I Came, I Saw, I Caucused

When I was about 10-years-old, my dad took me to my first NFL game. The St. Louis Rams versus the Cleveland Browns. If you know anything about the 2000s Rams you will not be surprised to hear that they lost that game. I cried. How could my team lose at my first ever game?

That is how I felt last night after I caucused. Not two minutes after my precinct finished counting, we got word that Martin O’Malley withdrew from the race. The first ever NFL game I went to, my team lost. The first candidate I ever caucused for dropped out.

My precinct seemed to be the only O’Malley room in the state. When all the heads were counted, Sanders had about 253 votes, O’Malley had 112, and Clinton had 107 (full disclosure, none of these numbers are exact because I was too busy caucusing to take notes and I cannot remember).

I now understand why the caucuses only happen every four years, because they are exhausting. I arrived at my precinct at 6 p.m. because I was way too excited to wait any longer than that. It was a good thing that I dragged my friends there early though, because our caucus location was a 150 person lecture hall and there were 485 caucusgoers. Suffice it to say, we got seats. Not everyone was so lucky. We broke about 85 fire codes but we all survived, with people sitting on the floor and on laps and press standing on tables.

As if things could not get crazier, at about 7:30, Gov. O’Malley decided to pop by. I had not told anybody that I was going to caucus for him, but I was fangirling hard. He gave an inspirational and personable speech, and took selfies, and did the hot-guy sleeve roll up thing (probably because it was 100 degrees in there). Who could have known that behind that beautiful smile he was preparing for a withdrawal speech?

Not everybody was in our caucus room until about 7:45, so we started out behind schedule. Luckily we only had one realignment period for the undecided group. Both the Clinton and O’Malley camps breathed audible sighs of relief. The Sanders corner was too busy feeling the Bern to be worried.

I had a good time in my caucus group. I was with some friends, and we were just chatting and joking about running out of oxygen. The O’Malley representatives also brought cookies and all of my caucus dreams came true.

Caucusing was fun albeit exhausting. I know there are flaws in the system, like the fact that so many people are unable to caucus due to having to work. I understand that ballots are probably easier, especially if you are a Democrat who hates other people. But I had fun. Caucus season was quite the experience, from all the candidates I got to see, to participating in the big event itself with my peers. And who knows where I will be in 4 more years? It’s been a wild ride, Iowa.

But if I hear the word “caucus” one more time again after today, I just might lose it.