerry was.....
He seems like he is going to be the winer.....
WTF?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... ===
lastknowngood Sat Feb-14-04 10:17 PM
Response to Original message
12. You got away a lot easier than some have at the caucuses
their have been some arrests and physical violence and much much intimidation from what I have heard on the Dean blogs. Glad you held your ground and it went peacefully. The DNC/DLC has been pushing their preordained Candidate and most people are just falling in line without any idea.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... ===
GodHelpUsAll2 Sat Feb-14-04 10:44 PM
24. Thank you Thank you
For standing your ground and voting your heart. These primaries/causus's have sucked. I was at an actual caucus in Iowa. And have been to a few other states primaries volunteering for Dean. I was a driver for an elderly woman who called campaign headquarters for a ride to caucus in Iowa. It was sickening. Brutal intimidation and near threats was the words used by a young first time caucus goer as he was outside smoking a cigarette with me after the caucus was done. (And for the record, I stayed outside or in the hallway outside the room of the actual caucus but couls see through the door way and hear some of what was going on inside) The so called volunteers present for 2 other candidates whose names I will leave unsaid but will probably be obvious were swarming the place and pushing their candidate before people could even get all the way in the door. It was shameless. Especially since said candidates were the very one's whining about "out of state volunteers flooding the Iowa caucus". I had conversation with these "volunteers" in the halls as the caucus was going on as they would come out and conference with each other on what was going on inside. They were paid out of state people brought in just for caucus night. Funny, I always thought volunteer meant you didn't get paid.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... ===
JulieRB (1000+ posts) Sun Feb-08-04 12:24 AM
The view from a Washington caucus
We had quite a day. As you can see, we've been a little busy today, so this was the first chance I had to post on DU. Since I am a Dean supporter, we're bloodied but unbroken. We live in a small town with a supposedly overwhelming Republican population.
Our caucus was packed. Those who are typically at the Duvall caucus said that the turnout was overwhelming. It took the first half hour of the caucus time to get the line registered and in the door. While I was out in the hallway with my Dean brochures and stickers, the Kerry contingent arrived in matching T-shirts ("The Real Deal",) and gosh, how shocked was I? A nice anti-Dean hit piece.
Yes, you read that right.
They passed it out to everyone in line. It was purportedly a "comparison" between Kerry's positions and Dean's positions. I found three different inaccuracies in the first two issues that were being discussed. The Kerry supporters were also very contentious. ("Why waste your vote? Vote for Kerry.") Even Kerry supporters were a bit embarrassed by the antics of the Kerry campaign volunteers, and other Dem candidate supporters were just plain angry. Being the sassy, outspoken person I am, I wasn't going to let this one go. I asked the female Kerry supporter why she thought it was acceptable for Kerry to vote for IWR, the Patriot Act, and the Omnibus bill, and miss upwards of 50% of other votes. She responded with "Well, it was going to pass anyway, and the Patriot Act has a sunset clause." I asked her how people damaged by the loss of their civil rights were ever going to get them back. She didn't want a lot of discussion with me after that.
This is interesting to me. The Kerry people are going out of their way to be nasty, to hit-piece and smear Howard Dean, then they think that we're just supposed to go to the voters' booth and vote for their guy, with no repercussions? I might vote ABB, but I won't support Kerry.
Our precinct split between Dean and Clark. I am a delegate to the next level. I plan to raise hell there, too.
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