"No, unfortunately 2012 is here now. GOP rules only allow changes for the next cycle to be made at their convention in Minneapolis. That's the last chance for meaningful change in 2012. Don't believe it? Read on ..."
It took a little longer than we anticipated to tally these up... namely because there were some Caucuses who reported late. But we pulled all the numbers together and hereby announce the results from the December 7th National Caucus!
This past Friday was a true American testament to democracy in action -- and the power of the people. Around the nation people met in small (and large) groups and deliberated the important issues facing the nation as we choose our next president.
The NPC was previewed by major media from CBS News, The Washington Post and The New York Times, to name a few. And, the events were a great success for those who participated. A sampling:
Kansas City: "Wow, what a great evening it was in Kansas City!"
New Jersey: "It was a fun night with close to 200 people participating in this exercise."
Caucuses also received a fair amount of local attention from the mainstream media, including *front page* coverage in Greensboro, NC and TV coverage by WNBC news in NY, the largest NBC affiliate in the nation.
But even better, people reported on their own caucus events! The story is being told! See for yourself: check out some of the footage on The National Presidential Caucus YouTube channel!
We'll be announcing the 'results' very soon ... so stay tuned!
ONLINE ACTIVISTS TO GATHER AT PRESIDENTIAL CAUCUSES
Online organizers in New Jersey are bringing both the party and
representative democracy to the process of choosing a
presidential primary candidate Friday evening.
The event, one of a dozen organized as part of
NationalCaucus.com, begins with a happy hour, features speeches
from local New Jersey politicians representing each of the
Democratic candidates, and includes a discussion of issues
facing the nation as well as a straw poll.
Tonight Americans in cities and small towns across the nation will gather at libraries, church basements, schools and private homes to discuss and deliberate the important issues surrounding the election of our next President.
In our pursuit to put local caucuses on the map, we approached the presidential campaigns and requested they get their supporters involved. Much to our surprise, at the time of this writing, none of the campaigns agreed to endorse the National Caucus concept.
We asked Matt Bai, the acclaimed national politics writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of "The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics" what he thought about why candidates and their campaigns tend to formally shy away from de-centralized, people-powered movements like that of the National Presidential Caucus.
Matt boiled it down to how "people keep trying to exercise their authority as voters, and party leaders keep trying to insulate themselves against rebellion."
After the jump -- read Matt's full response. It's well worth it.
This past Friday was a true American testament to democracy in action -- and the power of the people. Around the nation people met in small (and large) groups and deliberated the important issues facing the nation as we choose our next president.
