Mad Voter Attends First Caucus

As I type this on my iPhone, I am at my first Iowa caucus at a middle school in Waukee in the suburbs of Des Moines.

I know it sounds corny, but it’s thrilling to see democracy in action on an intimate scale. It’s almost like Switzerland. (Just kidding.  No mountains here.).

There’s quite a turnout, about a thousand people from two caucus districts.  One woman told me it was by far the most she had ever seen.

Each candidate has a spokesman who speaks in favor of their candidates for two minutes, loosely timed. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado was here to speak for Rubio, Jamie Weinstein of the Daily Caller for Jim Gilmore. It must be a tony district.

Everyone’s voting now by secret ballot. It all went pretty quickly. The Democrats assemble in areas according to candidate and are counted. Not secret. Your union boss can see how you vote.

On the way over we stopped at a Caribou Cafe for coffee. We asked the twenty-something servers if they were caucusing. They said they wanted to but weren’t allowed enough time off work. They said they would have voted for Sanders.

(Artwork atop post found via — who else? — Iowahawk.)