Obama '08, baby (and goats)

Why did Obama win? I think it's because although all of the Democratic candidates struck me as smart and competent, Obama alone has the ability to inspire people, and that's something we need given all the shit we're going to have to trudge through once the Bushies clear out. What a speech last night, huh?

Anyway, here are some shots from Iowa City precinct 15, where turnout was 335 (vs. 230 in 2004). The first is of the caucus period, when you could lobby the nonviable candidates' people to switch to your side. The second is of the Obama precinct people counting the caucusgoers after the realignment. In our precinct, Hillary was not viable at the first count, but her supporters did manage to get four people from nonviable campaigns to realign with her, which just put her at the viability threshold. From the get-go, the Obama group was by far the strongest. In the end, Obama got four delegates, Edwards two, and Clinton one. It was very thrilling. In contrast to our last caucus experience, where we kind of observed, this time we actively caucused, persuaded, cajoled, etc. Whenever someone switched over to Obama, the crowd went wild. It took forever (three hours), but it was energizing. I got myself elected to be a delegate to the county convention. By "elected," I mean I volunteered and no one objected.