A bunch of crows sittin' around

The last time I did anything overtly political was about 48 years ago. It was a Presidential election year, and the Democratic headquarters was fairly close to the junior high, formerly known as the high school, now known as the Sandpoint Events Center.

Often, during noon hour that fall of 1960, I would walk down to the headquarters, pick up my Kennedy buttons, go back to school and pass them out. Those were the days when you could have buttons aplenty-----for free.

A lot of my friends were Nixon lovers at the time----not because they loved him so much but because their folks were Republicans and you voted Republican no matter what. Back in those days, kids pretty much mirrored their parents' thinking.

Some of my friends had not so nice things to say to me when I'd try to get them to take a Kennedy button and wear it. That didn't matter to me, though. At 12 years old, I was passionately inspired by this eloquent young senator who had the audacity and "inexperience" to run for President in his early 40s.

In his case, the big issue was his Catholicism. Would America ever elect a Catholic? I remember hearing about Al Smith, who ran long before I was born, and never made it. Well, Kennedy won in a squeaker, and the Catholic mystique soon became a moot issue. I never regretted that childhood support of President Kennedy and cried my eyes out three years later when he was assassinated.

For four decades afterward, I simply went through the motions, usually disappointed in whom the parties were choosing----one time even voting for Pat Paulson when I couldn't stand either candidate from the two mainstream political parties. A lot of those votes were ho-hum in nature; some involved a little stronger passion. Both parties have been represented in my Presidential selections.

But no candidate until Barack Obama, a young, "inexperienced" and eloquent Senator who could break the Black barrier, has moved me to sneak out of the shadows, show my face, sign a form as a "Democrat for at least one day," and show up at what my mother envisions as a bunch of crows sitting around making noise.

I thought all day about whether or not to go to last night's Democratic caucus at the Panida Theater, and I didn't really know for sure until about 3:30 p.m., when I'd washed my hair and hurried up with chores, that I'd take the plunge and do it.

Besides my reluctance to wear my political leanings on my lapel---as I did last night with the Obama button Bryant Jones sent me---it was difficult for me to set off for town because of a blinding snowstorm and because of my perennial addiction as a news junkie. I didn't want to miss one minute of surfing back and forth on the cable stations to hear the latest nuance in the Super Tuesday election returns. So, it was definitely a sacrifice to leave the comforts of home and the TV set to attend the caucus.

My mother encouraged me to go, even if she does have her own inexperienced opinion of what happens at a caucus. She's not far off in her assessment, but the crows had no beaks. Instead, they were two-legged, short, tall, old, young, orange-haired, white haired, hair impaired, hearing impaired, loud, wealthy, wealth-impaired, opinionated, and enthusiastic for their individual candidates. They mostly sat around and made a lot of noise, so Mother was pretty accurate on that count.

I don't know if I will ever attend another caucus because there wasn't really a lot of organized action during the three hours I sat in my aisle seat in the raucous Obama section at the theater. I kept saying it appeared to me to be disorganized chaos, to which most people agreed.

I saw a lot of folks I know because people were continually walking up and down the aisle of the theater. Amidst those throngs came the volunteers with the food trays and those handing out any Obama material you wanted to have. I have several bumper stickers now.

Steve Elger was the only person I saw at the caucus wearing a button, not touting a Presidential candidate. I knew who he was because he was wearing a "Steve Elger" button and shaking a lot of hands. I finally asked the ladies around me if he was running for President. I later learned he's running for the State Legislature.

Some folks said later that the theater is not the best place to hold a caucus because nobody can really get together as a group to discuss anything. That was very apparent, but there was a lot of one-on-one visiting going on.

Two caucuses were held. In the first one, the results had been determined by those slips we had to sign at the door saying we were "Democrats for at least a day." More than 400 voted for Obama; 79 for Hillary, and about 30-some for John Edwards and another 50 or so uncommitted. The magic number to earn a delegate was 89, so only Obama had earned any.

People gave speeches after that to convince folks to roll over to other sides. Ivan Benson, who spoke for the "uncommitteds," took offense and said rather than "uncommitted," his group was "undecided," and it would take a lot more arm twisting for them to decide on any of the other three. I don't think any Obama people rolled over, but some of the other groups, in a second caucus, helped Hillary out so that she could have a delegate to the state convention.

Anyway, when that was determined, they said we could go home. I was glad I went but wished it would have been a bit more stimulating. I did enjoy seeing all the other Obama folks who certainly do represent a cross section of our community. I even saw Lawrence Fury there, proudly sporting his Obama sticker.

By the time I arrived home, all but the spinning had been completed on the TV set. It looks like this election is going to mean some rigorous times ahead. I also think I'll continue to wear my Obama button and keep on with my behind-the-scenes support. Other than that, I'll generally retreat back into my hole so that I never have to miss an election returns marathon again.

Nonetheless, like the 95 percent of more than 500 people attending last night who had NEVER attended a caucus before, I'm glad to have the experience of taking an active part in the political process under my belt. Plus, I have some extra Obama stickers if anyone wants one for their lapel.