Muslims For Kucinich

BATH - After a 12-year hiatus, Sunday's Democratic caucuses in the Mid-coast region drew larger-than-expected turnouts. In some cases, the start of the local delegate-selection process was delayed as organizers scrambled to find room for overflow crowds of registered Democrats who showed up to make known their preference in the race to determine the party's presidential nominee.

In Brunswick, for example, organizers estimated that more than 600 people showed up for the caucus at Brunswick Junior High School. Similarly, in Sagadahoc County communities large and small, Democrats turned out in droves, surprising party officials and the local volunteers who were charged with running the caucuses.

As a result of the hiatus and the unexpected crowds, the local caucuses were marked by some confusion over the process, a lot of enthusiasm and, in one case, a check of the fine print in the caucus rule book to determine that a coin toss would be used to pick a delegate to the state convention.

About 50 Democrats showed up at Bath City Hall early to partake in a pre-caucus brunch sponsored by the Sagadahoc County Democratic Committee, and to shake hands and listen to some inspirational comments from U.S Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine.

Allen told the audience that it has been a long time since he had felt such energy among party members. And, like many who spoke out during the caucus proceedings, Allen attributed the source of that energy to the man in the White House.

"President Bush has done more to unite Democrats, independents and some Republicans than anyone or any thing," Allen said. "This has been the most fiscally irresponsible administration in my lifetime."

Matthew Fogg, a supporter of Dennis Kucinich, attended the caucus out of a desire to change the current government's policies and to push for a third party platform. By the end of the day, he was a Kucinich delegate to the state convention in May.

"Maybe Kucinich is too idealistic to be president," Fogg said. "But his ideas are sound."

Bath's caucus

The flame under the Democrats burned brighter as crowds began showing up a few minutes before 1 p.m., the published start of the Bath caucus. By then a line snaked from the auditorium doorway, down a corridor spanning the entire City Hall to the Front Street entrance. It wasn't until 40 minutes later, after registering all who showed up, that the Bath caucus could begin.

Up in the City Council's meeting room on the third floor, more than 40 West Bath Democrats held their caucus while on the first and second floors the Bath Democrats, all 200 of them, took over the auditorium's balcony and the chamber conference room.

Down in the basement where the pre-caucus brunch took place, Howard Dean's brother, Jim, who lives in Connecticut, shook hands with supporters who filled the room before leaving for Brunswick. "We're still in the race," he said of his brother, who has lost his front-runner status to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Meanwhile, up in the auditorium, the caucus was called to order by state Rep. Thom Watson, who outlined the process: People divided themselves by ward, each ward responsible for a number of delegates, to make up the 25 delegates assigned to Bath.

Caucus math

During the ward meetings, hands were raised to show preference for one candidate over another. But many people were confused when the final numbers appeared.

Paul Perkins and Nancy Proctor, for example, were confused over the results in their Ward 4.

Perkins asked convener Susan Cook: "How can Kerry get 50 percent of the vote in our ward, and yet each candidate ends up with one delegate?"

According to Perkins, a Harvard-educated psychiatrist, there were 25 people voting, of which 12 voted for Kerry and three for Kucinich, the remainder for Dean and Edwards. In the end, Kerry, Dean, Kucinich and Edwards all came away with one delegate each.

Cook escorted the couple to the large flip chart at the front of the auditorium and tried to explain. Soon there were a few more people gathered around. Cook went over the formula for determining how delegates are chosen, which involves division and multiplication and is based on the number of Democratic voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election. After several minutes, no one in the group had a clear idea of how Kerry received 12 of 25 votes in Ward 4 while Kucinich got three and yet each came away with one delegate.

"That doesn't seem representational," Perkins said.

"There are fractions involved," Cook said.

Perkins and Proctor left the auditorium shaking their heads.

In Arrowsic

About five miles away and two hours later, a sharper example of the caucus process evolved as 45 Democrats crowded into Arrowsic's town hall to cast their presidential preferences. With only two delegates at stake, Arrowsic is the smallest municipality in Sagadahoc County, yet out of 149 registered Democrats, almost one third arrived for the caucus.

Convener Darla Jewett told the group, "You vote with your feet."

Small cardboard signs had been made and placed around the room by 13-year-old volunteer Marley Witham, who said she was at the caucus with her mother because her class at the Center for Teaching and Learning had gone to Portland earlier in the week to attend a John Kerry rally and she was interested in the political process.

Among her classmates, she said, the war in Iraq is a big issue.

Eileen Harkins was one of the caucus participants, and she echoed many of the voters in Bath when she said she was there "to do what I can to beat Bush."

Horse trading

Arrowsic's town hall is small enough that with 45 people in it, it wasn't able to accommodate the people and the chairs they were sitting on and still have room to walk to the candidate's spot. So the first order of business was to put away the chairs before proceeding to the spot in the room beneath the sign for supporters of each candidate.

The way caucuses work, according to Jewett, who referred to a handout by the Maine Democratic Party, was that after the first "round," in which participants walk to their designated candidate, the groups talk to each other to convince people to come to their side. Then another "round" decides the final appropriation. Simple.

But when the smoke cleared after the first round there were three main groups: Kerry and Dean with 11, Kucinich with 22, and one lonely person standing near the copy machine under the Edwards sign. The horse trading began.

Andrea Hanson of the Kerry group addressed the Kucinich people: "A long time ago I voted for Dick Gregory. I have always voted my heart, but this time we need to send a strong message and put a winner in Washington. I know where the Kucinich people are coming from. But we need to win this time."

Jody Jones, from the Kucinich circle, said to the Dean group: "I have a lot of respect for Howard Dean. He's done a lot to bring people in to the process. But I like Kucinich's ideas."

Jennifer Geiger to the Kucinich people: "I agree with the message of the Kucinich campaign, but I think Dean is a better choice to bring that message to the table."

From the Dean group: "I don't want the media to tell me who to vote for."

For the second round the Edwards "group" of one walked across the room to the Kerry group, as did a few of the Kucinich people. The final result was Kerry with 16, Kucinich and Dean with 14 each.

The two groups faced each other. Jewett referred to her handouts.

"What do we do now?" someone said.

After a few moments, Jewett had an answer:

"If no one wants to change sides," she said. "The rules say we flip a coin."

"Screw the rules," a voice from the Kucinich camp shouted.

After 10 more minutes of debate, during which neither side was willing to give up a participant, a penny was tossed in the air and landed heads up. Kucinich was the victor. Arrowsic would send one delegate for Kerry and one for Kucinich to the state convention in May.