Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 2, February 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

POLITICALLY SPEAKING:

Caucus participants needed: no experience required

By JAMES BUSH

Do you want a voice in the selection of the Democratic presidential nominee?

If so, you'll need to sacrifice a Saturday morning (Feb. 7, starting at 10 a.m.), spend a couple hours sitting in a room with your fellow Democrats, and most frightening of all publicly declare your presidential choice.

(Note: If you're a member of the George W. Bush Party, you can sleep in that Saturday.)

So what happened to our state presidential primary? Well, the Legislature officially pulled the plug on the primary at a Dec. 5 special session, but the fingerprints on the murder weapon belong to our state's Democratic and Republican party organizations.

The Demos refused to recognize the results of the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential primaries; choosing to disenfranchise poll voters and select national convention delegates through precinct caucuses.

Washington Republicans honored the 1992 primary results, but backed off in 1996 and 2000, selecting half of their national delegates through caucuses.

Like many voters, I pride myself on a near-perfect record of showing up at the polls. But I boycotted the 1992 and 1996 presidential primaries, because I couldn't see any reason to endorse a non-binding, "beauty contest" election through my participation. Nor do I think state government has any business spending $7 million in public funds on such a public farce. The presidential primary is dead; let's bury it deep.

As our state's Democratic Party bosses are the most to blame for killing our presidential primary (which, by the way, was mandated by the voters through a 1988 state initiative), I feel it is important for as many people as possible to participate in the caucuses, if only to make sure the results reflect the opinions of the entire electorate.

(For the record, most of the Washington State Democratic Party leadership is backing former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.)

Don't worry, you don't have to give a speech about why you're supporting your candidate; you just have to show up. It could prove the start of your own personal adventure in politics.

In 1988, I was living in Bremerton and working as editor of the Central Kitsap Reporter. I attended my precinct caucus with the intention of voting for Jesse Jackson, then going home. (The all-but-anointed Democratic presidential nominee that year, Michael Dukakis, had been largely silent on the issues.)

A total of four voters attended my caucus. The others were a staunch Jackson supporter, a shipyard worker who backed Dick Gephardt, and a rather disinterested woman who brought her son to the caucus so he could fulfill a middle school government class assignment.

Our precinct, such as it was, was assigned three delegates to the county Democratic convention. The shipyard worker, as a federal employee, wasn't allowed to serve in any partisan post. The disinterested woman wasn't interested. The kid was too young to vote.

This left me with the choice of either violating the lofty journalistic ideal of non-partisanship and becoming a county delegate or literally throwing my vote away.

I attended the convention.

There, it happened again. Busy counting the minutes until the convention was over, I gathered with the Jackson backers to elect our delegates and alternates to the state convention.

A very enthusiastic young single mother was in the process of becoming our last alternate, when someone mentioned that alternates are seldom seated at state conventions.

Facing the loss of her single day off from work, she tried to back out, so the elected chairperson (the other delegate from my precinct) looked around the room and spotted a familiar face: mine. (I hadn't ducked under the table quickly enough.)

Would I please save this woman's Saturday by serving as an alternate delegate? Oh, all right.

The state convention was uneventful, except for the time I was walking down a hallway and some guy stepped all over the backs of my shoes. I turned around and it was U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (he didn't even say "excuse me"). I wasn't seated and snuck out at lunchtime.

Now, I can't guarantee that every caucus participant will be sent to the state convention or even get stepped on by a sitting Congressman. But you will come away with the satisfaction of knowing that your vote counted: a feeling never enjoyed by this state's Democratic presidential primary voters.