Super Duper Tuesday

At exactly 7PM last night I reported to my precinct DFL caucus to cast my lot with fellow neighbors and drop civic science on them all. Luckily for me, John Edwards had just burped some mention that he was out of the race before most Minnesotans were able to get to their caucus. That made convincing people to throw their vote behind Dennis Kucinich that much easier. Actually it wasn’t that tough. Turns out my precinct is a pretty progressive one. No one seemed really gung-ho to get behind John Kerry. From the people I talked with who were going to vote for Kerry, they spoke in that leveled tone you expect to hear from someone who has just had to shoot their dog in order to put it out of some terrible misery. After an hour passed and the votes were finally counted they broke down as follows:

Edwards: 20
Kerry: 18
Kucinich: 12
Clark: 1
Dean: 1

As for the Kucinich vote, we were a few points under the 17% that he got throughout the entire state. After the votes were tallied we got a pep speech from our Ward 11 Council Member, Scott Benson. Who, it turns out, speaks exactly like you would expect after looking at his photo. A real condescending energetic circus clown kinda guy. He made it clear that one of the central battles being fought in the Ward is the exorcism of the two shady motels that run South on Lyndale Avenue. They are apparently the last two holdouts in a Ward bent on some serious gentrification. Scott assures us all that the two motels have both signed binding legal agreements to clean up their act. Part of which means they both need to “strongly consider an MPD suggestion to increase its room rates as a way of attracting better clientele”. It doesn’t get any more clearcut than that.

As the caucus lingered on we passed about five progressive resolutions. One resolution demanded the US pull out of and work to put an end to NAFTA and the WTO. Another requested that the US should follow international laws and treaties when it comes to Nuclear Weapons. Two other resolutions fought to refund education and head-start programs and then this last resolution:

Security through International Cooperation:
The U.S. must renounce the doctrine of preemptive war and work with the United Nations to resolve serious, international problems such as terrorism, genocide, nuclear prolifiration, and tyrannical regimes, through the use of diplomacy, the promotion of democracy, focused nonviolent intervention, and peaceful conflict resolutions.

All in all it was a fun time. The highlight of course was the sheer number of humans that came out. Record attendance everywhere. The people seemed determined.