We the people

25 responses so far ↓

• 1    Stephanie Clatanoff // Apr 9, 2008 at 10:22 pm

  I didn’t really have a clue what to expect at the caucus after the polls closed. When I was pulling up to park at Hill Country Middle School, I noticed the vast number of cars spanning down all of Dusky Thrush Road and occupying every spot in the middle school parking lot, both of which opened my eyes to the popularity of these meetings. When I walked in, there were no chairs set out, just a bunch of people standing around, hovering around a snack table that consisted of about 15 mini sandwiches. It took a while for someone to say anything. When he did, all it was was “We can’t begin to sign in until the last voter at the polls has voted.” It was very disappointing. Eventually we were able to sign in on the charts for our candidate of choice. Even then, there was no organization in how we lined up or who was first or anything. That was frustrating because all of the stubborn people were shoving their way up to the front and in front of the tiny 18 year old voter. After everyone had signed in we divided between the Obama side and the Clinton side to assign delegates to the county convention. I ended up putting my name on the list as a delegate to go, without checking my calendar. I found out a few weeks later that on that day, I had no car to drive out to the convention and was unable to attend. No fear: I was able to cancel my name before the date, which allowed the precinct manager to replace me with an alternate easily with no trouble on the day of the convention. I am quite saddened with the fact that I was unable to attend the 2008 Travis County Democratic Convention. I will definitely find any way imaginable to go to the next one.

• 2    Cameron Pineiro // Apr 9, 2008 at 10:45 pm

  This was my first cacus experience and, I must say, it was much different than what I expected. First of all, my parents had never been to a caucus before, so all my information was from Ms. Phelps. However, there was quite a large turnout compared to the usual 7 to 10 people that show up. When my friend and I first entered the middleschool/make-shift caucus, there were around 250 people, filing in trying to put their name down on a sheet in order to have their caucus vote count. Sadly, there were only three tables with two sheets each, one for Obama and one for Clinton, which just caused a huge pile up.
  Eventually we finished the signing and got to the interesting part. The 250 or so people were now about 60 and we split up to groups, one for Obama and one for Clinton, to decide for delegates. Really, anyone who wanted to be a delegate for their candidate could be and the night, while a little long, was very informative and nice.
  Overall, the caucus was disorganized, but I really felt part of democracy and will attend the next caucus.

• 3    Andie Schroeder // Apr 9, 2008 at 11:23 pm

  My birthday is in January, which means I am fortunate enough to have been able to vote in the primaries and go to the caucus. I live in precinct 345, which meant I voted at Bridge Point (my alma mater!). I think it’s a true testament to how important and exciting this election was, because I went to vote at 3:45, thinking it wouldn’t be too busy – I was sorely mistaken. I waited in a line that snaked through the school and well out the door for just under an hour before I finally reached the ballots. I have to admit, I was nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to figure out how to vote, but it was pretty straightforward. I just voted for the president since I really didn’t know much about the candidates running for other offices. When I checked in, they stamped my card so that I could attend the caucus, which was scheduled to start at 7:00. However, they had to wait for everyone to finish voting, so we didn’t really start until 8. The whole thing was really informal and pretty poorly organized. We voted for a temporary leader, who then had us separate ourselves based on who we voted for. We were then asked to raise our hands if we wanted to be a delegate, and from there they simply chose people. I was picked to be a delegate, but I had to replace myself wit an alternate because I couldn’t go to the county convention.

• 4    Jule Ross // Apr 10, 2008 at 12:28 am

  I had the privilege of going to my precinct’s caucus convention. It was a very interesting experience for me. Before we got to go in to the gym at Valley View Elementary, the crowd had to wait outside. I ended up standing next to some people who had been to the caucus convention in the past, and listening to their comments was enlightening. There were over a thousand people there, and they said that there were usually about thirty. They were so amazed by the amount of people that showed up. The crowd was obviously split in half between Clinton and Obama supporters. The two different sides cheered and chanted for their candidate choice. An Obama yell leader was there and he lead the crowd in some cheers. He also gave me an entire roll of Obama stickers, which will be a great addition to my senior scrapbook.
  When we finally got into the gym, there were four long lines that we had to wait in. Since there were two precincts in the same location, there were two lines for each candidate. It took such a long time to even get in to the gym, let alone to wait in the lines, that I couldn’t stay to be a delegate.
  The entire night was great learning opportunity, and made my first voting experience very interesting.

• 5    Audrey Crocker // Apr 10, 2008 at 12:33 am

  Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Travis County Democratic Convention. It all started on March 4th when I attended the precinct caucus. After standing in line for a few hours, we eventually signed in and decided to participate in the actual caucus, where the delegates are selected. During the sign in, however, there was a lot of energy and excitement for the election, yet it was very unorganized since this year there were 261 people who attended and in the last primary, there were only 12, so of course it was very unorganized. After everyone signed in, some people stayed to count the votes and run for delegate and alternate delegate positions. Although this process is very simple, it ended up being drawn out and confusing, although it was eventually successful! Since not many people stayed for the actual caucus, the process of selecting delegates was very simple, it was pretty much whoever wanted to do it was able to be a delegate. After I was selected as a delegate, during the time between the precinct caucus and the county convention, our precinct held a few meetings informing us about the process of the convention and how the voting works and things like that.
  We arrived at the convention really early in the morning, at about 6:30, to get in line to sign in. The signing in process was insane! There were soo many people that they were so unorganized, however people were cheering and yelling for there candidate so there was tons of excitement. Many people were getting frustrated with the long lines, but I thought it was just fun and exciting! Once the sign in closed, after 8,000 people signed in, there were many speakers, such as Kirk Watson and Lloyd Doggett. Actually, before they spoke, there were walking around the stadium and Meredith and I got to meet him and take our picture with him!! That was pretty exciting! There were many speakers and they mostly talked about creating a united Democratic Party to beat the Republicans no matter which candidate is elected to run for president. It was almost like a pep rally. After the speakers, the rules committee counted all the sign-ins and fixed any problems there were with precincts, such as changing an alternate delegate to delegate and creating the rules for voting. This process took a very long time since it had to be done with both Senate District 14 and 25. After the rules committee, we were finally able to vote! YAY! So our precinct went out side and voted for our delegates. It was quite simple since we had decided who we were going to vote for early, but we had to do it officially. We ended up spending nine hours at the convention, but it was a really fun and interesting experience!

• 6    Laura Giles // Apr 10, 2008 at 3:24 pm

  I also attended Barack Obama’s rally here in Austin. I wasn’t able to arrive early, so I was waaaaay back in the mass of crowds surrounding the stage, if you could call it that. It was actually rather annoying how difficult it was to see Obama. It wasn’t so much the people that were in the way, but the press. It was neat that he was on the floor talking to the seats set up around him, it made it more like he was part of the crowd than up above them, but it was exceedingly difficult to see him. We moved back to a smaller crowd watching a jumbotron screen of the speech. This was nice, I guess, because you could hear his actual voice while seeing what he was doing. I recall a large amount of his speech concerning his healthcare plan and why he thinks it would work. Laura Giles
  This was probably due to the recent debate he’d had with Clinton, and her frequent attacks on his policy. The majority of his speech, though, was the typical inspirational “change” stuff, working on pumping up the crowd, which it did. I also noticed several of the same phrases, anecdotes, ideas, etc. that he discussed at that previous debate with Clinton. Afterwards we talked to a woman from the Austin-American Statesman and she seemed very interested in Westlake student’s political views and government class. The rally was overall really enjoyable and I was glad to be at such an exciting event.

• 7    Kevin Cool // Apr 10, 2008 at 6:24 pm

  I went to the first rally that was held for Barack Obama during his time in Austin. I went to the event with a few friends and people I know from government class. It was a while ago but I believe the rally started at 9:00 or something like that but the group I was with got there around 7:30. The site of the rally was downtown near the capitol building at the intersection of Congress and 11th Street. The people that were responsible for running the event blocked off the street and set up a large media stage, a small center stage for the speaker, and a special bleacher section for those who came early. There was also a small stage set up for a band to play before the rally. When I first walked up to this scene I was amazed at how complex it was and how many people were there. I knew there would be a lot of people in attendance but was pleasantly surprised to see more than I had expected. There were thousands of people inside the gated off area (I was able to get into this) and then there were thousands more behind that on 12th and Congress. We had to wait in a rather long line to go through metal detectors to enter the gated area. The group that I was with stood almost directly in front of the speaker’s stage and probably about eighty feet away. All of the lights that illuminated the area were very bright and sometimes blinding. Being tall, I could thankfully see over virtually everyone. We waited in this spot dogging people passing by for about an hour and a half. We wanted to get there early since we knew a lot of people would be there. After waiting for this amount of time, there were a couple of introductory speakers that basically told everyone about the voting process and attempted to energize everyone to go out and vote. Then, finally Barack Obama took the stage and was welcomed by lots of applause. I was very excited about this for I really think Obama is a great candidate and hope he wins the nomination for the Democratic Party. Everyone held up Barack signs and took pictures. There was a couple in front of me that throughout Barack’s speech held up two babies that were both holding signs above their heads. This was a little bit annoying for me and others around me but the couple put them done eventually. Anyway, Barack spoke mostly about his passion for change, and his ideas about how to make our country better. He covered many issues from the war in Iraq, to Medicare and taxes. I knew he was a great speaker but his confidence and passion was truly amazing to see in person. Throughout the speech as one might imagine, when people heard something they liked they would clap and cheer. This was a fun thing to do and interesting to see everyone’s’ reactions to what was being said. I got a sense of sincerity from Obama on the various issues he covered. After this experience I was more or less convinced that he is a good man who really wants to change some things about our country. After speaking about these various issues and encouraging all of us to vote for about and hour and a half, Obama wished Austin fair well and left the stage. After this event my enthusiasm about the election and more specifically Obama as a candidate was raised. While I watched him speak I felt like I was somehow experiencing what would be talked about for years to come and what another generation might read in a text book some years from now. Overall, I’m very glad that I went to this rally and witnessed Barack Obama in person.

• 8    Kelli Tucci // Apr 11, 2008 at 12:08 am

  I campaigned for Barack Obama!!! I helped out Anthony Coniglio and his dad by making signs and standing outside the polling booth at an elementary school on South Congress. A few days before the primary, we made signs in Anthony’s Garage which looked AWESOME. They took a lot of time and effort but it was a good time and they looked great. On the day of the election, Anthony, Collin Cahoon (one of Anthony’s friends) and I stood outside the polling booth. We had to tell people about the Caucus and convince them to stay and support Obama. I couldn’t go to the Caucus, because I couldn’t vote in that precinct. It was really exciting though, because this is the first Caucus that really mattered and people were getting really excited about the process, and being able to have more of an impact on the election. I had a fun time, all in all!

• 9    Celso Rojas // Apr 11, 2008 at 1:19 am

  I was lucky to get the opportunity to go watch Obama speak downtown on Feb. 22. I got there late so I was not able to see him on stage clearly but I could see him on the big screen from a far distance. I bought a shirt after the rally promoting him as a candidate. I was expecting a large crowd but I was amazed when I actually saw how many people were there. One thing that amazed me more was his speaking ability. He is very articulate in the way he inspired people. My favorite thing about him is the way he talks and his personal character which is one of my most important factors in choosing a president. As I looked around, I could tell that everyone was mesmerized by the powerful tone in his voice; I even saw this one lady starting to cry.
  The line I most liked from his speech was something along the lines of ” I am a black man named Barack Obama, don’t tell me Im not tough”. This showed me his courage because not everyone has the guts to say that in front of that large of a crowd. It was confident but not to the point where he was being cocky. The character he displayed that night was the character I would like to see in the White House.

• 10    Danielle Sherriff // Apr 14, 2008 at 1:01 am

  I was fortunate to be able to vote and go to the democratic caucus this election. I live outside the district and went to a church in River Place. I wasn’t expecting there to be that many people, but we ended up having close to 200 people show up. I was also astonished to find that I was the youngest one in the room, and that people didn’t really know what they were doing. I talked to the husband of the lady in charge, and she thought that we would be done in about half and hour, and that maybe 50 people would show up. I think due to the advertising from both candidates, more people showed up. We ended up spending the first hour just getting everyone checked in and then spending another half hour, just going through the procedures to count the votes and get candidates. It was an interesting process, and I was lucky to be able to be an alternate delegate, but was unable to go. I thought the entire experience was educational and extremely interesting.

• 11    Anthony Coniglio // Apr 14, 2008 at 10:38 am

  During the Texas Primary, I helped campaign for Barack Obama. My dad, inspired by my love of Barack, decided to volunteer for the campaign and became the local precinct captain. Basically he was in charge of making sure that Obama won both the popular vote and the caucus of our district. I’m not sure exactly what district number we were, but we live on South Congress. I was appointed Deputy Precinct Captain, a position I’m sure that had little importance, but nonetheless it was cool to have an official position. A few days before the primary, Kelli Tucci and I went to the home depot and bought materials to make huge signs to put outside the elementary school where the polling place was. It was quite an experience getting those huge planks of wood on top of my tiny Ford Focus. Anyways we brought the materials back to my garage and made two big signs, one that read “Obama Voters: Visit Here For Important Caucus Information,” and another that said “Vote Obama, Yes We Can.” On Election Day, I woke up bright and early to pick up four dozen donuts and some coffee to bring to the polling booth, where my dad worked all day. These were to help convince the Obama voters to stick around to find out about the Caucus. After school, Collin Cahoon, Kelli, and I went to the polling booth and just stood around and help up signs, and explained the importance of the caucus and answered and questions that the voters had about how it worked. This was fun because we got to hang out with two volunteers, both from California, that my dad had working for him. They were very interesting people and it was cool that Obama had such strong support. The Hillary Campaign only had one guy working, and he didn’t even seem that into it. After the polls closed, we all made an emergency snack run to a gas station across the street to buy fifty bucks worth of chips to entice the people at the caucus to stick around, as some of them were starting to leave, none of us could go into the caucus, as I was the only one from the precinct, and I was too young to vote. As the caucus was going on we just packed up all of the signs and cleaned up the area and went home. We ended up carrying the precinct in popular votes, as well as winning the caucus, 15 delegates to 12. I had a lot of fun, and my dad was so inspired that he became a delegate to the county convention. And, he is considering going to Pennsylvania to help campaign. It was pretty fun, and I am looking forward to Barack being the next president.

• 12    Allison Wong // Apr 14, 2008 at 10:40 am

  I was fortunate enough to attend the Obama Rally on February 23, 2008! It was such an exiting experience. Due to Hyline rehearsal, Laura and I didn’t arrive to the rally until a few minutes after it had begun. We took a taxi and could hear his voice resonating throughout the entire downtown area as we drove to the exact location. Although we could not get into the actual arena where he was speaking, we surrounded it along with all the others who couldn’t get in. We could still hear Obama perfectly, and there was also a big screen T.V. showing up-close shots of him during his speech. I had trouble paying attention every now and then because of all the excitement, but I didn’t catch anything new in his speech. Most of what he said could be found in his previous speeches and debates. Overall, I felt so fortunate to be experiencing a part of history and to actually be able to understand what he was talking about (thanks to government)! After the rally Laura and I got interviewed by someone writing for the Austin-American Statesman, but we didn’t end up in the paper.

• 13    Mark Enfinger // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:19 am

  My caucus experience wasn’t very exciting because it lasted so long. You can’t really blame them thought, this was the first time in a long time that someone cared about a democratic contest in Texas. And it was amplified by people like my fellow caucus buddy Reagen Hughes who would rather eat dirt than vote for a democrat, but had no incentive to vote republican because the jury was already in on McCain’s inevitability. In practice it wasn’t much different than a primary, in that you just cast your vote and leave unless your really super duper excited about your candidate even after voting twice. But being an Obama supporter I’m very glad we have the “Texas two step” because it gave Obama the net advantage in delegates from my state.

• 14    Meredith Benkendorfer // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:22 am

  Obama Ralley Extra Credit

  Unfortunatley the night of the ralley I had a district softball game to play in, therrefore I came late, but I still had, and felt the experience without the long lines and security checks. I went with one friend, and we had to park pretty far from the site but we could hear the energized croud on the way there which helped with the long hike. For me, politics have been over my head until Government and i am really thankful for the class. I am happy that going to a ralley and getting my voice out in the open is important to me, and I am happy that I am interested in a candidate. Throughout the ralley, Obama spoke with such poise, even when he did joke around, and he really imbedded the change revolution in his speech. I have watched him on television through debates on numerous occasions, but it was nice for once hearing him talk about his policies without the obnoxious remarks from Clinton. After it was over, people stormed off and they played loud “American” music, and it was a very patriotic, with and Austin twist, experience. Many people came to support the Senator, and I even bought a T-shirt which says, He’s Black and I’m Proud, with his picture big on the front. I noticed a few protesters at the end, but with the positive energy engulfing the atmosphere they were pretty much belittled. Sadly, I didnt get to voice my opinion in the primary because I have yet to turn eighteen, but please believe it, my vote will be cast in the upcoming elections. Overall, the ralley was alot of fun, and it was also a good experience. I saw alot of other Government students and it was exciting to see so many people who care about our country.

• 15    Alli Gitnik // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:24 am

  I saw the Bill Clinton rally the Wednesday before the Texas Primary. After waiting in a crowded line for an hour and a half, we were finally let in at five thirty, even though it wasn’t until around seven that Bill Clinton actually stepped up to the podium to speak. Before him though, spoke actor Sean Asten about his reasons for supporting Clinton, inserting powerful words such as “protecting this great lady and taking care of her and the country.” When Bill descended to the stage, the student body of UT went wild in the Main Mall, cheering, flashing the hook ‘em signs and their cameras for this great former president. When he first spoke, he honored the primary system that Texas set up (both primary and caucus, 65%, 35%) and even mentioned a great friendship he had with a well-respected Texas politician. After he had finished with the intros, he plunged straight into the issues. He spoke of insurance, taxes, the war in Iraq, and most importantly, he linked all these to the students at UT, relating each to the rising costs of education, an issue that all college students can relate to. He spoke with such charisma, and that when he would pause to take a breath, the crowd broke out into applause, flailing their Hillary posters. I would definitely say this experience was significant in swaying my vote, if I were to have one. Before the rally, I had only been leaning toward Hillary’s policies, but after noting the determination of both her and Bill, I truly saw the positive effects that those policies could muster.

• 16    Farzad Vafaee // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:24 am

  Obama Rally

  With a handful of friends I attended the Obama rally in February. Although we left right after school was over on that Friday, we were met with a very long line and it took a long time to get to the security entrance. The area seemed quite big compared to other Obama rallies in the past and I thought it was fitting as the Texas primary was so important this year. After we got through the security at the entrance (which were quite thorough I might add) it was still early so many had gathered to watch a small band playing a couple of tunes, seemingly as a warm-up for Obama. Once the band was finished everyone rushed over to the main platform/stage where Obama was to appear. There were stands but it seemed that they were already filled and closed off to us. Although we were quite close it seemed that the lighting was setup in a fashion that it blinded us when we looked on at the stage, it seems this was the case for everyone in the area below the stage. A theory that came up often in regard to the poor lighting scheme was to better outline the members of the crowd to make them appear much more active on camera when the rally is shown on television.
  I felt Obama’s words were energetic and definitely incited a good amount of crowd response, however I couldn’t help but recall a lot of his words from clips I had seen all those morning s I would watch CNBC in the mornings in Mr. Misage’s room. In comparison to the Clinton rally I felt this crowd was a good deal more responsive, after nearly anything Obama said the crowd would be up in a roar and the cheering was almost too much to bear. It was funny because when our group was in consensus about leaving (near the end of the rally, to avoid traffic) Obama actually ended the rally and everyone rushed the stage to shake hands with him. We figured that we wouldn’t get there in time so we just struggled our way back through the crowd and back through the gate. In comparison, I think I actually enjoyed the Bill Clinton rally much more (not only because I love Bill) but I could actually look at the former president when he was speaking and most of his material was not repeated as I had only seen him on television attacking Barack.

• 17    Katie Meisel // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:32 am

  I went to the Democratic County Convention on March 29, and it was crazy. I woke up at 5, got there at 6:15, and left at 5. My dad roped me into volunteering at delegate check-in, where lines were long, volunteers were scarce, and organization was a rare commodity. This was the largest convention possibly ever, and certainly in the last few decades, so the people in charge had no idea how to go about organizing something on this scale. They packed some 10,000 people into the Expo Center. The whole point of the County Convention is to elect delegates to the State Convention, and for all the nine hours most of the delegates spent waiting to vote, the actual election process took about 30 minutes. Our delegation had gotten together earlier in the week and decided who we wanted to elect and how we were going to divide up our votes so there was little contention. Some of the other delegations nearby were yelling and fighting for a good long while, though. The entire experience was aggravating, but probably worthwhile.

• 18    Maheen Khan // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:32 am

  I also attended the Obama Rally with Jordan and Audrey. Initially, I wasn’t going to go, but Jordan convinced me to go with her and I definitely owe her for that. We left for the Obama HQ right after school on Friday, so we got there pretty early. I met the people Jordan had been interning with and we got tons of stickers and buttons to put on. Afterwards, we headed to the venue area to just see what was going on. I was surprised to see so many people already there. When we got there, a man stopped us and asked if we were here for the rally, and we said yes. He went on to say that we might want to go get in line because it was already really long and that only the first 3000 were going to get into the actual enclosed area. So, we basically rushed to where he said the line was, and realized that it was already extremely long. However, luck was on our side and we encountered Nathan Seitzman who was far up ahead in line and we managed to get us in with him. Furthermore, he was currently interning himself for the UT students for Obama and he managed to get us in the “VIP” stands right behind where Obama was speaking. At that point, I was somewhat shocked and couldn’t really believe that we’d be just a mere 10-15 feet from Obama. The downfall was that we had to wait 2 hours since we got there so early, and the temp. just could colder as the hours passed. I was definitely not dressed for the cold breeze so that was severely uncomfortable, but well worth the trouble in the end. Obama’s speech was, as Michael mentioned, very repetitive and similar to many of his previous speeches. He was rather witty and humorous. The crowd itself was very energetic, so he had no trouble with the interaction there. After he was finished talking, he stepped down and circled around the area we were, so Jordan and I both had the opportunity to shake his hand. That was by far the highlight of my entire experience. Oh, we also got to take pictures with George Lopez, and get his autograph. In the end, I’m really really thankful Jordan convinced me to go!

• 19    Jordan Michalik // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:33 am

  Obama rally at the Capitol

  Going to the Obama rally at the Capitol was a last minute decision. I rounded up a couple of my friends and we went down there, but first we had to drop off some pictures I had taken at the debate the day before at Obama headquarters for the website. While we were there we got stickers and buttons and then headed down to get in line. We had gotten there a couple of hours early and figured there wouldn’t be as long a line and we might even have time to get food. We saw the line though and knew that we had to get in it right then if we wanted a good spot. It was wrapped around the building and they were only allowing a certain number of people inside. Walking up to the line we saw Nathan Seitzman who I had also seen at the debate the day before. He was close to the front of the line and he told us to just get in line with him and hope that no one would get mad that we were cutting. We did and in no time made it inside the security area. There were a bunch of lines with metal detectors and so many people. That was probably the longest lines we had to wait in all night. If you looked up on top of the buildings since it was still light when we were waiting you could see snipers and security people on top of all the buildings which was pretty cool. After getting checked and passing security we were in. We thought that we were just going to be in the crowd which we were pretty close, but then Nathan knew the girl who was seating people in the VIP section. He went over to her and asked how to get up there and she said that she would let us up. I was so excited! In the stands we were probably 10 feet away from Obama at the most and strategically placed behind him. It was freezing and we waited for a couple of hours for him to speak. Finally, he came out and even though the speech wasn’t really anything that I hadn’t heard before it was still great because we were so close and to be able to see all the people down each of the streets trying to get a glimpse of him was amazing. Also, since we were behind him we were on mostly every TV station that filmed the speech and even appeared in a commercial for Obama. When he was done giving the speech we stepped down to the bottom and we shook his hand and got to actually speak to him for a second. After he finished his rounds he came back behind the stands that we were standing on and we shook his hand again and took pictures with George Lopez.

• 20    Dylan Peele // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:40 am

  Obama Rally–Extra Credit

  Way back in February I went to see Barack Obama lead a sort of pep rally for young voters. I’m pretty sure it was more crowded than a Beatles concert. I got there late: terrible idea. However, even though I couldn’t exactly see the man that might be leading our country for the next four years, I could hear him loud and clear. His speach was to be expected, “change” this and “change” that, however it wasn’t the content of what he was saying that mattered the most at this event. The fact that he was taking the time to set up shop here in Austin, TX and personally (well it seemed that way because the amps were pumping out about 150 decibels) discuss his plans for the country with us meant more to people than just hearing some politician on TV say that they know whats best for the country. The demographic was young and relatively diverse, and there was even a small patch of Ron Paul supporters, which didn’t exactly make sense to me, but hey, its Ron Paul.

• 21    Sean Eimer // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:42 am

  I was chosen to be one of the delegates at the Precinct Convention, but no matter how many emails I got, the numerous phone calls, and plenty of people telling me what it would be like, nothing could prepare me for the County Convention. I got there at about 9:00 in the morning and saw three lines stretching out the door to the streets and a lady shouting on a megaphone that the time to sign in would be extended indefinitely due to the sheer amount of people (over 5,000). It was a madhouse trying to get in, but my team soon found me and hurried me to the front where they were waiting. I then signed in supporting Obama after waiting in line for an hour, but that wait was miniscule compared to what was next.

  Everyone had to sign in by 10:00 originally, but since the time was extended indefinitely they couldn’t start the convention until everyone signed in because everyone had to have signed in to do an official count. I was sitting on bleachers for more than 5 hours. To fill the time Lloyd Doggett and other Democratic speakers rallied the crowd shouting the chant, “Lets make Texas go blue” and other various chants showing their distaste of Bush. The extra time did allow me to get to know my neighbors better and I sat next to a political scientist who graduated from the University of Texas. We talked for awhile about politics and that really helped the time go by faster. I also luckily met up with other people in my grade and talked to them for awhile.

  After much confusion and recounting votes because many districts had more votes then they should have it was finally time to officially choose four delegates to go to the Democratic State Convention. My group a few days before met at Tres Amigos to decide who to elect to ensure that three people would get a majority of votes to go to the State Convention. We each were handed a card in which we filled out our name and the name of the person we were voting to go to the State Convention. Our leader called out the nominations for state delegates and my name was called? I was not expecting my name to be called, but apparently when my group met they nominated me as one of the 4 delegates to go to the convention. I didn’t receive a majority of the votes, but we did need a few alternates to go as well, so they put the nominees in a hat and randomly choose the alternates. A person in my precinct reached in and called out my name. I was filled with excitement for two primary reasons, my group nominated me and I was chosen to be an alternate as well as the Convention was now officially over.

  I look back on that day and even though it was 4 hours behind schedule and I had to sit for over 5 hours, it was still worth it. The level of excitement at the convention is something I will never be able to experience again nor will it ever be matched in my opinion. I was able to meet and talk to new people

• 22    Kevin Shepherd // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:14 am

  I’m not sure if I’m posting in the right place, but this is bound to be close enough, right?
  I went to the Obama rally downtown, lord knows how long ago. It was apparently during this six weeks, but it feels like more than that, probably because of spring break. In any event, it’s probably (pathetically) one of the more political things I’ve ever done (I wasn’t old enough to vote in the primaries), and I really enjoyed it. He gave pretty much the same general stump speech that he gives everywhere, and a lot of the phrases he used I’d already heard him say at one time or another. It wasn’t all recycled stuff, though, from what I could tell–for instance, when he addressed some of the (sparse) criticism that had been recently directed at him, he used a strategy that was at least new to me. He built up three or four strawman arguments, without any real substance, then answered them in a very lighthearted but substantively responsive manner; as a debater, I’m pretty familiar with the tactic, it’s all sorts of persuasive and I use it myself whenever I can get away with it, it was just really interesting to see a presidential candidate use the same tactic.
  Overall it was a very energizing and uplifting speech, even if most of it was old material. I’m glad I went.

• 23    Elizabeth Milburn // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:15 am

  I went to the Hillary Clinton rally that took place at the Burger Center for extra credit this six weeks which was definately an interesting experience. Being a Republican, I felt slightly out of place. Everyone at the rally was excited and there was a lot of energy there. There were supporters handing out Texas flags and United States flags to wave and there were signs and banners scattered around the crowd. There was a college student who was leading cheers whichI must admit were pretty catchy. It was interesting because the speakers who gave short speeches before Hillary came included two women and two Hispanics which was a logical decision because they appealed to the people who were voting for Clinton. When Clinton finally came, she entered with her daughter and a few celebrities. She talked about her policies pretty broadly but didn’t really talk about specifics. I drove downtown the night of the Obama rally and his seemed to be a bigger deal than Hillary’s rally but obvioulsy her’s was effective. Because this rally was the night before the primary, one of the major points everyone talked about was getting out there and voting and making other people vote also. Overall, it was a positive experience and I am happy that I was able to attend.

• 24    Michael Jekot // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:23 am

  Obama Rally – Extra Credit 5th Six Weeks

  I went to the Obama rally with a big group of people, and had to park a long way away from where the rally was held. I got there about an hour before Obama was scheduled to speak. It took forever to get into the gates. We had to wait in a long line and then go through very tight security. The security guard even looked through my pack of gum to make sure I wasn’t trying to sneak anything in. Once we got in, we headed over to a small stage, where a blues band was playing. After the band played, we went over to the main stage to try to get good spots where we could see Barack Obama. We were able to get relatively close to the stage, but we had huge spotlights pointed right at as. Throughout the whole rally, we had to stare into the spotlights to see Obama. This was annoying, and it felt like the rally was more of a media event than a rally for the people. When Obama was talking, I noticed that he was repeating most of what he said at other rallies and debates. I was hoping to hear something new, but I basically just heard his stump speech. He did change some things in his speech, and joked around more than he does in formal debates. It was also different from a televised rally or debate because everyone was so energized. The crowd would clap and yell after almost everything Obama said. After he finished, we pushed up to the front of the crowd to see if we could meet him, but we were too late. When we were leaving, we saw two military snipers coming down the elevator of one of the surrounding buildings. Some of the people I was with tried to ask the snipers if they could take a picture with them, but the snipers wouldn’t take the picture. The rally was a lot of fun, and it was exciting to see a presidential candidate in person.

• 25    Patricia Dewey // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:25 am

  For extra credit I attended the Hillary Clinton rally at Burger Center. I went with Blair McBride, Caroline Wood and Elizabeth Milburn. Although none of us are Hillary supporters, we had a great time listening to speakers, cheering with the crowd and, of course, seeing the woman who might be our next president. When we arrived we walked into an arena full of screaming fans with “Hillary” banners. It was interesting to see the diversity among her supporters. My favorite banner was a huge blue sign that read “CLINTON COUNTRY”. We listened to the mayor of a small town outside of Austin, two Texas representatives and a woman who led the cheers. Hillary finally came to the stage with her daughter, actor Ted Danza and his wife. The crowd went crazy when she came out and it was a matter of minutes before she was able to speak. I don’t recall every detail of what she said, but a major part of her speech was about her ability to actually make change. It is evident that she takes pride in the fact that she is a woman running for president. She didn’t mention her husband very much at the rally, presumably because she is trying to set herself apart from the former president. She mentioned her Health Care plan and other issues that she hopes to get passed if she gets the presidential nomination. I thought it was interesting that she didn’t once say “Barack Obama”. She made references to him but never actually spoke his name. Overall, she did a wonderful job at the rally and I left more informed of her major issues and ideas. Going to the rally was a wonderful learning experience and I am glad I was able to take part in it.

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