Leadership and Change

Leaving my home not long after 6:00 with a 7:00 start time and being only 10 minutes away from Eden Prairie High School, I felt I'd have plenty of time to soak in the events of the evening. My expectations were quickly dashed when we turned onto Eden Prairie Road about 3 miles from the school. Two-lane traffic was at an absolute standstill, with only occasional bursts of movement. One hour later and well past the caucus start-time, my husband and I were still sitting in our car following a never-ending line of cars coming together from three directions off Highway 5. By the time we reached one of the school's large parking areas, it was going on 8:00. People were crossing the street between cars. One lady fell in the sloppy muck left from the day's melting, and my husband said to me, "This is leadership -- I'm leaving and you will follow."

Having had a hip replacement, he was not willing to put me in the middle of that mess of cars, people and muck.

So, I am disappointed -- but very impressed with my husband's step up to leadership (I usually win - this time he did). Therefore, I have nothing to relate about any first-hand observances regarding the caucus process, but I did learn that sometimes people can be incredibly patient when in a traffic jam (I witnessed many incidents of courteous behavior by drivers) and helpful to others (several ran to help the poor woman who fell in the muck). Mostly, I learned that our community must have been extremely motivated to continue sitting in such a line of cars just for a chance to participate in this process.

Later, watching the Super Tuesday coverage on television about local caucuses, I learned that Eden Prairie was not the only area that experienced similar large turnouts and, thus, traffic and voting issues. I learned from one caller to a radio show this morning that her caucus was so ill-prepared for such a turnout that, when she finally reached the voting table, she was handed a small torn 3 X 3 paper torn from a legal pad and was told to write her vote on it. That piece of paper was then folded by someone and placed into a size 10 (normal business size) mailing envelope that kept spilling over (onto the table and floor) with other folded paper votes. I cannot imagine that counting those paper votes could have been very accurate and certainly didn't leave the caller feeling confident that her participation meant much in the larger picture.

Leaders everywhere, from the candidates to the local and national media, assisted in creating great change in the democratic (republic?) process. Perhaps the interest in the caucus process and state primaries around the country stemmed from a strong desire for change in leadership; perhaps the interest resulted from having such strong Presidential candidates in the running; perhaps it happened because of the media. Perhaps a combination of things caused the public to become so involved in the caucusing process here in Minnesota, but it was definitely a change resulting from avenues of leadership. It was nice to see that interest, but it was not fun to see the frenzy it created. Hopefully, lessons were learned (perhaps finding different venues for each party) that will make the next time more meaningful. And hopefully I will then be able to actually participate.