Ouch. I just flipped to CSPAN to see what was going on with my favorite candidate, and he's drawing all kinds of support (for an underdog), but Dodd, Biden, and Kucinich supporters have chosen from the big 3 as their second choice. If they'd all just band together under Bill Richardson, they could pull off a huge upset!

Cacucus and Primaries do much more - especially in the early voting - than annoint winners. They trim the field, and in doing so, give greater presence to those who survive, as well as prevail.

With Richardson's 4th place finish in Iowa, he is guaranteed a seat (or podium) at Saturday's debate in New Hampshire. There will only be 4 or 5 candidates on stage (not sure if Biden meets the criteria or not).

Dodd has withdrawn as of tonight. The "official" field is down to 7, but in reality it's 4 or 5.

As the field narrows, each voice becomes louder - and as the campaigns garner greater coverage, and more and more voters start paying attention, more people will hear Bill Richardson.

While tonight may not have been the success we had hoped for, it is far from a defeat.

Our candidate, Bill Richardson is "in the arena", to quote Teddy Roosevelt.

Let's keep our commitment strong, give our thanks to each and every volunteer who spent an hour, a day or a month (or more) in Iowa - and those who will do so in New Hampshire - and all the states to follow.

The next President will be on stage on Saturday night in New Hampshire.

It's up to us to let people know the next President is Bill Richardson.

Joe Biden just withdrew.

In our precinct this evening, we had 55 Richardson supporters, but we needed 63 to be viable. In other words, Richardson had 13% of the total vote, but, due to caucus rules, we walked away empty-handed. So don't let the low Iowa numbers fool you, Richardson is definitely in the double-digits in the Hawkeye State!

We've had record turnouts in Precincts all over Iowa tonight.

Our tiny little precinct turned out 222, I know that doesn't sound like much, but the last caucus turned out 120... so WOW!

As I drove to our little rural school for the caucus I was amazed at the lines of headlights coming from all four directions. From north and south on the gravel roads, from east and weston the highway... lights

All of a sudden, I, the ever practical ... ever sensible... flashed to the movie Field of Dreams and the line of headlights shining as far as the eye could see... and I got this rush of adrenaline, a shiver down my spine, and nearly a tear in my eye.

This is really what it's all about, a community coming together, taking their responsibilies as citizens seriously, knowing that this in the one moment in time our voices really count. As I'm parking the car my heart beats faster and I can hardly wait to get into that building and be a part of all this once again.

We aren't going in there to put a piece of paper in a box or to pull a lever or to punch a button. We are going in there to stand up for our candidate, convince others to join us, make speeches and finally choose delegates.

I hurried to the line to sign in, a line just long enough for me to say, Wow, what a turn out. I take my turn, and as most before me, am greeted by a marvelous lady who's known me all my life, calls me by name and chastised me for arriving at nearly the last minute... as I'm sure she did to dozens of others! :)

We stand around catching up with friends and neighbors, make last minute dashes to the restrooms and finally assemble in the gym to begin.

A caucus is an incredible concept and one I wished the entire country shared. For once in the process that is our elections you literally get to stand up for the candidate you believe in, your voice is heard and your arguments for or against a candidate matter. They never really do in a simple voting booth.

We take our seats in the gym, and they begin the head count. After twenty minutes and no agreement in the totals they finally have us stand up and count off one by one! In a strange quirk of fate I counted off at 81, the very year I stood in that gym and accepted my high school diploma.

We are amused but patient. They finally announce our record turnout of 222. 34 people are needed for a group to be viable.

I look around the room anxious that my candidate, Richardson, my not have enough to be viable. But determined I will do my best to convince other non-viable groups to come to our camp. Mentally rehearsing my own little Richardson sound bites.

We are finally told it's time to form our groups and the whole gym full of people stands up and moves enmasse to the various signs for the candidates posted along the walls.

As I walk towards the Richardson sign I'm amazed to see a dozen or so already there. The smiles I see get bigger and bigger as we start to look around at more and more people headed in our direction. I'm not even seeing the other candidates groups. The entire gaggle of Richardson supporters realized almost at once we may have a viable group, that maybe we did it! It was such a glorious moment. I think each of us thought we'd have to work hard to bring more people to our group or sadly choose another. But all those worries vanished in an instant. You could feel the delight. We were even laughing out loud so happy at the sight.

We quickly got organized, did a head count, and had 39 supporters. WOW! A viable group that would take 2 of the 10 delegates from our precinct.

Now comes the fun part. There are 20 for Biden, 8 for Dodd, 4 for Kucinich and a hand full of undecideds. It's time to get to work.

I wander over to the undecideds to convince a few of them to come to our group. The first guy I go up to looks at me like I'm something he scraped off his shoe and kinda backs himself into a corner. My though, Dude, you're in the undecided group... everyone in this room is gonna come up and try to get you to join their group. I'm relieved to see he pretty much treats all commers the same and move on.

I found 5 of our local firefighters who were supporting Dodd. It took about 10 minutes, but we won out over the Clinton supporter and they joined our ranks to make 44. We managed to get 2 more from the Biden camp to make 46. Then, sigh, lost one young man to the Clinton group thanks to the insistance of his wife. Alls fair in love and war I guess. :)

I was important to get some of the non-viable candidates people to join our group. Because of the way the percent of people in each group decides the number of delegates the candidate receives we knew just a few more to the Clinton group would mean our potential 2 delegates would turn to 1.

Can you imagine? For 30 minutes we talked and talked issues, qualifications, the Iraq war, you name it, to draw people to our candidate. And to keep 'em away from Clinton! :)

This is sooooo what a democracy is all about. Thoughtful participation by citizens taking time to have their voice heard. A caucus requires much more time and effort than a primary or general election. You have to want to be involved and committed.

The thrill in our group is palpable. We were giddly and all smiles and pats on the back and proud... so very proud.

Finally we have our second count. 45 & 2 delegates for Richardson, 52 & 2 delegates for Obama, 58 & 3 delegates for Edwards, and 67 & 3 delegates for Clinton.

Each viable group now gets a chance for one 3 minute speech to perhaps convince more to change sides... we all know its now pretty much over... but the Clinton speaker is desperate for just one more person to change to their candidate. If one more moves they get 4 delegates and we would be left with one.

Sadly for her and wonderfully for us, she muffs her speech by going over time and begging for that one person.

She doesn't get one. :0

And finally, since there are no more undecideds or non-viable groups and no one changing sides, our caucus is now sadly over and the numbers final.

But, we did it. We got our 2 delgates against all odds. As you've probably seen by now, Richardson only received 55 delegates from the entire state. But I am so very proud to have been part of 2 of 'em!

Our voices were heard and 45 people in the middle of fields of corn and soy beans in a tiny school gym made a difference and stood for their candidate.

And take heart, Mr. Richardson, talking with friends across Iowa who participated, you were quite close to having viable groups at all of 'em. If it had been a primary rather than a caucus the vote totals would've brought to a much closer 4th place finish than the delgate count indicates. That is the one drawback to a caucus...

But I wouldn't trade this sort of particpation in our democracy for anything in the world. And I wouldn't trade my little precincts skewed totals compared to the final outcome either. We are an independant and quirky group here and showed it tonight.

Thanks for listening... good night.

JC:)

Richardson was viable with the minimum number in our caucus because our precinct chair worked to recruit people from the non-viable groups. I'm afraid that many groups, seeing themselves non-viable, may have gone to Obama rather than staying and working for viability.

The Caucus Night Watch party tonight in Des Moines, Iowa was an amazing event.

Power the to the people blared from the loudspeakers as Bill Richardson entered from the back of the room and made his way through the people unto the stage.

I saw this as a major difference compared to any other major candidate. They usually take the front door and avoid the people. Here Bill Richardson was meeting with the people and shaking hands, and thanking people as he made his way to the stage. People shouted: "We want Bill, We want Bill", over and over again. Tonight was a very strong event for any supporter.

When Bill Richardson took the stage, he thanked everyone, from the very least, to the very greatest of people. He even took note and congratulated Obama, and Edwards.

Tonight was just one page of events, the next stage of events begin in New Hampshire, and from there Super Tuesday.

Tonight in the face of great opposition and great negativity from other candidates, a star was born, Bill Richardson has the courage and the experience to bring about change that this country needs.

Power to the People.

I'm proud of Richardson coming in fourth. Good job to everyone there! Maybe this can help Richardson get more press and media attention. He will also get more face time since apparently Dodd and Biden are dropping out. I've also heard Gravel is dropping out but I'm on his official mailing list (as well as Richardson's of course and other candidates) and have not heard anything official. I'm kinda sad Biden is dropping out because he was a nice addition to the "debates." It will be interesting to see who they support. I hope they do Gov Richardson.

We still made the board and I'm sure Richardson will work hard for all of us in NH. Lets hope they see the light after the list has been narrowed down.

I am continuously impressed by how many people like the Governor, even if they didn't caucus for him.

In the meantime, because we helped get Obama another delegate in my precinct, Richardson's supporters got to select a delegate. It was me.

Governor, I will keep fighting if you will.

To Alex, Kate, Daniele, Teresa, Jake, Tim, and all the others in the Iowa City field office, some for the stretch run and some for the biggest part of a year: thank you. It was an honor to volunteer for the campaign and work with you all. Your hard work, intelligence, creativity, and perseverance were an inspiration. I will miss you all.

Our precinct, the smallest in Coralville, selected three delegates. All along, I considered it a long shot to win one. But going into the caucus, I felt confident; from phone calls and canvassing I thought that we were roughly equal with Edwards, and could squeeze him out for the third delegate.

The Obama precinct captain was all smiles as I introduced myself to him while we were setting up. I had modest hope that they might help us out with a few people to become viable. He had other ideas, as it transpired. I am friends with the Biden captain, who had worked very hard and developed a following for her candidate from almost nothing. I had hopes that perhaps we could work together in some way. The Edwards people had no precinct captain, to my surprise, and were rather dejected, with a hand-lettered “Edwards” sign on some notebook paper as their only identifying mark. I had some friends among them, too.

As people arrived, I noted that they and we were running pretty much even, though Biden was about even with us as well. But people kept streaming over to the Obama corner....

All told, we had 118 people, a strong turnout for our little precinct: 20 needed for viability. We had eleven: all of the people who we had identified as supporters, plus some of the “leaners,” and some people we were not expecting. Edwards had 15, Biden 11, Dodd 4. Clinton had 28, and the Obama people dominated the room with 49.

I tried to get some cooperation from the Obama camp; no dice, even though they could have easily spared the nine people we needed for viability. Instead, they heckled me and tried to get us all to come their way, so that there would be only two viable groups and they would get two of the three delegates. Their captain took me aside and said “We can slam-dunk the Edwards campaign and put him out of the race tonight with an Obama landslide. You are wasting your vote if you don't join us.” I would have walked out of the room and gone home before doing that, especially after the way they had been heckling me.

I tried the four Dodd people; they were leaning more toward Biden. I talked to my friend the Biden captain. They were now ahead of us, so she wasn't budging, suggesting that we all come over to their side. The Edwards people were trying to get us, trying very hard to get someone, anyone, to join them. To their credit, without anyone in their camp that was willing to speak up or take a lead, they did their best and gave it a good try.

In the end, the four groups that were non-viable (Richardson, Edwards, Biden, Dodd) all combined into an “uncommitted” group for the third delegate. As I told the group, “None of us are happy with this, but it is the best we can do.” I thought that if Richardson were showing lots of strength elsewhere, keeping the Edwards group from winning that delegate was better than nothing.

I am surprised at how small the support was for Senator Clinton, and I was very surprised that the Edwards campaign couldn't even field a precinct captain. And I was not expecting the level of Obama support that was in the room, nor the arrogance they displayed.

When I went downtown to the Iowa City office and saw the numbers on the wall chart, and how few Richardson delegates we had, and saw the statewide numbers, it was discouraging. The Obama people were outside their headquarters (in the same building), celebrating in the street. Clinton people (likewise in the same building) were coming and going quietly: no celebration there.

I agree with Iowan for Richardson: the Richardson support in Iowa was stronger than the numbers indicate, because of the caucus rules.

As John Rice said above, we are still “in the arena.” I hope that there are a lot of people like those of us who ended up in our uncommitted group, dissatisfied with Obama, Clinton, and Edwards, and that these people will now rally behind Richardson.

Tuesday in New Hampshire will be very interesting.

I caucussed for Bill Richardson last night. In 2004 our precinct brought out 70 Democrats. Last night we had 194 - with 97 'new' Democrats registered. Several of the new ones came from the Republican and Independent side.

Our numbers broke out as follows:
70 Obama - 3 Delegates
54 Hillary - 2 Delegates
41 Edwards - 1 Delegate
29 Richardson - 1 Delegates
The delegates will go on to a county convention in March.

At 2 other caucusses in my area it broke out as follows:
147 Obama - 5 Delegates
86 Hillary - 3 Delegates
108 Edwards - 4 Delegates
67 Richardson - 2 Delegates

Edwards - 1 Delegate
Richardson - 1 Delegate

So don't let the numbers fool you. The way the Democrats do things do not telll a true story of the support of Governor Richardson.

One political analyst last night said - 'Look at the second tier candidates and their experience - Dodd and Biden a ton of experience and Richardson with a resume to die for!'

Keep supporting our great candidate!

In my precinct, which included Drake University, I am proud to say that I will be serving as a delegate for Governor Richardson. We were viable from the start, with 176 in our precinct, and 27 needed to get a "viable" rating, we had 34 at the first head count.

Clinton wasn't even viable after the first count. The room was psyched.

The Dodd and Biden precinct captains were desparate - even trying to form a viable "undecided" crowd, but that didn't work. We picked up 2 Biden supporters and 6 Dodd supporters! Unfortunately, we did lose two folks who wanted to help Obama pick up a 3rd delegate, which failed.

As it stood for our Des Moines precinct (one of over 100)(In order of votes received):

Obama - 2 delegates
Richardson - 1 delegate (me!)
Edwards - 1 delegate
Clinton - 1 delegate

The momentum is going strong, and many people that I have talked to at work today were caucusing for Richardson and missed being viable by one or two people, so I also in the camp of "there are a lot more of us out there than many think". I also think that is a major reason Governor Richardson continued on - despite his 2% showing in Iowa. The media all expected a concession speech, but I am sure his workers got back to him and said, "Go for it!".

It truly is starting to get fun now, lets get out there and enjoy the ride to the Richardson White House!

Come show your support for Bill Richardson @ our newly opened community:

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Hi....

This is very difficult situation....


Peter Parker
IowaDrugTreatment