Democracy's Rewarding. And Dull.

By Robert Wilonsky Tue., Mar. 4 2008 at 9:28 PM

Categories: Politics

Far as you know, this is not Noah Bailey.

Just got back from my caucus at Eduardo Mata Elementary School in East Dallas, where 99 people showed up (approximately one third of our voter turnout). Personally I was hoping for some more fireworks -- you know, a couple of thrown chairs, some screaming, angry protesters, passionate arguments about the filmography of Rob Reiner, etc. -- but everything was very civil; just a bunch of neighbors getting together for some old-fashioned democracy.

We all showed up around 7:15 (save for two stragglers at 8), split into a couple of alphabetical lines in the library and made our mark. That part took a while, because old people write slowly and have trouble reading small type, but once the votes were counted, we were split in to two groups to assign delegates, a fairly quick process for the 37 of us in the minority (the other side could still be up there).

As far as I could tell, it was also a room full of real, honest-to-goodness Democrats, with any line-crossing Republicans strictly on the down-low and absolutely none of the fabled undecided caucus-goers. And I really, really (really) wanted to see one. More than anything. --Noah W. Bailey

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