Wednesday, March 5, 2008

We did the "Texas Two-Step"!

I won't get political on my blog, I promise. But, just wanted to write a little about the "Texas Two-Step". If you follow politics, you know that the Texas Primary is a "two-step" process where you vote and you caucus. Its technically called a "convention" but everyone calls it a caucus because it works pretty much the same as the caucuses in caucus-only states.

Ryan and I hit the polls Tuesday morning before 7 anticipating long lines. Our precinct had about 20 people in line by 6:55. That group was split a little more than half going to the Democrat sign in table, little less to the Republican. This is probably not characteristic of The Woodlands demographic but is obviously characteristic of this year's primaries. We cast our vote and headed to work.

I left work and raced home (the traffic was nice to me for once, so were the lights in Tomball) to go to the caucus. We didn't really know what to expect, and most there did not. All you HAVE to do is arrive, sign in, say who you are for, and leave. I wanted to stay for the whole thing, but by the time we signed in, it had been an hour and we were both just not into staying anymore. The remainder of the evening would have consisted of counting the votes of those that signed in, determining the % of our 11 delegates would go to each candidate, and then picking those delegates. These 11 people then go to the county convention then to the state convention to determine the actual delegates that go to Denver. I think our precinct, being smaller than some in Houston, probably ran smoother and quicker than others.

So, I guess I really did the Texas 1.5 Step as we didn't stay to elect delegates but we did make our full vote count. It was neat to experience and is something we may never do again as democrats because I feel it will change before the next presidential cycle. And, if it stays the same, the likelihood of the next election making it to Texas without a candidate is small.

Mom and Dad... hope you guys plan to vote next week. Well, only if you are going to vote for who I voted for!

:)


Ps... I don't know how to do a"real" Two Step... you know, like the dance. I guess at some point, to become a real Texan, I must learn?

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