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Posted: 11:14 AM Feb 6, 2008
Last Updated: 11:14 AM Feb 6, 2008

9 comments

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7:34 p.m. Caucus site-Robinson Middle School Wichita.

I would like to share my experience from tonight's Democratic Caucus. Even though I am slightly inexperienced in the political arena, I approached this event with great anticipation. Being that this was my first caucus I was curious to see what this storied tradition was all about. It was exciting to see so many other people with the same shared enthusiasm as they gathered around Robinson Middle School. However?.

I was unfortunately not well enough prepared to handle tonight's winter elements. I dressed quite warmly to handle the freezing temperatures, strong winds, and precipitation, but unfortunately I failed to predict the gross incompetence of the event?s organizers. After thirty minutes of waiting in line outside, I began to realize that one of the only reasons our line was slowly creeping forward was that dozens of people were giving up on ever gaining admittance to the building and were flocking back to their cars. As the weather began to take its toll on my body I finally joined the mass exodus rather than spend another half an hour trying to get inside and perform my patriotic duty.

Did I wimp out? Yes. Should I have been better prepared? Yes. Should the organizers of this event have had the common sense to realize that forcing a crowd that large to stand outside in the current conditions was not only irresponsible, but dangerous? I'll let you be the judge.

Sincerely,

Vince Evans

7:58 p.m. Caucus site-Newton. Caucus is just now starting, with Hillary Clinton supporters in one room, Barack Obama supporters in another. Crowd estimated at 1,000. Fire Marshal called in due to the overflow crowd.

8:02 p.m. Caucus site-El Dorado. Power outage hits the site of the caucus, the El Dorado Civic Center.

8:54 p.m. Caucus site-El Dorado

What is up with this? Every time I try to do something for Obama something dramatic happens to thwart my plans. Tonight was no different.

Matt stayed home with the kids b/c Amélie says she’s sick (who knows…but I’m glad she didn’t go). I drove to El Dorado, where the civic center was packed with people (a majority of them Obama fans).

It was kind of fun…for awhile. There was a lot of good-natured heckling between the Hillary fans and the Obama fans. The speaker guy got up and told us what we were to expect during the evening, which included 30 minutes to get ourselves in the right camp and convince any undecided people or Edwards people (there were a few of them there! Apparently they don’t watch the news….) to pick a camp. Then, we were going to count off. There was one little glitch, however.

The electricity went out. It didn’t come back on.
It was pitch black. It was insane! Then someone came in our room and told us we needed to start counting off b/c the fire marshals were there and were about to kick us all out. So, people started counting off. In the dark. I was #84, I think. Is that legal??? I mean, I could have counted off several times if I had wanted to. I didn’t want to. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and drive home. I drove home through blowing snow and sleet. I could barely see in front of me. It was insane. Absolutely insane! I’m so glad to be home!!!
Now I’m obsessively watching CNN and drinking a beer. I think I’m going to need more than one.

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Posted by: Anonymous Location: El Dorado on Feb 7, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Going to the Butler COunty Caucus was almost as big an adventure as going to see Obama last week. Well worth it! I had no idea there were so many Democrats in Butler County. The County Commission did a poor job planning for this. Most of them are Republicans so why should they care? The Republican Caucus for Butler County is being held at Century II. So unfair. Only in Butler County.

Posted by: Stacy Location: Derby on Feb 6, 2008 at 11:48 PM
I went to caucus with my mother at Derby Middle School. We live in Haysville. We got there at 6:15 and no one could figure out which door to go in. Every door we past was locked. Someone finally let us in a locked door. When we got inside we found a line that wrapped around several hallways and back up. When we finally got to the front of the line at 7:52 we signed our names and were asked at the door who we wanted to vote for. We went to the Hillary side. As we looked to the Obama side it had the same amount of seats taken as the Hillary side only there were several rows full of children (3-12 yrs)with one adult. When it was finally time to count (8:40 PM) they asked that everyone on the Obama side stand and they started to count even the kids. When we complained they claimed they were not counted but the Obama side had 71 more votes and were using a couple more rows (5 chairs per row)of chairs. I would like to know why kids and people who were not registered were allowed in the door.

Posted by: Chris Noordhoek Location: Sedgwick County Court House - Wichita on Feb 6, 2008 at 12:40 PM
I don't think the organizers were prepared for the large amount of people that showed up. We waited in line just over a hour just to get inside the door, allot of people could not handle the extreme cold and gave up and left, everyone huddled together to try to stay warm, It was not handicapped acceptable at all, We were letting people with small children and elderly people cut up in line, once in the caucus room it was nice but because the turn out was so great we had to go to another room in groups and be counted then we were told we could leave so they could get more people in the room at one time the line was 2.5 blocks long outside, People in line joked about we were all going to have phenomena then we would have the world record for the most Demarcates in the hospital at one time. Would I do it again ? Yes, It is a experience everyone should experience in their lives. I just hope accommodations for the people is better next time. I thank everyone for the great turn out.

Posted by: Barbara Location: El Dorado on Feb 6, 2008 at 11:13 AM
I attended with great pride in America; the place where things are done justly and fairly, but not here!! They were not prepared for the turn out, Hasn't anyone in the Butler Co. Commision been watching the news, or did they not care to prepare to move the Caucas should there be a historic turnout, such as Wichita did. The real problem is this, we were told at lockdown there were 689 attendees, funny the count came up to 710,UH! The lights went out yes, but as an American, we have A RIGHT to fair and due process, and should be able to trust our officals maintain the integrity of the vote. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN IN EL DORADO! One side was counted (Hillary)quickly, but it took a long time to decide the other number, yet no one was counting for quite a while, after 3/4's of the people were told to leave,a chance for the undecided to be swayed, This was a travisty! I am personally going to campain for a re-count. In a word or two, INCOPENTENCY, CORRUPTED;Obama family influence??

Posted by: Jennifer Location: Newton on Feb 6, 2008 at 06:24 AM
continued... because the line was still out the door and after that, it was still going to take forever to count everyone. The room was extremely overcrowded. So we finally get in the car to leave- and we're BLOCKED IN. People had parked so selfishly that they were blocking people in left and right. There were 3 rows of parking, and the 3rd and final row was completely blocked in. People had parked all the way across and on the ends to where there was no getting out. People eventually started leaving about an hour later- and then it took us over an hour to get home with the weather. I cannot understand why the "voting" was done this way- it was such a hassle that if I had known what it was going to be before, I wouldn't have gone. I asked someone there, why do they make us stay. She responded because they want to try and persuade you. If I could be purswaded who to vote for by a person telling me to- I shouldn't be voting because I am obviously not educated about the candidates.

Posted by: Jennifer Location: Newton on Feb 6, 2008 at 06:19 AM
I was amazed at the mass confusion last night brought. First, no one did a very good job at explaining what a caucus actually was. I was still under the impression that you walked in, voted, and left. Anyway, I went online to find our caucus site- and found out it was in Newton. We live in Park City, and work at Pawnee and Oliver- you do the math. It took us 45 minutes (with the weather) to get to the place and we got there right at 6pm. We walk in and the line is already out the door. The organizers are not very organized- and so no one has any clue what is going on. We stand in a line forever so that I can sign my name in a book. But then- my husband isn't in the book. He has a voter registration card, and I sent his registration in the same time as mine. So...we go stand in another line forever to get him registered and so that he can sign his name. Finally, I think we are ready to vote and leave. But alas...we now have to sit in a room. We got into the room at 6:55. By 7:45, we left

Posted by: Tatum Location: Wichita on Feb 6, 2008 at 03:27 AM
My sister and I attended the caucus at the Machinists Union. It was a great to be part of history and although not much can be said about the event organizers (very disorganized) much can be said about the dedication that was shown tonight across Wichita. I'm glad I was part of the 25,000 that got out and fought the elements to show support! It was alarming that our site was only counted once. Can we really be confident in the results? I also want to point out there were quite a few elderly and handicap people that attended the Machinist Union caucus and it was heartbreaking to see not only were there were not enough chairs, and they had to stand in line for a long time, but they were expected to make their way down flights of stairs with their walkers in had. I find it very disappointing there were no accommodations for the handicap or the elderly. Shouldn't caucus locations be handicap accessible? VOTE FOR HILLARY!

Posted by: Tara Location: Wichita on Feb 6, 2008 at 12:55 AM
I was at Robinson Middle School tonight. I was my first caucus. I was there very early- 5:45 pm because I needed to register. It was already crowded with a line out the door when I arrived - the line went all the way through the building. I was allowed to go up to the front to join the registration line. By 6:30 pm I was seated in the auditorium that was already almost full. There were groups assembled for both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. The party organizers were advising us that the line for the caucus was out the door and down the block. They had someone stand at the end of the line at 7 pm to advise anyone else that arrived after seven that the time had ended for anymore people to join the line- but we waited until everyone in the line by 7 pm was checked in, registered, etc. We did not proceed with the headcount until well after 8:30 pm- to make sure every person's vote was counted. People were hot, thirsty, tired-- but we stayed!!There were over a 1000 people in the

Posted by: Beverly Location: Wichita on Feb 5, 2008 at 09:05 PM
The doors opened at 6:00 PM. The line waiting to get in was still going strong at 7:30. There were so many that they did a mini caucus so that there would be more room. It must have been 2-3 times the people expected.

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