Comments on: iowa retrospective http://scatter.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/iowa-retrospective/ the unruly darlings of public sociology Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:23:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU hourly 1 By: tina http://scatter.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/iowa-retrospective/#comment-952 tina Thu, 03 Jan 2008 01:09:01 +0000 http://scatter.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/iowa-retrospective/#comment-952 QI: As I recall, you are free to switch allegiances as the night wore on, but I recall an explicit request not to do so from the precinct captain in order to maximize his bargaining power in the process. Groups are arranged by neighborhood; my precinct captain lived directly across the street from me, and I should add, was a very nice man. There is a committee that is in charge of the process for each caucus. They organize the room, talk to the precinct captains, and call the votes. And, on the pregnancy, I think that at least some of the failure to offer me a seat was due to the confusion in the room. I think people were worried they wouldn't be counted if they moved at all. QI: As I recall, you are free to switch allegiances as the night wore on, but I recall an explicit request not to do so from the precinct captain in order to maximize his bargaining power in the process. Groups are arranged by neighborhood; my precinct captain lived directly across the street from me, and I should add, was a very nice man.

There is a committee that is in charge of the process for each caucus. They organize the room, talk to the precinct captains, and call the votes.

And, on the pregnancy, I think that at least some of the failure to offer me a seat was due to the confusion in the room. I think people were worried they wouldn’t be counted if they moved at all.

]]> By: qualitativeinterloper http://scatter.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/iowa-retrospective/#comment-938 qualitativeinterloper Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:43:48 +0000 http://scatter.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/iowa-retrospective/#comment-938 This process has always fascinated and shocked me. I mean part of the deal should be that you get to vote in SECRET so this is totally contrary to that idea. Anyway . . . I need more details. What would have happened if you tried to participate. I mean, what EXACTLy happens. Is it called to order? Is tehre a moderator or person in charge? What would happen if you raised your hand to talk? What if you were supporting one person and your capitan decided he was going to allign with someone else and you refused to be herded to the other corner? Saying, for example, I still support Kucinich over Clinton. I mean, they can MAKE you switch your allegiance? That seems counter-democtratic. PS -- shame on people who let a very pregnant woman stand more than 10 minutes. That's just rude. It doesn't surprise me from the men, but the formerly pregnant women whould have been all over themselves to offer you a chair. This process has always fascinated and shocked me. I mean part of the deal should be that you get to vote in SECRET so this is totally contrary to that idea.

Anyway . . . I need more details. What would have happened if you tried to participate. I mean, what EXACTLy happens. Is it called to order? Is tehre a moderator or person in charge? What would happen if you raised your hand to talk? What if you were supporting one person and your capitan decided he was going to allign with someone else and you refused to be herded to the other corner? Saying, for example, I still support Kucinich over Clinton. I mean, they can MAKE you switch your allegiance? That seems counter-democtratic.

PS — shame on people who let a very pregnant woman stand more than 10 minutes. That’s just rude. It doesn’t surprise me from the men, but the formerly pregnant women whould have been all over themselves to offer you a chair.

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