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| Caucus In Moapa Valley | ||
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| Tim Robison Moapa Valley Progress The morning of Saturday, January 19, was crisp and 9:00 AM came early for Moapa Valley’s Republicans. By 11:00 AM, the sharpness of the morning air had dulled with the rising sun as local Democrats emerged from their private lives and, as had the GOP two hours earlier, took up their public duties in the earliest Caucus in Nevada history. As time for the caucus approached, the check-in officials were told to go to the precinct rooms and continue the check in. Because of the heavy turnout, some of the classrooms proved too small for the number of people in the precinct and had to be moved to larger rooms. |
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The procedures for the caucus was fairly simple: organize the precinct by selecting a chair and secretary, select delegates to the county convention; then select a presidential candidate. Depending on how well the various precinct chairs understood the ins and outs of Roberts Rules of Parliamentary Procedure was how well the meetings were conducted. As with democracy everywhere, none of the precincts were particularly efficient but some got out in an hour and some took two or more hours to finish. The local Republican caucuses were not without some confusion. County Republican Party officials seem to have miscalculated the number of Valley Republicans willing to get up and exercise the franchise and had sent too few ballots. Local caucus organizers used sheets of blank paper so that everyone could vote. In addition, a few participants were uncertain of their precinct and there was no easy way to find out. Precincts were thrown in together to fix the problem of people not knowing which precinct room to go to. | ||
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In the end the results were clear. Among the Valley’s GOP, the candidate of preference was overwhelmingly Mitt Romney, with over 90 percent of the Moapa Valley’s Republican vote.
The halls of MVHS were not as crowded with the Valley Democrats; partly because there were not as many, and because the Democrats caucused at more than the one location. The method of caucusing for the Democrats was more physical than the method employed by Republicans. Candidate supporters set out signs in precinct rooms and those wishing to support a particular candidate had to physically stand with their candidates group. | |
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The precinct chair then counted the number of supporters for each candidate to ascertain the viability of the candidate in the precinct. If a candidate was deemed unviable, due to lack of support, that candidate’s supporters had to pick a new candidate. In the Democratic precincts, there were locations in the caucus rooms allocated for observers and the press, and for people who were yet undecided as to which candidate they were going to support. The chair of the precinct allowed for two-minute speeches on behalf of each candidate. In the Logandale Democratic Precinct which met in the Ron Dalley Theater at the High School. The Edwards supporters’ oration turned into more of a Debate with the Clinton camp than a speech of support for Edwards. The precinct chair, however, quickly restored order and the Obama supporter spoke for two minutes on the reasons to support the Senator from Illinois. In the end, however, the local Democrats, as with those of the State, chose Hillary Clinton as their presidential candidate. Though she did not win as handily as did her winning Republican counterpart, Senator Clinton at the end of the day was the viable candidate with the most support, with Senator Obama coming in second. In the caucuses of both parties, as soon as it was over some bolted from the room while others lingered to find out the results. Some asked what they had to do to get rid of the caucuses and go to a primary election system. But others seemed to have had a great time. The Democrat Caucus went off in a more orderly manner than did the Republican Caucus. This may have been because of smaller numbers or, perhaps, due to better organization. Due to the open nature of the Democratic Caucus the arguments between factions was certainly more heated but it also made the Democratic Caucus more interesting to observe. Ultimately, both parties’ caucuses in the Valley were well attended and participation was robust in both political wings of the Valley. | ||
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