SUCCESS!!

Still waiting on my laptop, so this is pretty dated. Nonetheless, I wanted to sound-off on my caucus experience.

On a macro-level:

Looks like Edwards dominated in the South, winning a block of around 17 counties, including Jasper, where his former Maytag employee ads seemed to have an impact.

Hillary was incredibly successful in North Central Iowa and the West.

Obama dominated in Eastern Iowa and most of Central Iowa, including Polk, Story, Dallas, Marshal, Hardin, Grundy and many others. In Johnson County, where he won by the largest margin, he received over 50% of the vote.

Here's the Register's map for a look.

On a micro-level:

My caucus (IC precinct 3) had 208 people show up, which seemed like a lot, but I have since been informed that it was slightly less than four years ago. Though the majority of precincts saw an increase in turnout, the fact that the caucuses had been moved up to January 3rd prevented a lot of students from turning out in the dorm centered precincts.

After the first alignment, the O-Bomb was the only viable candidate, with both Richardson and Edwards just a few shy of the 32 necessary for viability.

After the reshuffling, both Richardson and Edwards attained viability. For Richardson, it was thanks in large part to the pregame speech and caucus-time wheeling and dealing of law professor Nick Johnson, whose blog is blog-rolled on Cornucopia's homepage. History professor Shelton Stromquist ably represented Edward's interests. He outlined his commitment to labor and universal health coverage, including a shout-out to Kucinich supporters that I believe won Edwards some second choice supporters that night.

As for Obama, the staffers and volunteers were running around madly, hopping on tables and issuing instructions, trying to make sure that their people weren't picked off. Every once in a while you would hear a cheer erupt from the Edwards or Richardson camps when an Obama supporter would have a change of heart. By and large, however, the Obama people stayed strong, ending with around 109 people caucusing for him. The final tally was Obama: 3 delegates, Richardson 2 delegates, Edwards 1 delegate. I'm not sure what the final equation looked like, but I feel like it must have been fairly close to Obama having a fourth delegate.

When Hillary's numbers were read and it was evident that she would not be viable, Obama supporters cheered (jeered?) the announcement with what I considered to be just a little too much enthusiasm. I overheard a couple of women say something to the effect of "I'm definitely NOT going to Obama."

So that was probably a bit of misplaced energy, but probably not all that determinative of where her supporters were going to go. If I'm a Hillary supporter, the absolute LAST place I go is to the Obama side, even if the Obamians hadn't taken pleasure in my downfall.

As expected, the caucus was followed by revelry. First at Joe's Place, where I drank heavily, won $15 playing darts, and watched the results roll in. And later at the Picador, where I danced my ass off and wished, like always, that I could break dance.

On to New Hampshire.

Gobama!