Our Iowa Caucus

Ok, friends, here's the quick and dirty of our caucus experience:

The Democrats of this Mork-Speirs family report to the Knox Presbyterian church down the road, the designated meeting space for the Democrats of our neighborhood zone.

The church is packed. Standing room only. The kid sitting next to me hands over a 64 page booklet of Barak Obama's platform.

I think we're breaking a fire code. I double check proximity to emergency exits.

The Hillary campaign gives out free food, making Aidan so happy but he's still an Obama supporter. ("Because he has the most commercials.") My son garners a bag of chips, five cookies, and one HOPE identification badge. Amanda commands two cookies, yet remains undecided.

They keep coming in. Through the church door. More and more.

We're lucky there's a pew for us. Others stand in this room and around the state.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!" The friendly caucus chair opens the meeting. "There are choir bleachers up here if you're looking for somewhere to sit."

"Bear with us and this incredible turnout. This is happening all over Iowa."

People bring chairs up from downstairs. The meeting starts 20 minutes late so that everyone can get registered.

Caucus mathematics: to be a viable, a candidate needs the support of at least 15% of the total participants in the room.

We take a headcount, numbering off like school kids on a fieldtrip. 1, 2, 3. . .26 is me. . .the room claps at number 200. . .the total is 211. Sixty more than expected.

A little boy has to go the bathroom. His sister takes him.

You vote with your body at a caucus. We sit with the Obama people. After a second headcount we determine that our camp is up to 74 supporters who by now are sitting together in the basement fellowship hall, with no room in the sanctuary for this large of group. This allows us 2 delegates. We need 15 more people to get a third delegate, the count to be added to the state total.

"There's a group of undecided people in the hallway, who will go and invite them to the Obama camp?"

A black man.
A grey grandma.
A teacher from Aidan's school.
They all get up and go forth to chat with the undecideds. Everyone claps.

Biden and Richardson are not viable in this caucus. Their people start to trickle in. Clapping.

We've been here over an hour. Everyone is patient and good natured, waiting for the undecided to determine their clump of people, aka voting with their body. Mostly quiet chatter. Nintendos work great for a 2 hour caucus process. We just need a couple more people so we can eek out a third delegate. They come. We make it.

And you know the rest how it all turned out in Iowa.

Afterwards, we go to the private home caucus party in our family room, serving up TV news and popcorn. This evening of experiential learning is declared a victory as the kids are officially engaged with the presidential campaign. It's going to be a good one. Now, if we can just keep our candidate safe. The Charmer blog prediction: Mr. Barak Obama will have virtually no viable opponents. It's the rebound of the pendulum that swung so far over to the Bush administration.

Power to the people!

Goodnight friends and thanks so much for coming over to the Charmer blog.

With love, T

Some Good News from Kenya

Ok, so caucuses are in one hour. That means I still have time to post another dispatch from the Charmer Travelblog: East Africa 2000. I just want everyone to know that even with the current tragic unrest in Kenya, the quiet heros still outnumber the angry mobsters. We checked on our dear seminary neighbors, the Obagas, who were just in Nairobi for their daughter's wedding. They are OK. Here's a picture of Margaret Obaga, who graced my very first blog dispatch. She is one of the many people who saved Bob's life last year. And really, all of us, bringing porridge and chai to me and Mom Speirs, because it's hard to eat when you're in a long, slow panic. She's now a Ph.D. student.

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A poster in the lobby says “Chapa Kazi. Sio Mkeo Chapa Kazi..” Work hard, but don’t work on your wife. The characature is of a man chasing his wife with an ax. KAACR, LWR's partner, is very pleased to be in a new office. It’s a pleasant place -- with donated furniture from the French embassy, which has a heart for KAACR’s work – right smack in the middle of one of Nairobi’s sprawling slums. Their mission is to further the welfare and rights of children.

I wondered what exactly are ‘child’s rights?’ Coming from the states, this was not immediately apparent to me. I later found out that what they are referring to are some pretty basic things: food, clothing, education, protection, health.

KAACR started in 1989 with a $20,000 grant from LWR. “We didn’t even have a bank account,” said Joy, the CEO. LWR literally helped KAACR find a bank and start an account and assisted them in developing a strategic plan to help the children of Nairobi. “LWR is not just a donor, but a partner.” Here are some ideas of what “capacity building” can do for an organization and more importantly, the beneficiaries:

· Demystifying the constitution (deeply involved with the constitution, especially with issues relating to children)
· Gathered data on effects of debt on Kenyan children (I wanted to ask more about this, but didn’t have the chance and wondered if Robin Walter did when she visited.)
· Watches legislation in the parliament, for example, refugee children are not included in refugee legislation. KAACR watches legislation closely and tries to make an intervention before it gets to the floor to ensure that children’s rights have been considered.
· Teaches parents: Poverty isn’t an excuse for abuse.
· Translates the UN rights of the child to daily life of slum children
· 1999 was KAACR’s 10th anniversary – over 1000 children came to the celebration
· teaches children how to help each other – from simply mending each others’ clothes, to creating “protection rings” to rescue each other from violence.
· One program: “Child Rights Clubs” -- now has 40 clubs formed with a total of 1,000 members. Oldest club is 7 years. Many of the clubs are in the slums. (I would later visit two clubs.)
· Works on issues specific to the girl child: early marriage, keeping in school, teaching respect
· Trains social workers, police officers and lay counselor on how to be sensitive with children

LWR colleagues offer congratulations on the wonderful development of the organization. LWR is all about relationships. We are not just a “donor” – we are intimately involved with the people and programs we support. They want to tell us about their progress. Like a beautiful marriage, we work together to support similar values. KAACR CEO, Joy, said, “LWR helped us to walk, crawl and everything else.”

LWR colleagues suggest that LWR might support a project that would train KAACR in fundraising, donor relations and strategic planning. Their eyes brighten. Really. It seems like a novel idea. “We would really appreciate that kind of training,” several KAACR staff say. The relationship is deepened.

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With love, T

Iowa Caucuses

The Republicans in our neighborhood will go to the local Baptist Church. I'll be joining our Democrat neighbors in the Presbyterian church down the street. So that would be the weakness of the caucus process -- instant separation of the two major parties. Other than that, this Caucus thing seems to be quite amazing.

Imagine -- chatting with others in a respectful manner about creating the common good. Not to be idealistic, but holy cow, Iowa has something going with this caucusing process. People are thoughtful and sincere in how they arrive at their choices. I've talked with people who have seen up to three candidates in person, in one day. All because they were holding rallies within a mile of our house. We did not go to any rallies, although I kept thinking that it would be a good idea. You know, expose the kids to the true blue democracy.

Anyway, we are all caucusing tomorrow night. And how exactly do you caucus? That was my question. "Just go," is one answer I got. You just show up at 6:30 p.m. and they tell you what to do. Basically, you vote with your body. You vote by standing in the clump of people in your candidate's camp.

And who will I be caucusing for? Well, OK, since everyone else is giving out endorsements. I'll give mine, keeping in mind that I speak for myself. And apparantely Aidan too, who just told me that he will be caucusing for this same candidate.

Mr. Barak Obama.

Why? In short because I think he is best positioned to inspire everyday leadership in ordinary Americans, within his administration, and around the world.

So there you go.

Cheers!

With love, T

P.S. I asked Aidan why he decided on Obama. His answer: "Because he has the most commercials." Also, FOX TV interviewed Aidan's class today. Isn't it great to be in Iowa!