Nebraska Democratic Party: More Than 250 Join in Omaha Caucus Training

More Than 250 Join in Omaha Caucus Training

Feb 02, 08:22 PM CST

By ANNA JO BRATTON
Sunday, Feb 03, 2008

OMAHA, Neb. – With less than a week to go before Nebraska’s first presidential caucuses, Democrats are doing all they can to let people know where to go and what to do on Saturday.

“I figured I’d better know what to do next week,” said Mary Mudd, who attended a practice session held Saturday at Omaha’s North High School. “I don’t want to be surprised.”

Kimberly Smith said she’ll do some research this week to help her choose between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

“I had no idea what a caucus was,” said Smith, who also attended the mock caucus.

She isn’t alone, but party leaders want to make sure everyone knows how to participate.

Here’s how it works:

Voters will be asked to stand in groups with others who support their favorite presidential candidate.

At the practice session Saturday, people split quickly into sides, with all but a few dozen of the more than 250 people standing up for Obama.

“I don’t care if he’s black, red or purple, we need a change,” said Eula McKell of Omaha, who moved quickly to the Obama side.

Clinton supporter Judy Cameron said she “has the experience, and I liked Bill.”

Each group has to have at least 15 percent of the attendants’ support to be considered viable. If a group has less than 15 percent, the people in it can either join another group or sit out. A spokesperson for each candidate can try to lure the undecided voters to their group.

Once everyone is either in a viable group or sitting out, the percentage will be reported to the county party.

Delegates for each county are divided according to the percentages. If a county has three delegates, and one candidate got 66 percent of the vote, he or she would get two of the votes, and if another got 33 percent, he or she would get one. Those delegates will be represented by people who will attend the state convention and be bound to pledge their vote to the candidate who won the vote.

If it’s not that even, there’s a formula built in to decide who gets the votes.

There’s no way to vote anonymously in a caucus. Some people voted with a sort of absentee ballot, called a preference card.

– by Eric Fought | Send this to a friend

Hey, I thought we weren’t allowed to use the real candidates in our “practice” caucuses since it violated DNC rules of a “straw poll.” Am I right on this? I think I am, so why was Douglas County allowed to “bend” the rules once again?
— Brent Hultine, LD 33 Feb 03, 03:10 PM CST #
This event wasn’t put on by the Douglas County Democrats. It was put on by the North Omaha Voter Participation Project. Please get your facts straight before you accuse people of wrongdoing sir.
— Solomon Kleinsmith Feb 03, 10:53 PM CST #
I support the concept of the caucus training sessions. However, while this event may have been sponsored by the North Omaha Voter Participation Project, by publishing the proceedings and results on an official Democratic Web site it creates the appearance of official sponsorship and the appearance that a straw poll was conducted. Some of the participant quotes, candidate names, and results could have been easily omitted by the author and it would have had no negative impact on explaining the functioning of a caucus.
— Bill Gilpin Feb 04, 11:28 AM CST #
Great page
— Gerardo Mulero Feb 04, 04:10 PM CST #
I don’t know much about the caucus and have been reading everything I can get a hold of. I ran across this blog and I am not a happy Democrat.

What I do know is that the statements about the results violates the intent of the caucus excercise that the DNC has set forth. I may not know what a caucus is, but I know a Straw Poll when I see one.

I am not sure what the author’s intent was. I don’t care if Mr. Obama was sitting in the room serving hope and humble pie, these kinds of statements should not be on this website…. period.

Its too bad the NOVPP didn’t use better judgment about the results of their practice session. Very disappointing indeed.
— John F. Carroll Feb 04, 04:24 PM CST #
Since the Nebraska Democratic Party obviously cannot take a hint, I’ll be more direct.

This article must be removed from the Party’s site. If you want to publish an article on the functioning of a caucus, then write an unbiased article that does not violate party rules.
— Bill Gilpin Feb 04, 05:39 PM CST #
Are registered Republicans for Democrats allowed to attend the caucus and are independents allowed to attend?
— David W Feb 04, 06:10 PM CST #
I was wondering how a caucas worked as well. Now that I know, I have just one question….

Couldn’t the NE Dems have just moved up their primary? I think I’d much prefer that than going through this. Politics is already “bare knuckle” enough. Do we have to pit voters against one another too?
— Steve Campbell Feb 05, 04:32 AM CST #
Where is the defender of the constitution and bylaws? Was this just a passive-aggressive way in letting everyone know that the state party officials prefer Obama? Eric, why is this article still up?
— Brent Hultine, LD 33, Rules Committee Feb 05, 02:24 PM CST #
I would guess this article is still up because someone has to monitor it and I am guessing that individual is swamped trying to prepare for the caucus. If anyone knows the webmaster, give him/her a call.

Otherwise, ease up. I am just guessing but the traffic on this website has only recently picked up (hmm? I wonder why?). If everyone is so concerned, volunteer and help out.
— Susie L Feb 05, 07:03 PM CST #
Those who have done the mock caucus: any idea of the time required by the process? It would seem that a 10:00AM start would give results by noon. I am assuming that arrivees after 10 are not able to participate. Whats an educated guess?
— Roger duRand Feb 06, 08:38 PM CST #
FOR HEAVEN,S SAKE,S PEOPLE….......IT WAS JUST A MOCK CAUCUS….IT WAS NOT MURDER…......GEEZ GET OVER IT ALREADY AND ACT LIKE GROWN UP,S INSTEAD OF CRY BABIES.All they where trying to do is to teach people how to caucus you too could have been there to LEARN….GET OVER IT AND GROW UP
— Linda Feb 06, 08:45 PM CST #
I am also under the impression that the Nebraska Democratic elite have already given their support to Obama. Sherman County did not send out preference cards to disabled residence, they but a tiny 1” by 1/2” notice of the caucus location on the back page of the local paper yesterday, have not sent out the fliers provided….
They know that the best way to control the results is to control the number of citizens attending the caucus.
Even on this site, if you click on “Our Candidates” you’ll be told, “This page will be updated as we get closer to the May 2008 primary.”
Are they trying to keep us in the dark?
— Blu Feb 08, 07:24 AM CST #