Post Caucus Roundup

Post Caucus Roundup

In Johnson County it looks like only 2 precincts (of 57) split into preference groups. One precinct had 2 Fallon 1 Judge; the other had 3 Fallon 4 uncommitted.

I'm thinking Fallon set out to work this and line up captains precinct by precinct, the others followed suit, and all of them failed. Based on the bar conversations, folks aren't ready to commit yet other than a a sense of who they like LEAST (Fallon and Blouin get mentioned most often in this context, though Culver gets dissed a bit too). But even their favorites seem to be more "least objectionable."

But now the convention strategy narrows; now there's a list of delegates. (Well, not yet; that's a fair amount of work yet.) A candidate could focus on that small universe and on getting commitments by early March when the county conventions happen.

Attendance was mixed. My precinct was on the high end with 16 people, the largest turnout was around 30 in Iowa City 17. But at least four places had three people, and in one rural precinct no one at all showed up. The only pattern I saw: a few of our precincts (like mine) have strong activist traditions and that's where folks show up. I'd say we're up from 2002.

As the week goes by I'll have more of a sense of turnout - I'm temporary co-chair of the credentials committee so I'll be working with this stuff pretty intensely between now and our first meeting Saturday.

Other caucus night reports from Drew Miller in Ames and Chris Woods in Des Moines.