Never before has Colorado played such an important role in selecting presidential candidates — this is the first year that the state will hold its caucuses on Feb. 5, “Super Tuesday,” a day when a slew of states will hold primaries and caucuses to determine which candidate will win the favor of their party.
In years past, Colorado has held its caucus later in the year, when the nominees have all but been selected. Normally the earliest primaries and caucuses presage the eventual candidate, but this year, even after Iowa, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Michigan, Nevada, and South Carolina have weighed in, it’s still anybody’s race.
“It’s interesting. The Republican race is wide open, the Democratic race still hasn’t been decided,” said Oak Smith, who is helping with the Democrat caucus in Norwood. “The caucus hasn’t ever been this early. It’s interesting that Colorado will have a voice in who the nominees for the parties will be. Generally it’s been so late in the year that the nominees were already decided.”
Colorado will caucus along with 24 other states on Feb. 5, and in this state there are 71 Democrat delegates and 46 Republican delegates at stake. The delegates will be sent to the national conventions, where they will vote proportionately to how the candidates fared in their state.
In Norwood, the Precinct 4 Republican caucus is to be held at the Brooke Insurance Agency, on 1530 Grand Avenue. Mary Deen is in charge of this event, and can be reached at 970-327-4652 for more information. Precinct 5 Republican voters will convene in Egnar at 251 County Road H1, at Jack and Susan Mott’s home. Call 970-677-2757 about this event.
Democrats from both Precinct 4 and Precinct 5 will meet at the Norwood Community Center, and party members can contact Oak Smith at 970-327-0203 for more information.
Caucuses here have historically not been well attended — Harley Brooke Hitching heads up the local Republican contingent and she used to hold meetings in her home. This year she is still searching for a larger space in Telluride to hold the caucus for that precinct.
“The caucuses before, maybe two or three people would show up,” said Brooke Hitching. “It’s great that everyone’s so excited. I don’t think it makes that much of a difference, that it’s too consequential (to have the earlier caucus) but it’s exciting that our Republican caucuses are becoming quite an event.”
Precinct caucuses, created by Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 and used in only 20 states, are an old-fashioned, grass-roots system of democracy. They are neighborhood meetings that are unlike a primary, where voters simply enter a booth and pull a lever or touch a screen. Precinct caucuses are gatherings where party members discuss not only nominees, but also issues. State and county candidates are selected, precinct committee members are elected for 2-year terms, and delegates and alternates are chosen to represent the precinct at the county assembly.
You can caucus for any candidate you want, said Smith, no matter who the current front-runners are. If you like Dennis Kucinich, for instance, you just need 15 percent of the party members in attendance to stand with you to have a delegate carry your choice to the county assembly on March 1.
Colorado uses both the caucus and the primary system — primaries are used for state-level and congressional offices only, and they are closed to people who are not party members.
Caucuses are also closed, in that non-party members are not allowed to participate in the actual selections. But Smith said that non-party members are welcome to come and observe the process.
“You can’t hardly get any more democracy in action than a caucus. That’s about as visible as it gets. Everybody will be welcome, even if they’re not a Democrat. Maybe they will want to get involved some time later,” said Smith. “I’m excited to be able to do this … the last caucus I had been to was the late 80s, early 90s. It was a pretty sedate affair. I am looking forward to doing this. I think it’s going to be fun.”