Marion's Blog

Democracy at Work - the 2012 Nevada Republican Caucus

I love being a part of democracy at work. I just got back from the 2012 Nevada Republican caucus. It was so much fun!

I've been to a caucus and blogged about it twice before. My blog about the 2008 caucus is here and about the 2010 caucus is here. Of the caucuses I've been to this seemed the most organized and the best attended. There were a lot of people there. The caucus was held at our local middle school. 

Registration didn't take long and then they sent us off to the classroom where our precinct was meeting. In my precinct meeting there were 23 people. We met in an American history classroom. I loved the quotations on the cabinet behind me.

First we elected a chair person and a secretary. My new neighbor was elected precinct chair person. She was efficient and did a great job. She is the one standing on the left.

The second order of business was allowing volunteers to speak for each candidate. My neighbor spoke for Romney and was quite convincing. She talked about watching Romney when she lived in Utah and how impressed she was with how he managed the Olympics. Someone else suggested we read Romney's plan for America.

Another woman spoke for Rick Santorum. No one volunteered to speak for Gingrich and when no one volunteered to speak for Ron Paul I said I would.

I am a life long Republican. I believe in small government. I am a fiscal conservative and I believe that usually free enterprise can do things better than government. But I do believe that government has a role to play. I have become convinced that everyone should have health insurance and that Obama care is a step in the right direction. I am pro choice and pro gay marriage.

When I spoke for Ron Paul  I was thinking about foreign policy. I still have not forgiven the Republicans and George Bush for capriciously taking us to war in Iraq and for running up our national debt. Because of George Bush I voted for a democrat for the first time in my life four years ago.

The president can't change fiscal policy without the congress but he can take us to war. After listening to the Republican debates I am afraid that Romney would invade Iran to prevent them from becoming a nuclear country. So I spoke for Ron Paul because even though he is a bit of a wing nut I am confident that he wouldn't start another war.

So anyway, the next step in our precinct caucus was for people to volunteer to be delegates to the county convention. I volunteered.

Next we voted and the chairperson and I counted the votes.The results were

Romney 14

Santorum 4

Gingrich 3

Paul 2

 

The whole experience was fun! I got to meet neighbors and as I said enjoy democracy at work. I even got to see Reno's mayor Bob Cashell.

 

If you would like to see all my pictures from the caucus you can see them on Flickr here.

I usually avoid talking about politics but you can see all my politics blog posts by clicking on politics in the category list to the right.

 

I Heard Michelle Obama and Harry Reid Speak Today

My friends Linda, Pat, Beverley and I went to the Women's Summit Reno 2010 this morning. 

The highlight of the summit was seeing and hearing Harry Reid and Michelle Obama. Harry Reid introduced Mrs Obama by talking about the important role his wife has played in his success and how Mrs Obama  plays a similar role for her husband.

Michelle Obama apologized for her hoarse voice which was a result of the cold she caught from her husband. She gave a great speech about the role women have played in our country and continue to play. I found it very inspiring. 

 

The whole event was fun. I got to shake Harry Reid's hand.

Over the years Beverley has met four Presidents and before today two First Ladies. I should have stayed with Beverley because she was the first one to speak to and shake Michelle Obama's hand as she left the stage.

Washoe County Republican Precinct Meetings

Saturday I attended the Washoe County Republican Precinct Meeting for my precinct. Two years ago when I attended the Republican caucus for the presidential election there were several hundred people and McQueen High School was overflowing. I would guess that 40 to 50 precincts meet at McQueen High School. There are 261 registered Republicans in my precinct and I have no idea how many Republicans in all the precincts that meet at McQueen.

The meeting started out with all the attendees from all the precincts in the entry way of the High School getting instructions. I would estimate that there were about 50 people in total attending. We split up into our precincts and went to separate rooms for the actual precinct meeting. There were two people from my precinct, myself and another woman. So I was the meeting chairman and she was the secretary. We elected ourselves as delegates to the county convention and central committee. Then we voted in the straw poll for our choices for the senatorial and gubernatorial races. Then we adjourned.

You would think that if you were a hard working well organized candidate you would try to attend the these meetings or at least have someone there representing you. It was interesting to note that only two candidates were represented. It makes me wonder if the other candidates even care about the people they would represent if they were elected.

It was quite impressive that Sharron Angle's husband was handing out campaign literature and she was at the meeting. Sharron Angle is running for the U.S. Senate. Angle and her husband live in our general area. She said she was going  to try to attend  all the precinct meetings around Reno. I think the other represented candidate was Brian Sandoval but I'm not sure. I talked to Sharron briefly and had my picture taken with her. I was impressed with her and I liked the fact that she makes her positions very clear on her web site. Many candidates don't. I was a little put off by the fact that another woman I talked to said that Angle is just too much of a right wing fringe candidate. My politics are probably closer to independent than to Republican but I find the whole political process fascinating.

The straw poll ballots were counted later in the afternoon at the Washoe County Republican headquarters. I got  an email with the results.

GOVERNOR
 
Jim Gibbons            45.6%
Brian Sandoval       41.4%
Mike Montandon     12.6%
Brian Krolicki             0.4%

U.S. SENATE
 
Sharron Angle         42.9%
Sue Lowden            18.4%
Danny Tarkanian    15.2%
Mark Amodei           10.0%
Bill Parson                  5.8%
Brian Krolicki              5.5%
Robin Titus                 1.3%
Chuck Kozak              0.3%
Mike Wiley                  0.3%
Brian Sandoval          0.3%

Overheard on the BART Platform

A few days ago I was sitting on the BART platform  waiting for my train and there was a woman sitting next to me talking on her cell phone. I overheard her half of the following conversation:

" She is 17 and pregnant with twins."

pause to listen

"Yep, That means she will be 17 with 4 kids."

more listening

"Right she just got out of jail. That is how she found out that she is pregnant. They do pregnancy tests when you go in."

more listening.

" She was picked up for prostitution that is why she was in."

And then my train came.

The Last one on the Freeway

Sunday night Duke and I saw the Cedar Walton Trio at Yoshi's. It was a wonderful show.

On the way home the traffic on the 880 freeway came to a complete stop. After we had been waiting a while Duke pointed out that there was no one behind us on the freeway. 880 is 6 lanes wide at that point and there wasn't a single headlight behind us. It is very weird to be the last person on the freeway.

We saw 4 or 5 ambulances going the other way and then saw a life flight helicopter take off a ways up the road. When we finally got up to the accident you could see a smashed car and a van on its side. There was an article about the accident in the paper this morning. Apparently the accident started on the other side of the freeway, the car went airborne on to our side of the freeway and then hit a van full of people. A four year old little girl was ejected and killed. So very sad.