Wednesday, March 05, 2008
By David Doerr
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton squeaked by with a win over Sen. Barack Obama in McLennan County on Tuesday night while high voter enthusiasm and confusion characterized much of the day and night throughout the state.
Final results of the election in Texas were unknown early this morning as high-volume precincts and those in West Texas struggled to report their results.
Late night, long lines at Carver Academy
Central Texas votes
- Primacaucus — Clogged caucus meetings, voter enthusiasm enlivens presidential race in Waco
- State Rep., Dist. 56 — Anderson tops Sibley in Texas House race
- Commissioner, Pct. 1 — Snell stuns incumbent Crunk in Precinct 1
- Commissioner, Pct. 3 — Mashek coasts to victory
- Sheriff — McLennan County sheriff: Lynch in a landslide
In McLennan County, 414 votes separated Clinton from Obama in the Democratic primary election. However, the Texas Secretary of State’s election results clearly showed Clinton edging out Obama.
While the picture remained murky on the Democratic side, Sen. John McCain emerged as the presumed Republican presidential nominee after his sweep of four states, including Texas, helped him secure the 1,191 delegates he needed to prevail.
While Clinton held a lead in the popular vote Tuesday night, Obama could actually win more delegates in Texas than her because of the state’s hybrid primary-caucus system.
Hundreds of Democrats crowded voting locations across McLennan County Tuesday night in hopes of winning delegates for their candidates in precinct conventions after primary ballots were cast. The Texas Democratic Party will send 67 delegates to the national convention based on the result of caucuses held at precinct, county and state conventions.
The contest for caucus delegates spurred more than 500 people to show up at the Precinct 12 convention held at G.W. Carver Academy in East Waco. Precinct 12, which has 59 delegates to be sent to the county convention, is the largest cache of delegates in McLennan County because of its high voter turnout in the 2006 gubernatorial election.
Confusion surrounded the caucus process at Carver and other voting locations across town as many first-time precinct convention participants came out to help their favorite candidate. The caucuses received much media attention as the candidates vowed to fight for every last delegate in their efforts to secure the nomination.
The precinct convention at Carver didn’t start until about 10 p.m. because of a line of about 200 voters who were still waiting to cast primary ballots when the polls closed at 7 p.m. Party rules prevented the precinct conventions from starting until the last voter in line cast his ballot.
The 500 caucus attendees at Carver spilled out of the school’s cafeteria. It was about 8:45 p.m. when precinct officials at Carver were able to start signing in caucus-goers. They were overwhelmed with a huge line of Obama supporters.
Precinct officials had to continually remind voters to form an orderly line.
Election observers with Clinton’s campaign protested when two Obama supporters started to sign the names of caucus-goers on sign-up sheets, which served as the basis for calculating how many delegates each candidate would win from the caucus.
Deb Goldberg, a voter rights lawyer with the Clinton campaign, said there was no reason for the Obama supporters to violate the rules, especially when it was so clear he would overwhelmingly win the precinct convention.
Clinton supporters said they planned to challenge about 70 of the names of people who signed in to participate in the precinct convention. An Obama supporter said confusion over the rules for the convention and the overwhelming turnout led to the problems.
John Cullar, McLennan County Democratic Party chairman, said the high turnout was a mixed blessing.
He said the objections of the Clinton supporters at Carver had been noted and would be addressed during the county convention on March 29.
Despite overwhelming turnout at precincts across the county, Cullar said the Precinct 12 caucus was the only one where problems were not readily overcome.
“I think overall people were very patient with the process, and the fact that they were there is what makes me happy,” he said. “I appreciate greatly their patience and understanding. This was a response that the state party did not anticipate and we didn’t plan for as far as space.”
There was also high turnout at Crestview Elementary School, where an overflow crowd of Democratic voters wanting to caucus was moved from one building to another.
Chris Taylor, a first-time caucus-goer at Crestview, said he and his family were there because they “got caught up in the wave of Obama enthusiasm.”
Taylor attended with his wife, Maria, and their two children.
“I think it’s cool because this is the closest thing to a true town hall meeting we’ll get in our generation,” Maria Taylor said. “Everybody’s here, some we know, some we don’t.”
Hillary Clinton supporters gathered late Tuesday night at The Ranch dancehall to watch as voting results poured in, most of them encouraging to their candidate’s comeback campaign. At 9:50 p.m., everyone was smiling and cheering when televisions showed that Clinton had edged ahead.
“I’ve never seen excitement like this in my life, ever,” said retired business owner Sara Oliver, 65. “There’s usually not anywhere near this kind of excitement in the primary.”
More than 100 Obama supporters rallied at Treff’s Bar & Grill on Austin Avenue to watch the results come in.
Emily Ingram and Tim Woods contributed to this story.
ddoerr@wacotrib.com
757-5755
