Title: Caucus Day
Author: Cathy (www.cathyswestwing.com)
Rating: Everyone
Timeline: Post Santos, The Lyman’s are campaign consultants
Disclaimer: Josh and Donna are not mine, but all the other are.
A/N: This came out of my experience at our Senate District Caucus, where I was reminded
that the Democratic Party is anything but organized. It was lively, though.
“Oh, for God’s sake. Can we get on with this please?” Josh Lyman protested softly from his
seat at an Iowa Caucus site. Two people at the podium were currently arguing about
whether or not to delay gaveling in the caucus because there were still a lot of people
waiting to get in. “Why are we here again?”
“You promised Ben we’d take him so he could see how a caucus works.” Donna reminded
him.
Josh turned to Ben. “Caucuses don’t work, Ben. Let’s leave now before the bloodletting
begins.”
Ben would not give way. “You promised. We have to keep our promises.”
“I promised I would help you understand the caucus process, I don’t remember actually
promising to attend one.” Josh countered.
“But this is going to help me understand them.” Ben argued.
“It really isn’t.” Josh replied. Then they were gaveled into session and asked to stand to
recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Ben noted, again, that his father skipped the words under
God. When they were seated again, he asked his dad why he never said the words ‘under
God’.
“Because it’s inserting religion into Government and it’s wrong.” Josh maintained.
“But it’s part of the pledge!” Ben insisted.
“Not originally.” Josh told him. “The words ‘under God’ were inserted into the pledge in the
1950’s as a counter to communism in Russia. They should never have been added. How
do you think Muslims, or people of other faiths feel about pledging their allegiance ‘under
God’? Or people who don’t believe in God at all? How do you think they like being forced to
say words they don’t believe are true? Isn’t America supposed to be better than that? More
inclusive than that? Why they haven’t been-“
“Josh. They’re starting now. How about you save your political speech for afterwards,
hmmm?” Donna looked pointedly at the people around them who were now staring at them.
They were already wearing visitor badges, so already they stood out. They really didn’t
need to draw more attention to themselves. “Yeah, yeah.” Josh agreed and gave everyone
a jaunty wave.
The speaker at the podium was going on about electing officers while pages of blank
resolution forms were being distributed. When Ben got his copy he noted that almost
everyone was filling them out.
“That’s because in the caucus process, everyone that attends can have a say in what
they’d like to see become a part of the Democratic platform. Maybe some resolution here
will make it all the way to the convention and become an important issue on the national
stage.”
“Jesus, Donna. Don’t be filling the kid’s head with fairy tales. I can guarantee you that
nothing coming from this caucus is going to make it as a national issue.”
“You are a political snob, Joshua. Good ideas can come from anywhere.”
“Uh-huh.” Josh was disbelieving.
“For example…” Donna began.
“Here we go.” Josh muttered and Ben laughed. His dad would make a statement, then his
mom would bring up some obscure fact that disproved him, then they would argue about it.
He loved it when they argued. It was fun to watch; at least until the end when they made up.
Then they kissed and gross stuff like that. When he asked his dad why he always kissed
mom when they were fighting, he said it was the best way to keep her quiet and then
laughed.
“In Minnesota, right next door, someone wrote up a resolution at a caucus just like this one.
It went to the district caucus, then the senate district caucus, and finally to the State caucus
where it caught the eye of Hubert Humphrey. Hubert Humphrey was so impressed with it
that he brought it to the attention of President Kennedy who enacted it as…”
“Drum roll please.” Josh interjected.
“The Peace Corps.” Donna finished triumphantly.
“Cool!” Ben responded just as Donna hoped he would. “How do you write one?”
“You pick an issue you care about, and write what you’d like to happen with that issue in
this spot here.” Josh pointed out on Ben’s sheet. “It’s supposed to start, “Be it resolved
that…” and then you add what your issue is, and hopefully give a reason for your
resolution.”
“Try one.” Donna encouraged.
“Okay.” Ben thought for a minute, biting his tongue between his teeth while he figured out
what to write about. After he finished his resolution he read it to them. “Be it resolved that
the school year should be reduced to 100 days a year so kids have time to do other stuff.
Is that good?”
“Well, it’s written correctly, but whether it’s good or not is up to the voters. They’ll read
each resolution, offer people to speak for it or against it, then vote on whether or not to
send it on to the next level.” Josh explained.
“This is so cool!” Ben crowed. “Everybody is writing their own resolution here.”
“Democracy in action.” Donna agreed.
“That remains to be seen.” Josh muttered.
The caucus elected their precinct officers and began to go through resolutions.
“Be it resolved that the Democratic Party will fight to increase the level of ethanol subsidies
to encourage less dependency on foreign oil.” The chair read.
“Get serious!” Josh exclaimed.
“Sir, we have not opened up the floor for discussion for or against this resolution. Please
wait to add your comments.” The chair reminded him. The person offering the resolution
spoke about it for a minute before Josh interrupted again.
“That is completely false! Ethanol production is NOT reducing our dependency on oil and
we now have research to prove it’s more expensive to produce than oil. If you want to
resolve that we commit to other forms of renewable energy, fine, but ethanol ain’t gonna
cut it.”
“Joshua!” Donna hissed.
“Sir, if you would like to speak against the resolution, please come down to the podium and
give everyone your name.”
“Uh…no, thanks…sorry.” Josh mumbled. He remained silent through the next 27
resolutions, but number 28 put him over the edge. Donna knew it would as soon as she
heard to read.
“Be it resolved that any Democratic candidate for President will promise to add an
amendment to the Constitution defining marriage as a union between one man and one
woman.” The words were barely finished when Josh leapt to his feet.
“Have you all stepped back into the middle ages? What’s next, a resolution promising to
burn all witches at the stake?”
“Sir, please sit down.” The chair advised Josh, but he was already turning to the people
around him.
“Have we become a society that no longer gives them same rights and privileges to all
citizens?”
“Sir, you are out of order.” The chair banged the gavel several times, but Josh paid no
attention to him.
“Homosexuals aren’t asking anyone else to become gay. They’re not looking for converts,
people. They want to have the same rights to a sanctioned commitment to one person that
heterosexuals have, to raise a family without fear of persecution, to be able to live their
lives without fear that they will be the victims of prejudice or hate crimes at their places of
work and in their neighborhoods. That’s all. They are not trying to take over the country or
get you to agree with their lifestyle they just want to live in peace; just like everyone else
here. If you pass this resolution you’ll be stating, in writing, that the good people of Iowa
don’t believe in equality for all. That’s the story that will come out tonight when the eyes of
the world are on Iowa. Think about that.” Josh sat back down and saw Ben’s jaw was on the
floor and Donna had her face covering her eyes. When she finally uncovered her face, he
saw her shaking her head and trying to hold in laughter.
“We are so getting kicked out of here.” Donna said quietly to Ben who was still in shock
from his father’s impassioned plea.
“Well…” said the precinct chair. “That seems to have taken care of discussion against the
resolution. Would anyone like to speak in favor of the resolution?” Nothing but crickets.
“Then I think we’re ready to vote. All those in favor of the resolution as read, say ‘aye’.”
Again, not a sound as Josh’s eyes searched out the crowd. “All those opposed, same sign.
“ A resounding chorus of ‘ayes’ were heard. “The resolution does not pass.” The chair
looked relieved.
“We are now ready to move to our Presidential preference walking caucus.”
“God save me.” Josh muttered and Ben laughed again. This was getting good.
“Each candidate seeking the Democratic nomination has a sign on the walls around us.
When I indicate it is time to begin , you will have 10 minutes to decide which candidate you
are supporting and stand underneath that candidate’s sign. At that point, any candidate
that does not have 15% support of this caucus will be invited to join another candidate's
group. After another 10 minutes everyone will be asked to freeze next to the candidate
they support while a final tally is taken that will then be announced to the group.” The chair
looked around to be sure there were no questions. “Okay, begin.”
Everyone began moving around trying to find their candidates sign and encouraging
others to come with them. Ben watched in wonder while friends, neighbors, and strangers
tried to talk each other into supporting this candidate or that one; some conversations
impassioned, others humorous, and a few that turned acrimonious. Finally the time was
called, and Ben was thrilled to see that the most voters had congregated around the sign
for Sam Seaborn. Then the signs for the candidates who didn’t have enough support were
taken down and the chair told them to start their second and final walk. Pandemonium
broke out as the remaining candidate’s supporters begged and pleaded with the
unpledged delegates to join them.
There were fast and furious debates with each delegate about why one of the remaining
candidates was most worthy of their support now that their first choice candidate had been
eliminated. Ben couldn’t even take it all in. He turned to his dad with a huge grin.
“This is great! Why don’t you like this? Everyone is debating who’s the best and why.” Ben
asked his dad.
“Well…maybe this part isn’t so bad.” Josh acknowledged and rubbed his son’s shoulder.
Together they caught a snippet of a debate alongside them.
“I don’t care if he’s from California. He’s done good things there and Jed Bartlet picked him
for his senior staff so that’s saying something!” one person said
“You pick Seaborn and we’ll have the White House filled with fruits and nuts.” The second
person replied.
“Get your head out of your ass, Jeffrey. He’s a strong leader and he’ll do great things if we
give him a chance. Look how he turned the schools around out there. Don’t you want
better schools for Mary and Chris?”
“Of course I do.” Jeffrey retorted.
“Then do something about it. Seaborn has proven he can do the job, now get over here
and be counted with us before you end up voting for Nader again or some fool thing.”
Jeffrey paused, then with a confident swagger, joined the Seaborn group.
“No, this part isn’t bad at all.” Josh admitted when Donna joined them. Time was called, the
votes were tallied, and as they left the caucus site, Ben got his dad’s cell phone.
“Uncle Sam? You won! You won in the caucus we went to. It was so great! These people
were arguing for you and dad shot down this totally crappy resolution. I want to go to
another one.” Ben got it all out in one breath before Sam even got a chance to respond.
“We’ve created a monster.” Josh complained good-naturedly.
“Yes, but a well informed monster.” Donna tousled Ben’s hair while he continued to
bombard Sam with all the details.
“At least we got through caucus day in Iowa.” Josh replied. “Now…it’s on to New England,
the true seat of power.”
“Great, then you can introduce Ben to the primary system.” Donna teased.
The End.