My First Caucus

Idaho just switched from a Republican presidential primary to a caucus, and this was a new experience for nearly all of us.  

Even though Boise County is only 7200 people, the central committee decided that it would be best to have three separate caucuses, in each significant population center.  This was in Horseshoe Bend, so convenient for us.  The strategy was that on each ballot, the bottom vote-getter for the whole county was dropped from the ballot, and everyone recast.

Each candidate was allowed to have a representative make the case for him.  It turned out that only one candidate was organized enough to have appointed someone to speak in his behalf at our little gathering.  A former co-worker from HP, Jim Breuer, stood up to speak on behalf of Ron Paul, and he did a good job presenting the case for Ron Paul.

I decided to stand in for Rick Santorum.  I explained that I wasn't thrilled with any of the candidates, and I wasn't even in complete agreement with Santorum.  I also explained that I think Romney was the most likely to defeat Obama in the general election, but I was supporting Santorum to send a message to the Republican Party that traditional values and morality are still important.

Who counted the ballots?

Three "tellers."  Yes, the guy with the graying beard on the left is guess who?

It took three ballots for our county to go for Romney over Paul, although had it been only our meeting, Paul would have taken the day.  Some intermediate vote tallies on our low-tech device: