I was browsing the blogs this morning, specifically, TalkingPointsMemo, when I noticed this awesome ad from the Obama campaign on TPM's front page.
Wow! An interactive map targeted to where I live! You can move the Obama "O" to your location, and it then asks you to put in your address and voila! Caucus Location! I was impressed, and began to wonder, are they doing this for every state? And is Hillary doing anything similar? In true blogger spirit, I set out to find out.
I have now lost two posts about the Las Vegas caucus to my evil browser, so this one is going to be a picture tour. I'll just say, for all the whining about caucuses - and they are problematic in many ways - the ones in Las Vegas were just awesome. Cocktail waitresses, cooks, maids, nightclub PR flacks, pipe fitters, random Las Vegans all came together in the Wynn casino on the strip in a gaudy ballroom to pick a President, and it was... exactly like Iowa. It was raucous, cheerful, and exciting, as that video above shows. People are all the same, and when they are empowered it's just wonderful to observe.
These two guys are holding signs that say 'I support the union I support Hillary', the union being the Culinary Workers whose leadership endorsed Obama. The signs were paid for by the Clinton campaign, which outworked and out-organized Obama.
My full picture set is here, or you can follow me on the flip for a guided tour.
Republicans predict that the Democrats and the media will both fight for a two-date caucus, where the Dems vote on the 5th.
The likeliest, although by no means assured scenario at this point: the Democrats, after some internal wrangling, yield and agree to a January 3 caucus.
Either way, the Republican Party has decided: the third it is, meaning New Years in Des Moines for all the presidential candidates and their entourages.
This will probably reduce youth participation in the caucuses. That said, though Obama gets a lot of credit for energizing young people, the contest between Obama and Hillary on this front is tight.
