Obama: King of the Caucuses

Obama does particularly well in caucuses. It’s 59/40 in Wyoming according to The Fix, giving him an extra 2 delegate advantage apparently. This is down on some of his earlier caucus performances.

Is it the meeting format which attracts his supporters or the open, combative nature of the voting which may stop some people from attending? It can get a bit stressful, as the following report from East Austin, Texas indicates. This democracy thing is just a little tricky. They are electing 27 local delegates to a county convention that elects delegates to a State convention to finalise the State Caucus delegates to the National convention:

As expected, Hispanics tend toward the former [Clinton}, African Americans and young Anglos who'd been priced out of their previous neighborhoods toward the latter [Obama]--but, to my racially-profiling eyes, there's still plenty of crossover.

... As the two groups grew in number, so did the volume of their claps and cheers.

There was tied vote, 128 for each candidate. It was decided to get a 9 year old girl to flip a coin to decide their last delegate to the 6800 strong county convention.

Catherine fingers a strand of hair. A group of about 15 people gather round Catherine. Cameras and cell phones emerge from their pockets. Of all the trivial photos they'd taken and deleted, this one would certainly be worth keeping.

Lonnie calls it in advance. Heads. If it comes out heads, Clinton gets the delegate. Tails goes to Obama. Catherine lays the coin on her index and middle fingers, then flips it up. It lands on its side, rolls a couple feet, lays flat. Everyone gathers round the coin. The nine-year-old's face takes on a shy cast while James and Lonnie bend over the coin.

"It's tails," Lonnie announces. "Obama gets the 14th delegate."

Obama By A Coin Flip (The New Republic 7 March 2008)

Another win for Barack! Even the currency is on his side it seems.

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