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If you know me, you know I love me some politics. This 2012 election has been fun to watch so far. I have followed very, very closely since I got back to full internet service, reading hundreds of articles, visiting campaign websites, watching videos, and even listening to CNN and FoxNews babble on endlessly about it. All the hype built up to the Iowa Caucuses, and let me tell you, they did NOT disappoint!
I tuned in at about 4:30 yesterday to the pre-caucus coverage. I listened to that on different channels before settling to CNN when the caucusing started. CSPAN was covering one caucus from start to finish, so I flipped to that for a bit to watch. It was there that I saw just how really neat the caucus process can be. Each candidate can have someone speak for them to try to convince the voters to their side. This can be someone appointed by the candidate, or just a supporter from that precinct who decides to speak. This particular precinct was a small one in Treynor, Iowa. Three delightful, bearded, liberal wackos, I mean, college students, spoke for Ron Paul, the chairman of that caucus actually spoke for Santorum, a lady whose speech highly resembled a church talk spoke for Mitt Romney, but the really, really cool part was a fellow who stood up for Michelle Bachmann. They asked if anyone wanted to speak for Bachmann and no one got up. They asked again and just before they moved on, a feller got up and said he would. Slightly nervous, he got up there and made a pitch for Bachmann. You could not recreate just how awesome it was. It was, to me, democracy at it's finest. He started out introducing himself and then said "I don't know Michelle Bachmann and she has no idea who I am either, but..." and then solidly laid out why he likes her and supports her and why he thinks his neighbors should. One of my favorite parts was when he linked one of his ideas to farming and the people there who were farmers. It was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. He closed by saying they should give her a chance and vote for her.
Anyway, after hearing the speeches from Treynor, I flipped between the channels waiting for results to come in. Back on CSPAN I watched them count the votes and report them. In that precinct, Santorum edged out Romney by 9 votes. Once the votes really started coming in, it got very exciting. Ron Paul had a good lead at the start, which scared us. Then Romney jumped up, then Santorum jumped up, then Paul, then Santorum, then Romney. It started looking bad for Romney and he had fallen back a good bit, but then he jumped back into it. After a good two thirds of the votes were in, it was clear Paul would take 3rd, and then it got even MORE exciting. As precincts reported, the lead was never more than 500 for Mitt or Santorum. It switched back and forth and back and forth. As the percent of reported precincts went up super slowly, the race grew tighter and tighter. Santorum by 50, Mitt by 40, Santorum by 115, Santorum by 130, with almost 98% of the vote in Santorum held on, but then it jumped to Mitt by 13, then Santorum by 5, at one point with 99% in, Mitt led by one vote, then it held steady forever as we waited for one final precinct to report in. Santorum led and CNN knew that the county the precinct was in was heavily favoring Romney. We knew it could be enough to swing Romney to the lead, but we had to know the precinct. In what I think was brilliant reporting, CNN called the chair of the county GOPers. As you may have read by now, they were able to tell CNN the final numbers for the county that had been reported, which included the missing precinct. That gave us the first unofficial report that Romney had won. Soon after, people at the Romney camp were informed of a victory, and soon after, the Iowa GOP made the official announcement that Romney had won by 8 votes. If you haven't yet, you have to see the video about Carolyn and Edith, the ladies that saved the night and who are now CNN's favorite ladies.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/carolyn-edith-unlikely-stars-cnn-iowa-caucus-coverage-153429166.html
So that was my day yesterday; 9 hours of being glued to the television. It was awesome, I loved every minute of it, and GO MITT ROMNEY!
Songs of the day are from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Enjoy "Keep on the Sunny Side" and "I'll Fly Away".
I tuned in at about 4:30 yesterday to the pre-caucus coverage. I listened to that on different channels before settling to CNN when the caucusing started. CSPAN was covering one caucus from start to finish, so I flipped to that for a bit to watch. It was there that I saw just how really neat the caucus process can be. Each candidate can have someone speak for them to try to convince the voters to their side. This can be someone appointed by the candidate, or just a supporter from that precinct who decides to speak. This particular precinct was a small one in Treynor, Iowa. Three delightful, bearded, liberal wackos, I mean, college students, spoke for Ron Paul, the chairman of that caucus actually spoke for Santorum, a lady whose speech highly resembled a church talk spoke for Mitt Romney, but the really, really cool part was a fellow who stood up for Michelle Bachmann. They asked if anyone wanted to speak for Bachmann and no one got up. They asked again and just before they moved on, a feller got up and said he would. Slightly nervous, he got up there and made a pitch for Bachmann. You could not recreate just how awesome it was. It was, to me, democracy at it's finest. He started out introducing himself and then said "I don't know Michelle Bachmann and she has no idea who I am either, but..." and then solidly laid out why he likes her and supports her and why he thinks his neighbors should. One of my favorite parts was when he linked one of his ideas to farming and the people there who were farmers. It was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. He closed by saying they should give her a chance and vote for her.
Anyway, after hearing the speeches from Treynor, I flipped between the channels waiting for results to come in. Back on CSPAN I watched them count the votes and report them. In that precinct, Santorum edged out Romney by 9 votes. Once the votes really started coming in, it got very exciting. Ron Paul had a good lead at the start, which scared us. Then Romney jumped up, then Santorum jumped up, then Paul, then Santorum, then Romney. It started looking bad for Romney and he had fallen back a good bit, but then he jumped back into it. After a good two thirds of the votes were in, it was clear Paul would take 3rd, and then it got even MORE exciting. As precincts reported, the lead was never more than 500 for Mitt or Santorum. It switched back and forth and back and forth. As the percent of reported precincts went up super slowly, the race grew tighter and tighter. Santorum by 50, Mitt by 40, Santorum by 115, Santorum by 130, with almost 98% of the vote in Santorum held on, but then it jumped to Mitt by 13, then Santorum by 5, at one point with 99% in, Mitt led by one vote, then it held steady forever as we waited for one final precinct to report in. Santorum led and CNN knew that the county the precinct was in was heavily favoring Romney. We knew it could be enough to swing Romney to the lead, but we had to know the precinct. In what I think was brilliant reporting, CNN called the chair of the county GOPers. As you may have read by now, they were able to tell CNN the final numbers for the county that had been reported, which included the missing precinct. That gave us the first unofficial report that Romney had won. Soon after, people at the Romney camp were informed of a victory, and soon after, the Iowa GOP made the official announcement that Romney had won by 8 votes. If you haven't yet, you have to see the video about Carolyn and Edith, the ladies that saved the night and who are now CNN's favorite ladies.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/carolyn-edith-unlikely-stars-cnn-iowa-caucus-coverage-153429166.html
So that was my day yesterday; 9 hours of being glued to the television. It was awesome, I loved every minute of it, and GO MITT ROMNEY!
Songs of the day are from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Enjoy "Keep on the Sunny Side" and "I'll Fly Away".
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