What appeared to be nearly a thousand people packed into Salmon Bay Elementary, where many Ballard Democrats caucused on Saturday.
They packed the halls.
And even the stairways.
In fact, there were groups of 50-100 people spread all over the school. I only heard unofficial counts as I moved from group to group, but in most cases, Obama was the clear choice. It was an amazing event to witness: I’ve never seen so many people engaged in a presidential election.
Adds Mantini in comments: “We had over 700 at Whittier Elementary School in Crown Hill. Obama seemed to be the choice for most folks there as well.”
Adds Holly: “We were in western Ballard and the hall was standing room only. The Obama folks outnumbered the rest by about 4:1 across the handful of precincts on our floor of the building.”
Update: The Stranger has this report from Adams Elementary: “The caucus was supposed to happen in the cafeteria, but by 1 pm the room was solid people, with lines still out the door. Some precincts had to move to the gym while others met out in the hallway and on the front lawn.”
Update: Photophonic has photos from the caucus at Oddfellows Hall.
Update: As expected, Obama beat Clinton by a significant margin.
6 responses so far ↓
1 piogga // Feb 9, 2008 at 3:28 pm
It was fabulous! In 2004 my precinct had 33 people show up - this time we had an even 100! Our little subgroup was voting for Obama two to one, but we all agreed that no matter who wins the nomination we’ll all be turning out together come November.
I feel sorry for all the folks who couldn’t participate today, it was inspriing to see so many people involved in the democratic process.
2 Mantini // Feb 9, 2008 at 3:28 pm
We had over 700 at Whittier Elementary School in Crown Hill. Obama seemed to be the choice for most folks there as well.
3 kathy // Feb 9, 2008 at 3:53 pm
My 18-yo son & I left one of the Ravenna caucuses (at Eckdstein middle school) about an hour ago. The majority of the support was for Obama. He won our precint & the two next to us, 6 delegates to 1 (of course that’s just a microcosm)
4 Ann // Feb 9, 2008 at 4:22 pm
This was my first caucus…but not my last. It was exciting and invigorating, and although I always vote, this was the first time I felt as though I can make a difference. Our precint will be sending 3 Obama delegates and 2 Clinton delegates, but we all agreed that we would ultimately back whomever won the national nomination. It is time for change!
5 Holly // Feb 9, 2008 at 4:48 pm
We were in western Ballard and the hall was standing room only. The Obama folks outnumbered the rest by about 4:1 across the handful of precincts on our floor of the building. The crowd was mixed–some new, some old, some first-timers, some talking about the caucuses back in the 70’s and 80’s. Energy soared and people were considerate and respectful of all points of view.
6 Joel // Feb 14, 2008 at 10:12 am
It was fun watching people make their way to Salmon Bay School on 65th. I live just a couple of blocks away, and I don’t remember ever having seen to many people walking down 65th before! It was like a parade.
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