Well, originally I was thinking my Friday "Mixed Media" posts would be all about movies and music and other things that inspire me. But today I feel a need to talk a bit about caucusing here in WA. I figure "Mixed media" is a pretty general term and it fits somewhat.
So. I'm new to these parts, or at least haven't voted in a presidential primary before. I discovered that in WA they have both a Caucus and a primary. From what I have read, caucuses have always been the main thing here. In 1988 there was a vote and people decided they wanted to start having primaries. But it was still up to the political parties to decide how to distribute delegates. So the Republicans decided that they'd sorta split it 50/50 (caucusing/primaries) and the democrats decided to ignore the primaries completely and focus on delegates. I gathered that this has something to do with the fact that the polling costs the government money they don't feel is unnecessary because they are perfectly happy to have caucuses.
However we may feel about this, it is incredibly important to understand how the system works. It means that if you are a democrat, you can fill out your ballot, but it doesn't mean anything in this presidential race. If you're a republican you can do either/or or both. Caucuses will be held TOMORROW at 1pm, and it's best to get there early. You can register to vote on site, or reregister if you have recently moved. The important thing is to figure out where your caucus site is and go. Now Like I said, I'm new, so I don't know what will happen exactly. But here are a few websites that can help you out:
http://www.wa-democrats.org/caucusinfo
http://www.wsrp.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=6885
And a descriptive post about what happens from Seattlest: http://seattlest.com/2008/02/06/because_washing.php
I hope this helps, no matter how you vote!
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