| From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Texas primary combines traditional vote, caucus
Texas primary combines traditional vote, caucus
FORT WORTH -- There's only one place Vincent Perez wants to be when the presidential primary polls close in Texas on March 4.
Back at his voting precinct.
There, the 75-year-old retiree will be jockeying at a precinct convention for one of a select few delegate seats that could be his ticket to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August.
...
When people first show up (to the caucuses), they'll sign in, listing their name and presidential preference.
If a precinct has 10 delegates and 50 people show up -- with 30 for Clinton and 20 for Barack Obama -- then six delegates for Clinton and four for Obama will move on to the senatorial convention.
That's why volunteers for Clinton and Obama will not only be pushing locals to vote -- but also to show up for the caucus on election night.
"There are thousands of precinct conventions that will elect 25 percent (actually he is wrong, it is 33%) of the delegates without respect to the primary results," said Jason Smith, a Clinton volunteer in Tarrant County.
So volunteers will be working not only to get people to show up for the precinct conventions, but also to make sure that those chosen go on to the senatorial conventions and the state convention.
"Once the primary is over March 4, there still will be one to two people for Hillary left in the state, and their job will be to round up people for the caucuses," Smith said.
From the Houston Chronicle:
Texas delegate system makes the candidates choose their battles
Texas delegate system makes the candidates choose their battles
AUSTIN - Texas Democrats are dusting off their party's rules to figure out how Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama can use the state's complex primary and caucus system to win national convention delegates needed to secure the party's presidential nomination.
"Texas arguably has the most arcane system in the country," said state Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, an Obama backer.
Texas hasn't had a highly contested presidential primary election since 1988, leading Garcia to say, "There are a lot of people scrambling to get smart on it in a hurry."
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Now, here's the really confusing part of the Democratic Party's process:
An additional 42 at-large delegates are awarded at the state convention in June.
Those delegates are pledged to individual candidates based on participation that begins in precinct caucuses on election night and ends in senatorial district caucuses at the state convention.
The state convention also elects 35 superdelegates and an additional 25 pledged-party and elected-official delegates.
Garcia, the state representative and Obama supporter, said his candidate is bringing in the staffers who helped win the Iowa caucuses, knowing that not all is decided in the primary election.
"We're trying to be as savvy as possible in this primary-caucus process," Garcia said. |
