Maine Caucus

Today I caucused for the first time and it was exciting, but not as exciting as I expected. 47 Democratic voters gathered in the Town Office of the tiny town of Swanville Maine, with 3 absentee ballots in the pot. The roads were snowy, the visibility low, but the parking lot was all plowed and sanded.

We elected officers of the caucus for a little while and then we voted, by raised hands for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. There were no uncommitted voters, so there was none of the debate that I was looking forward to. It is unusual for candidates to visit Maine, with our humble 20-something delegates but President Clinton was in Portland on Friday night and Senators Clinton and Obama held court in Orono and Bangor respectively yesterday.

Our vote calculated out to two delegates for Barack Obama and one for Hillary Clinton. The turnout was an all-time record. After the voting and the delegate calculation, we elected whoever volunteered to bring our delegate count to the state convention in the spring. They are charged with delivering the delegates as voted on the first round of voting, but if it goes to a second round or further, they can change the votes.

It was a cozy, inspiring event, one that I'll never forget.