I just got back from my precinct caucus. According to those that have been a part of this process over the past many years we had more people at the caucus tonight than they have had in the last 5 or 6 caucuses (we caucus every 2 years) combined. Rumor has it that throughout MN caucus locations are overflowing with people at both R and D locations (haven’t heard anything about the I’s).
After electing a president a secretary, talliers etc. etc. we finally got around to the straw poll. Surprising to me the results of the straw poll was that Romney accumulated more votes than the Huckabee, McCain and Paul together. Being we are a caucus state and this is a straw poll it’s hard to say how this will translate into actual delegates when all is said and done.
So other than being reaffirmed about the general quality of my neighbor’s thinking, what does all this mean?
First, while MN nice was in full force (over crowded caucus building, shortage of supplies etc.) there was defnitely a passion in the group. People weren’t there just doing their civic duty. The large turnout was driven by people who are genuinely concerned about this election. This was NOT a group of Republican zombies.
Second, I was really encouraged by the age demographics within the group. With all the talk about young folks scrambling toward BO you’d think there would not be any R folks under the age of 30! I’m happy to report that about 15% of our caucus were folks that were 25 or younger.
Third, I think the McCain folks anticipated getting whacked at least in this area of the burbs. We have been strong Bush supporters and have House representation that is VERY conservative. We had one (likely) McCain supporter who made a speech telling each of us that we needed to support the R party nominee whoever that ultimately was! Sitting out the election, according to this person, was never acceptable.
I’ll wait and see but it sounds like MN might go for Romney. However, I don’t know if that’s going to matter in the end. I just don’t know that he can overcome McCain especially if you assume that Huckabee’s delegates are likely going his way also.
I’ll end with a piece of advice for the McCain campaign that comes from my experience tonight….Rush and Ann Coulter are not the only two people who have no confidence in you as a conservative. In fact, I’m no longer the only person in my little corner of the world that agrees with them. There are lots of R people out here who have grave concerns about electing you President. Remember that we got our “You must vote for the nominee” lecture? At the end of that lecture a lady looked back at the party zombie and told him politely but directly, “There are breaking points for me which I can not go beyond. I will not vote for a candidate who goes beyond that breaking point. I will either sit it out or I may even vote for the other candidate.”
My advice for McCain is that there are many people who believe you have gone beyond the breaking point. Maybe you don’t care. Maybe you think that you can get enough of the I’s, the middle R’s and a few D’s to get you elected. If you’re interested in those of us who believe you’ve passed on, don’t tell us how we need to support the R, don’t tell us what a great conservative you are, don’t invoke Reagan’s name EVER again. If you’re interested in us, show us, between now and November show us by your action that you value our vote. If you show us, there’s a lot of people out here who are really concerned about this election and will help you. If you don’t show us, don’t be suprised when a large group of us just sit this one out.
Update……
McCain ought to be taking my advice but it appears he isn’t:
By Jed Babbin at HumanEvents.Com http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24859
According to my source, McCain has prepared a video featuring President Ronald Reagan to make the introduction. If McCain uses this video, it is very likely to backfire badly. This is the group before which Ronald Reagan said in 1975 that, "A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers."
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