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6:20 pm: I’m at Morey Middle School in Denver. I got here early, around 5:50 pm. There were Obama signs everywhere and lots of Obama volunteers and I didn’t see any for Hillary. At least 10 caucuses are meeting here.
I got in line. Within 10 minutes, there was a huge line behind me. Almost everyone is an Obama supporter.
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We’re all directed to go to the auditorium for a pre-caucus meeting where they will explain the rules. Then people will go to where their caucus is meeting. I get to stay in the auditorium as mine is meeting in here.
7:10 pm: This is like a deja vue of the caucus I attended in Iowa, with an almost identical looking high school auditorium. There are just a lot more people here . I’d estimate 500 to 600 people in the auditorium so far and there are still a lot of people still checking in.
They are about to read the rules now for being selected a delegate. They want to have inclusion of women and minorities but there are no specific quotas.
There must be at least 1,000 people in this room now. They have filled the balcony and are lined up on the sides of the auditorium. The group is on the young side and very ethnically diverse. If I had to guess I’d say they are overwhelmingly for Obama.
Everyone is pretty quiet as the rules are being read. I’m the only one with a laptop that I can see. Lots of people around me are asking me to check results of other states.
There are Hillary signs and supporters here now. This crowd is very well behaved. They are all concentrating intently on the rules.
There will be a straw poll in the precincts (once we get there.) It’s a “make believe.” After the real vote, someone from each precinct goes back to the auditorium and reports the vote total. Then they will elect the delegates.
We also vote for Senator and then for county delegates. Break time, there are so many people they have to regroup to see where they will put everyone.
People are screaming now. “Yes we can” from the Obama folks, while the Hillary supporters holding up signs.
Update: The leaders are back. They tell the people in the balcony they can scream but they have to stop stomping. They’ve reassigned caucus locations within the building. Two caucuses will be meeting in the stairwells. They say four years ago the auditorium was only 1/4 full. It’s at serious overflow now.
The fire department must have nixed the stairwell plan. They have opened the gym instead.
Update: 8:00: My caucus got moved up to the balcony. People are cranky, they want to leave and no vote has been taken. The Obama supporters in my caucus way outnumber Hillary supporters. Hillary staffers are just shooting for a percentage of the 9 delegates the caucus has.
It looks like the Obama supporters outnumber Hillary supporters by about 3 to 1. There are a handful of undecideds. The Hillary staffer is happy with the size of her group as she says the caucus is in “the heart of Obama country.”
I’m leaving as soon as they take the vote, so this is my last live update. The final vote without the undecideds: 76 to 30. One of the undecideds goes to Hillary. Most go to Obama. Final vote 78Obama to 31 for Hillary. Two stay uncommitted. Hillary gets 3 of the nine delegates, Obama got six. That’s a wrap.