First Door on the Left

I have been home from my precinct caucus here in Dallas for a little over 30 minutes. I wanted to kind of collect my thoughts before I recorded them.

My thoughts: This system sucks.

Really. The Democratic party in Texas needs to rethink this whole process.

Our caucus, though scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m., did not actually begin until 8:30 p.m. There was still a very long line waiting to vote when the polls closed at 7:00 p.m. and we had to wait for the last person in that line to cast their ballot.

When we did finally begin, the elementary school cafeteria in which we were meeting was so overcrowded that we had to split into two groups. Half stayed in the cafeteria, the other half moved to the auditorium. Then the sign in process began… one person at a time signing the sheet with name, voter certificate number, telephone number, gender, ethnicity, and presidential preference. As far as I know, the caucus is still going on. I, like most people, gave up and left after I was finally able to sign the sheet and cast my vote for my preferred candidate.

It was noisy. It was crowded. It was disorganized. It was something for which the Texas Democratic party should be ashamed. Confidence in the results of a process such as I witnessed this evening should be very, very low.

As far as I could tell (and believe me, it was difficult to tell), our precinct was split about 50/50 between Obama and Clinton.

McCain Clinches GOP Nomination

The McCains

WASHINGTON (AP) – John McCain clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, an extraordinary comeback for a candidate whose White House hopes were dashed eight years ago and whose second bid was left for dead eight months ago.

“The most important race begins,” he said in an Associated Press interview.

According to the AP count, the four-term Arizona senator surpassed the requisite 1,191 GOP delegates as voters in Ohio, Vermont, Rhode Island and Texas put him over the threshold. The triumph came one month after his Super Tuesday coast-to-coast victories gave him an insurmountable lead in the delegate hunt and forced his chief rival, Mitt Romney, to drop out of the race.

“It’s a very humbling thing, and I say that with all sincerity,” McCain said of finally clinching the nomination.

McCain was heading to the White House on Wednesday for lunch with President Bush – and an endorsement. The two will make a joint statement afterward.

“The president has said he looks forward to vigorously campaigning for the GOP and tonight it has become clear that the GOP nominee will be Senator John McCain,” said White House press secretary Dana Perino. “Of course the president is going to endorse the GOP nominee which is going to be Senator John McCain.”

Republicans won’t officially nominate McCain until early September at the GOP’s national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Now it just remains to be seen who will win the Democratic nomination and with it the presidency of the United States.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean appeared on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer this afternoon. He explained the Democratic primary process and what he expects to happen from here on out. Just something for you to watch while I go caucus… perhaps it’ll answer a question or two you may have…

For several months now I have been pleading with my Republican friends to vote for Mike Huckabee in the Republican primaries. Today is the day. Unless Pastor Mike can pull a miracle out of his toolbox today, he is most likely done.

There are still a few hours remaining before the polls close in the states holding primaries today. If you are a Republican (and still, for whatever reason, determined to vote Republican) in one of those states, please get up off your butt and go cast your vote for Michael Dale Huckabee. Just think about how fun and exciting this general election could be with Pastor Mike as your candidate versus how boring and tiring it will be if you nominate John Sidney McCain III. (Face it, he’s old!)

Here’s the pastor in Dallas this morning:

Go. Now. Vote for Mike. Please.

And thank you.

UPDATE: “Huckabee Drops Out.” Good luck with the old dude.