I sat around with 37 strangers yesterday morning talking politics for 2.5 hours. It was a conversation in which Kerry’s name was rarely mentioned. In the end we did end up sending one of our 5 delegates for Kerry, but barely, he squeaked by with only 6 votes, the minimum to send a delegate, well behind Dean, Kucinich, and Undecided. There were impassioned pleas for Edwards (started the day with 3 votes, but they eventually split to Undecided and Dean), several articulate and stirring speakers for Kucinich (started the day at 7 votes, ended at 10), confident and calm in their beliefs supporters of Dean (started the day at 15, lost a few, gained them back). We even had impassioned pleas for Undecided. But nobody mentioned Kerry. No one even confessed to being a Kerry supporter except for the 2 people who fled his camp bringing his totals down to the minimum. For 150 minutes we talked about our hopes for the campaign and the next 4 years, people talked about their excitement and their determination. We argued over proposed platforms, and voting strategies. Probably 3/4 of the group spoke at some point during the session.

But not a single person, not once, not at any time in those 150 minutes, said, “I support Kerry, and here is why…”.

For well over half of the people in the room this was their first caucus, and they seemed to be happy and excited by the possibility of doing something, having some say or choice in how their country is run. I wonder if they still feel that way as they read over their morning papers.