This is not an event organized by the local government. No one is paid to do this. The people who organized this event stepped up and VOLUNTEERED. Someone had to do it…. and a bunch of people did.

If they had not stepped up, IT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED AT ALL.

You are saying that as you stayed out of it, and counted on others to step up to organize a HUGE and complicated event, with rules, laws, and logistics, that you are not happy they didn;t do MORE?

I talked to the organizers. They all work and have families! They met in the evening and on weekends! They called and e-mailed millions of times to get this done.

They got paid NOTHING. Broomfield would not of even had a caucus if they didn’t all do this.

The turnout accross the state was record breaking and none of the counties expected that many people and none could accomodate like they wanted. But you are expecting our volunteers to somehow know exactly how many to expect and run this thing as if it were professionally planned??

I am SORRY for the negative tone of my comments. I apologize to the person who maintains this blog….but VERY FEW things bug me more than hearing people who do nothing….let others take on all the work…and them BLAME them for not doing more!

Broomfield used to have almost NO ONE participating in the Democratic Party. I go to party meetings now in a very large and full room. I see people volunteering. I see hundreds upon hundreds caucusing. I see strong Democratic candidates running out of Broomfield and I see party organizers doing a GREAT job of supporting them.

I could NOT be more PROUD of our party, or the volunteers running it!

If voters had to caucus outdoors or didn’t even have any guidance for how to caucus, you’re right, you had one of the better run caucuses. Which, given my experience, is downright scary. If I’d shown up to find that I would have had to caucus outside (my car said it was 17 degrees F when I got out of it with my kids), I wouldn’t have even been able to caucus, and there would be no question about whether I’d do this again in 2 or 4 years – I wouldn’t. Plain and simple.

I’m thankful that I didn’t have to caucus outside. I wasn’t thankful for that, but with the perspective you’ve offered, I am now.

I hope you and the rest of the Broomfield Dems make an opportunity soon to sit down and write up a list of what went right, what went wrong, and brainstorm how to make ti better next time. Now’s the best time for that, while it’s still fresh in your minds.

Thank you for doing everything you could to make caucusing as smooth as possible – I really don’t want to imagine how bad it could have been if you hadn’t planned as much as you did. And again, thanks for commenting.

The reason it was held at Legacy , was because that should have been WAY more space than we could ever need. And having everyone together means that we can help people through a somewhat complex process.

But this year we obviously didn’t have enough space.

We knew there was extra excitement this year, so back when we started organizing we planned for 2-3 times the normal number of attendees. As we got closer and the excitement seemed to be growing, we increased it to 4-5 times the MAX attendees we have ever seen. Then increased it again to 6-7 times to be safe.

There ended up being about TEN times the number of people that normally show up. It was an AMAZING turnout.

But we had wanted to do so much more. We put a huge amount of time into planning it. We had specially trained people with yellow armbands that were going to constantly circulate throughout tables to help people. We had wi-fi set up and were going to go around with computers. We had an agenda to move everyone along on. And much more.

But there were just so many people, and it was so crowded that much of that couldn’t happen.

We did what we could. Everyone in line got in. Elderly and handicapped were accommodated. Everyone voted. It was all recorded. So it worked, but we wish we could have done more.

In some counties (NOT Broomfield) people had to caucus outside. In some places they did not have the step by step instructions we had (or they were not as good) and it was chaos.

I am sorry it was not better. Like all counties, we planned for many times what we have seen in the past and it still exceeded that.

Kevin

Second, as I left (with my two kids), the Head Guy in Charge (don’t know his name, but he was the one talking on the mike last night) stopped me. He apologized for all the confusion, thanked me for coming out, and took the bright side of “It’s wonderful to have so many people wanting to be involved.” As much as I thought the caucus last night was horribly overwhelmed, I think it was just so far beyond their expectations that I’m willing to forgive it. This time.

I went in as an Obama supporter, and came out as an Obama supporter, so in general I was happy with the outcome. I was not, however, thrilled with the process. To me, the idea that caucuses almost deliberately exclude anyone who has a night job, or is out of town that week, or can’t get someone to watch their kids…that’s wrong. Heck, I left work a good hour and a half early in order to pick up the kids, get home, and get dinner before it was time to leave again–if I didn’t have a job that allowed that, I would have been left out too. On top of that, my 7-year old, who was incredibly excited about the process, came out saying that it was “boring”–whereas, in a vote, I can explain the whole process, bring her in, and she can “help”. What kind of voter will she be in 11 years?

I was the chairperson of our much smaller precinct – 18 of us showed up – which I was able to handle with the help of my wife who was doing a good job of corralling the three kids and a competent Secretary who made sure everything was filled out correctly. If there were 40+ people there in that crowed room, I would not have been able to handle it. But with less than 20 everyone was able to have their say (even though they had to shout it at times) and there actually was some good dialog. I think these debates were more helpful for learning about the local candidates where I heard stories of personal interactions with them. In the end the presidential preference delegates ended up being split evenly in our precinct with votes going 2 to 1 for Obama in the state. I volunteered to be one of the county delegates so we’ll see how well run their convention is in March.

No doubt there’s room for improvement in the planning but I’m glad the morning light has brought a more positive memory for you.

Last night, I wasn’t even sure that I was glad I’d gone caucusing. I was thinking that my time would have been better spent with the kids in bed, watching TV or blogging instead. With a (reasonably) good night’s sleep, I’m glad that I went, as bad as it was for me. I don’t regret going.

I think that one single change might have altered my perceptions of the caucus – splitting precincts up to different classrooms, instead of putting everyone in the cafeteria.

This story has been submitted to Stirrdup. Your support can help it become hot….

It is a missed opportunity to impress that many people that the local organization will never get back however, with planning done months in advance, no one would have estimated the need for that much space.

Democracy isn’t a one night stand; it’s a marriage. The satisfaction you missed last night will be there if this is important to you and stay involved. I know the leaders in Broomfield well and you have never met a more dedicated or passionate bunch. I hope you stick with it but either way, I for one am so proud of Broomfield for showing up even for one night.