Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Politics
I really don't like discussing politics, so this is a rare post for me. A couple of weeks ago, I believe between Christmas and New Years, I got a phone call from the John Edwards Campaign, and they stated he was going to have a meeting/speach in the town South of where I live on Sunday afternoon. I decided to attend this function just to see what it was all about and possibly get to shake the hand of one of the people who have a chance to be elected President of the United States of America.
The event was to begin at 4:00, so I took off from home at about 2:15 for the 15 minute drive and then sat in my truck another 15 or so minutes before venturing inside the restaurant it was being held at. There were probably 15 people inside waiting already, and as the room wasn't quite ready, kind of stacking up in the hallway. I signed in and proceeded to get myself as much out of the way as I could, while still being able to take in the sights of the people coming in. At about 3:15 or so, we were told we could go find a seat, so I took a seat against the South wall of the room. To my left, there were a couple of flags hung, then moving along the West wall was another and then a screen for viewing movies and such.
Just after 4:00, the first speaker took the floor (chairs were arranged around the floor in a circle), and he was the County Democratic Party Chairman. About this time, I look to the door that is behind the flags to my left, and Mr. Edwards and his family are standing there ready to be introduced. Not a good time for approaching him, so I stayed where I was, and listened while the County Chair introduced the State Chair, who then eventually introduced Elizabeth Edwards, who gave a little speech before introducing John.
I was very impressed with his speech and pretty much decided that he was the Candidate I would be supporting in the Iowa Caucus a few days later. Once the speech was over, John posed for some pictures and shook hands on his way back out of the room. I carefully got into position to be one of the people that shook his hand, and it's a good thing I was able to or I would have had to physically attack 2 people that pushed their way past me for the same opportunity.
On to the Iowa Caucus held Thursday, January 3rd. This was the first time in the 20 years I've been eligible to vote that I've taken the opportunity to attend this function. I've voted in every General Election since I've been able, but have usually skipped the Primaries and Caucuses. We had a crowd of 46 voters in the room for our Caucus, which was more than double the attendance in 2004. When we broke into the groups, I held with my intention and went with the Edwards group. The Richardson group (my second choice), was 2 people short of viability, and since my Dad and another guy that I respect a lot were in that group, I switched to theirs, along with another person that got recruited.
Once it was all said and done, Candidates Obama and Clinton had 2 delegates, and Edwards and Richardson each got 1 delegate to the County Convention. I was also selected as an alternate delegate for Richardson, as well as a member of the County Precinct Committee (don't yet know what that entails, first meeting is the 23rd of January).
Well, now that my life is that much more open, I hope I haven't bored anybody out there reading this...or changed your opinion of me for the worse, knowing that I'm sort of Politically active this time around.
Thanks for reading.
The event was to begin at 4:00, so I took off from home at about 2:15 for the 15 minute drive and then sat in my truck another 15 or so minutes before venturing inside the restaurant it was being held at. There were probably 15 people inside waiting already, and as the room wasn't quite ready, kind of stacking up in the hallway. I signed in and proceeded to get myself as much out of the way as I could, while still being able to take in the sights of the people coming in. At about 3:15 or so, we were told we could go find a seat, so I took a seat against the South wall of the room. To my left, there were a couple of flags hung, then moving along the West wall was another and then a screen for viewing movies and such.
Just after 4:00, the first speaker took the floor (chairs were arranged around the floor in a circle), and he was the County Democratic Party Chairman. About this time, I look to the door that is behind the flags to my left, and Mr. Edwards and his family are standing there ready to be introduced. Not a good time for approaching him, so I stayed where I was, and listened while the County Chair introduced the State Chair, who then eventually introduced Elizabeth Edwards, who gave a little speech before introducing John.
I was very impressed with his speech and pretty much decided that he was the Candidate I would be supporting in the Iowa Caucus a few days later. Once the speech was over, John posed for some pictures and shook hands on his way back out of the room. I carefully got into position to be one of the people that shook his hand, and it's a good thing I was able to or I would have had to physically attack 2 people that pushed their way past me for the same opportunity.
On to the Iowa Caucus held Thursday, January 3rd. This was the first time in the 20 years I've been eligible to vote that I've taken the opportunity to attend this function. I've voted in every General Election since I've been able, but have usually skipped the Primaries and Caucuses. We had a crowd of 46 voters in the room for our Caucus, which was more than double the attendance in 2004. When we broke into the groups, I held with my intention and went with the Edwards group. The Richardson group (my second choice), was 2 people short of viability, and since my Dad and another guy that I respect a lot were in that group, I switched to theirs, along with another person that got recruited.
Once it was all said and done, Candidates Obama and Clinton had 2 delegates, and Edwards and Richardson each got 1 delegate to the County Convention. I was also selected as an alternate delegate for Richardson, as well as a member of the County Precinct Committee (don't yet know what that entails, first meeting is the 23rd of January).
Well, now that my life is that much more open, I hope I haven't bored anybody out there reading this...or changed your opinion of me for the worse, knowing that I'm sort of Politically active this time around.
Thanks for reading.
# posted by Tiny @ 3:14 PM 
