Caucuses in Johnson County apparently jammed

[Slyder]

Mine in the 8th KS Senate district was held in a room about 50' x 50' at a small Unitarian church and about 3,000 showed up! They were having the caucus in sessions of about 250 people. In my session Obama won 150 votes and Clinton 80 with a scattering of other candidates. When I left I found a line snaking down the church drive and down several blocks. People were parked up to six blocks away. All those people waiting in freezing drizzle. I am sure many will bail before it is over.

A friend called me about 8:15 from his caucus at a Leawood school. Crowd had filled the available space and the caucus had not yet begun.

Sure hope Kansas can cough the money for a primary in 2012. This was a real mess. But people were cooperative, and officials were doing a wonderful job under considerable stress! What were party leaders thinking? Even so, I had never seen so many Kansas Democrats in one place! Wow!

[atommom]

1. I was in that line! The crowd was unbelievable.

It was exciting to see so many Johnson County Dems in one place. But we finally had to leave. I'd brought a child with me (a mistake, but I thought we'd be indoors!), it was cold and sleeting, and we were not getting in anytime soon even after having been in line for two hours. It was frustrating, though seeing such a big turnout gave me hope for the Dems.

[cindydivine]

2. 9th District was crazy too!!!

They said they expected 600 and over 3000 showed!!! They had to move us out of the church to the Johnson County Courthouse lawn. Everyone stuck around through the rain, sleet and eventual snow. I couldn't feel my fingers for an hour after getting home...

[SheilaT]

3. In the 8th Senate District

they held a total of ten caucuses. The last one started at 10:30. A total of over 1100 people caucused.

In 2004 fewer than 200 caucused in the 8th District.

It wasn't until after 9 p.m. that they figured out a way to let everyone inside out of the sleet. I suspect several hundred people gave up.

[brystheguy]

4. On the news there was a location where they just signed a piece of paper

to show support for their candidate. One woman was really disappointed that they did it that way. She wanted to see a real caucus and said that she felt disenfranchised. Interesting take.

[KansDem]

5. I caucused in the 7th KS Senate District last night.

I arrived about 6:40 pm, hoping to get in the doors by 7 pm. When I arrive at the church, the location for the Democratic caucus, I was shocked to see a long line winding through the parking lot and down the street! It seemed to go on forever. I had to park three blocks away and hustle to get in line. We stood in freezing weather for about 90 minutes. The volunteers kept us informed all the while, and when the church was full, we were redirected to a synagogue across the street. There must have been several hundred in the synagogue alone. The organizers had to keep copying registration forms all evening long to meet the demand.

In 2004, they had 200. This time they were told to expect 400-500, but over 2,000 showed up!

There's something in the air, folks! It's both magical and electrical. I've never seen anything like what I saw last evening and I've been voting since 1972.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Isn't it wonderful?

I was at the church on 87th and my friends who were at your location kept calling me to compare notes. At one point when I realized that several hundred people were standing in the freezing weather while ice was falling out of the sky, I had tears in my eyes. What a great great night to be a Democrat in Johnson County! I so wished my parents were still alive to see this; they would have been absolutely thrilled.

I made a ton of new friends and I invited a bunch of people to the next Jo Co Dems breakfast (this Sat, 8:00 am at the Holiday Inn at SM Parkway and Metcalf) Get there early; it's bound to be crowded. $10 for buffet breakfast.)