Updated February 14, 2008 Legislative Action Day - February 18th
Meet your legislator! See the Governor in a town hall meeting! Meet your King County Legislative delegation for lunch. More details on the calendar.
Updated February 14, 2008 Final 34th Caucus Results: 70% Obama, 28% Clinton
Final (unofficial) results from the 34th District caucuses show 736
delegates (70%) elected to support Senator Barack Obama, and 293 (28%) elected to support Senator Hillary Clinton, with 15 uncommitted delegates. Detailed, precinct-by-precinct results are here. Furthermore, it appears that 10,960 Democrats attended caucuses in our 206 precincts. This is 50 or 60 Democrats or more attended many individual precinct caucuses, up sharply - probably by 100% - from the 2004 caucuses. We collected over $29,000 in membership dues and contributions from caucus-goers eager to elect a Democratic President and re-elect Gov. Chris Gregoire and our other Democratic elected officials. More details and precinct-by-precinct breakdowns will be posted here over the next few days. See also the West Seattle Blog which has many individual postings submitted by PCO's for their precincts. Statewide results are on the Washington Democrats website.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and his wife Sharon attended their caucus for precinct 1417 at
Lafayette School. The photo above shows PCO Jackie Dupras conducting that caucus. Precinct 1417 elected two delegates pledged to Obama and two pledged to Clinton.
Mayor Nickels has previously announced support for Obama and emceed Obama's rally at
Key Arena on Friday, February 8th. The photo at right shows PCO Gerald Smith conducting the caucus
for precinct 1408 at Lafayette. More photos on the West Seattle Blog.
Updated January 31, 2008
February Messeage from Chair Ivan Weiss
All Hands on Deck
Precinct caucuses are upon us, Saturday, February 9, and we need YOU to make them successful - for more reasons that we already have heard.
We have heard about the state party challenge, and the reasons for it. We have our goals for turnout, voter registration, and voter ID. Our members should know by now what they can do to help at the caucuses themselves, if they have not been assigned tasks already (If not, please DO ask your PCO or your Area Caucus Coordinator).
So this message is about the caucuses themselves, and why we conduct them the way we do, so that if you encounter voters who just don't get it, or who don't want to get it, you might share some of these perspectives with them.
Have we all heard these questions and complaints by now:
"Why can't we pick delegates with a primary?"
"Caucuses are not democratic."
"I shouldn't have to say I'm a Democrat."
"I want my open primary back."
Certainly I have heard all of this - even at Democratic Party meetings. Here's what I tell people. Maybe it will be helpful.
The "open" primary isn't coming back. Court after court has ruled it unconstitutional. Parties can set their own rules for choosing the candidates who will represent them in a general election. In other words, general elections belong to all the people, but primaries belong to the parties.
There's a good reason for that. Remember Ellen Craswell? She thought we were all working for Satan. Yes, THAT Satan - the devil. In Ellen Craswell's world, if you didn't share her fundamentalist religion and her righter-than-right-wing politics, you might as well be an instrument of the devil. That meant me - and you - and all Democrats.
That sounded good to me, so I voted for her - for Governor - in the "open" primary. I wanted her to be the Republican nominee, and the law said I could, so I did what the law allowed, and so did a lot of other people.
And we got our wish. Our dear Ellen was the Republican nominee for governor in 1996, many voters looked upon her with horror, and Gary Locke duly trounced her.
Were the Republicans happy about that? They were not, so they joined with the Democrats in the successful challenge to the "open primary."
We don't have partisan registration here, like most other states have, so to vote in a primary or to participate in a party's caucus, voters are required, by law, to state a preference for one party or another. Some voters don't like that. But it's the law here.
If our "pick-a-party" primaries survive the final legal test, at the U.S. Supreme Court, look for the Grange and other enemies of partisan politics to submit an initiative that would make all statewide races nonpartisan. We hope that no one who reads this newsletter would sign that petition or vote for it, but we'll deal with that when it happens.
The Democratic Party decided, for several reasons, to select its delegates for the state and national nominating conventions with caucuses instead of primaries.
We want people to participate. We want them to engage their neighbors in political discussion and to organize for action with like-minded Democrats. That might sound trite, but experience tells us that it works, especially in the 34th District. If we can organize to select delegates for a national nominating convention, we can organize to accomplish many other things, from fixing potholes to electing presidents, and everything in between.
We understand that not everyone can attend a caucus, and that all voters can fill out ballots for a primary in their own homes. But there is a large positive tradeoff to holding caucuses that I like to emphasize, and usually it stops the critics right in their tracks.
We put our money where our mouth is. We fund our own caucuses, and we staff them with volunteer labor. Unlike primaries, our caucuses do not cost the taxpayers one thin dime. And all Democrats are welcome to attend, if they can. By contrast, the "beauty contest" primary February 19, which will not select a single Democratic delegate, will cost the taxpayers $9.7 million, according to the Seattle P-I.
Everyone is forced to pay for a primary, whether they participate or not. If we caucus, we pay our own way. We think that's fair. We think it's "all the democracy you can handle." I hope this is helpful. Have a great caucus, and see you February 13.
Sat, February 9, 2008 Washington State 2008 Caucuses
• All caucuses start at 1:00 PM. See the caucus page on this website for locations and more information.
Tue, February 12, 2008 Viaduct and Central Waterfront Planning Meeting
• WSDOT, King County and the City of Seattle are hosting a series of open houses to share the latest information on the viaduct’s central waterfront planning and our new approach for determining a solution. At each meeting, you will have the opportunity to talk with program staff and comment on how we evaluate options - we have set aside time for public comments.
• First open house scheduled in West Seattle: 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., Tues., Feb. 12, 2008 - public comment period begins at 6:30 p.m.
• New Cooper Elementary School, 1901 SW Genesee St., Seattle
• More info: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct/Calendar.htm
Monday, February 18, 2008 Legislative Action Day in Olympia
• Visit your legislator in Olympia.
• Event Kick-off: The events starts at 10:30 in the Capitol Building—the Columbia Room. Welcome and warm up for advocacy for the day!
• Have a lunch with your King County legislators from 11:45-1pm. Box lunches for $5.00.
• Town Hall meeting with the Governor from 1-1:45pm.
• Schedule meetings with your local legislators—call and make the appointments this week for early morning (before 10:30) or in the afternoon (2pm or later).
• The 36th LD has a bus for the day and may have openings. To find out more email Pete Mills at petemills@gmail.com.
Monday, February 18, 2008 Washington Dems Crab Feed and PCO Training
• Washington State Democrats Annual Precinct Committee Office (PCO)/Party Activist Training and Crab Feed with special guest Sen. Jon Tester of Montana
• 10:00am – 5:00pm PCO/Party Activist Training ($10 per person - with lunch). St. Martin’s University Pavilion, 5300 Pacific Ave SE, Lacey, WA 98503
• 5:00pm Crab Feed with special guest Sen. Jon Tester of Montana ($40 per person - $10 children 12 and under)
• Details at www.wa-democrats.org/crab or buy tickets online and for questions contact Shawna Ousse
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Primary Election
• Polling Places open 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM
• See King County Elections website for details
• The primary is NOT used by the Democratic party to choose a presidential election nominee. Democrats should attend the caucus on Feb. 9th.
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