Caucuses give voters opportunity for debate

By Andrew Christiansen
for The Goldendale Sentinel

The Goldendale Sentinel/STPNS

February 21, 2008

GOLDENDALE, Washington (STPNS) -- Local Republican and Democratic parties, both reported excellent attendance at their local caucuses this year.

Julie Larsen, head of the Klickitat County Democrats, was pleased with the participation and turn out. "We had over 250 people show up. The atmosphere was pretty electric, people were excited, engaged and respectful," she said. "It was a much higher turnout than in years past."

Not to be outdone, Klickitat County Republicans, also came in high numbers to their local caucuses. "In the Goldendale caucus we had 53 people, which is a lot higher than usual," said Kathy Moco, a representative of the local Republican Party. "Everyone was charged up, but in a good way. No one got out of control and it made for a very exciting day."

After signing in and listing their presidential preference, everyone was required to sign an oath swearing that they were voting for the party whose caucus they were attending. From there, the people were divided by precinct and sat at tables with others from their area.

After listening to presentations by people supporting their candidates and other issues, the precincts decided among themselves who they would send as a delegate to represent their party.

"There were people of all ages and walks of life," said Larsen. "Some people even brought their kids so they could prepare for their future."

The Goldendale Republican caucus had a surprise candidate winner. "We had a preponderance of Ron Paul supporters, way more than were polled in the state," said Moco. "They had gotten together and organized so that about two-thirds of the people were there for Ron Paul."

Some of the Democratic precincts were very tight when it came to deciding who would win their delegates. If there is a tie and no one is willing to change their vote, the position is officially decided by a coin toss. "We did have one precinct looking for a quarter," said Larsen. "It didn't greatly change the outcome and it was fun as a change."

Of the 88 delegates available for the county Democratic Party, 65.9 percent voted Obama, 31.2 percent voted for Clinton, two percent were undecided and less than one percent voted for Edwards.

Larsen added that while the actual caucuses were exciting there still was some confusion on how the process worked and a few people got snowed in.

Final tallies from the Republican caucuses were not available at press time.

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