this is a fairly stupid process anyway, and it was probably designed when the dems was the southern racist party to limit the impact of the black and latino vote.

They could simply not allow sign ins until the doors close. And who gave them the sheets early??

Can I just say, I have wondered more than once about Obama's caucus "organizing", especially in Iowa. Seems to me there was some out of state padding going on there.

Also why are there absentee ballots for some caucuses and how did some campaigns get them???

Caucuses really need to be turfed. They are open to an awful lot of funny business.

tony, the sign-in sheets are available for download on the internet. Anyone can get them. In fact, caucus participants are encouraged to print a few off and take them with them in the event that there are not enough at the caucus.

Sorry, my comment should have been directed to s.b., not tony.

Well in this case they should not be accepted unless they can be submitted by a body with ID verifying they are that person, with what i thought was manditory a stamp on their voter registration saying they voted.

None of this slips should be accepted without the verification and the person!!!

Easy!

This is easy to solve and the Texas Secretary of State should issue a notice that no slips are allowed to be submitted without the person being present with their stamped voter registration card or before doors close.

The biggest problem is the Republican raid on the Democratic nominating process, orchestrated than by none other than Rush Limbaugh. It won't bother me if one or more of those folks get whacked in the nose before its all said and done.

This is somewhat of a non-issue. The delegate count does not matter so much as the primary vote result, as delegates will be apportioned according to the vote count, not according to the delegate count. The delegates to the national convention (which may matter, if it comes down to a floor fight), will be calculated at the state convention level, rather than the precinct convention level.

It seems that this blip on the political radar is just a bug.

Actually, the Tom Delay orchestrated illegal redistricting of Texas will ensure the Reps carry TX anyway. I was in TX at that time and know that the reasoning behind this by the RNC was to negate the impact of the Hispanic voting block which continues to grow by leaps and bounds and they typically vote Dem.

So the fight for TX is for delegates mostly. The Dems will fight for TX electoral votes but they have voted Red since 1980. It will take a unity ticket for the Dems to win TX electoral votes. This is why the RNC is trying to keep Dems fighting and hope for defectors.

standing in line at a caucus in Texas right now. I don't understand the process-anyone?

len - i meant the dual primary and caucus setup in a state the size of most countries is probably a relic from some awful period of history.

Why do you say the Clinons steal pramaries?

Clinton's trying to trouble this state since she's losing in it and winning in Ohio.

Obama's people are stoping Hillary supporters from voting what the heck....
in harris county.

jen, you should really do your research on Obama before you start calling Clinton a crook. Most can talk the game but that doesn't mean they can play the game. You Need to look outside the box, you'd learn much more than you think.

Have been in a caucus room waiting to sign since 6 40. Have still not started yet..it's now 9:53. Obama supporters are coming in with sheets already signed.........

I just came from a caucus in north Texas. It was well run and very professional. There were big crowds. Four precincts were in our building. All went to Obama. Our precinct alone netted Obama 19 delegates and Hillary 9.

....and the largest story concerning voter irregularities in Texas has gone without coverage from "ANY" of the media outlets!!!
The number of "ILLEGAL MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS" that used false identity documents to register to vote! This was heavily promoted in the Latino communities and yet there has been not one mention about it in the media!!!
No one knows how many, just like the Government has no definitive numbers with regard to how many "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS" there are currently in this country.
The message to the legal voting public is...."again we don't have to abide by your laws, we know what the short circuit flaws are with your system and we will take full advantage of it!"
I have also heard no mention of this from any of the candidates on either side of the race. Almost like another form of "don't ask, don't tell".
I cannot go to Mexico and vote in their national elections so why are we allowing and tolerating this to happen in the United States??? (Freedom of Speech does not apply here!!!)
Citizenship is something that is earned and cherished, not something that "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS" can claim just because they know how to beat the system.
Wake up washington, there is more at stake here than escaping your responsibility with the premise of granting "blanket amnesty" to an unknown number of people currently in this country "ILLEGALLY"!!!

jen, my apologies I directed the message at you by mistake the message should be directed at "Bag the Billster". Sorry jen!

About 300 of us stood outside in a parking lot in Lindale, Texas, unable to enter the community building for the Democratic caucus because the city council was meeting. We stood in the cold, were eventually told to go to different areas in the adjoining park to meet up with our individual precinct members. Finally at 8:00 we were allowed in the building. At 8:30 I went to a corner of the room to meet up with the other 17 Obama voters in my precinct, where we elected our delegates. In spite of everything, I met a lot of people who had never even voted in a primary before. I also met a lot of folks who were not going to be kept from this meeting no matter how difficult whoever was in charge made it.

I voted in a caucus today and I know for a fact that the precinct that I was at ran out of ballot sign in sheets and created one with a blank peice of paper. The originals have carbon copies with them. Also, they were telling people that you had to be present after signing in for the caucus for the vote to count. That was not the case. All you had to do was sign the caucus log book for your precinct and you were free to go. But what surprised me more than anything is that some people supporting Obama were signing up on the wrong convention list, leaving their names on it then going to their correct district. So Many issues going on that they system needs to be changed. Once your name is on the paper, the vote stands. People actually tried to get people to change votes once the process was started. Poor politics if you ask me. Bad showing against Obama and his followers. Thats why they are losing in Texas and have already Lost Ohio. Give him all the small midwest states with small population. He couldn't carry a large state with millions in polulation if his life depended on it.

As a San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas voter. Let me say where I voted we not only had three (3) precients but we were still waiting 2 hours and 40 minutes after the polls offically closed. For the last voter to cast their vote. We were told right off the bat that we had to wait for the last voter before we could caucus. Persons had to present our causus certificate or voter registration stamped and picture ID if we wanted to caucus. Alot of hard working tired people of every color and nationality were waiting unitl after 10pm CT. Just to caucus. Some places have still not had the chance to caucus because some people are still voting. Let's set aside the issues of who should be on which side of the river or fence and get through the process. Alot of accusations where thrown back when Johnson won in Texas. Do we need to go back and see how many dead texans voted then? Who would have known in a time where we have not only a white woman and a african american man running for President that bigotry would be so alive and well?

Pretty scarry to think that who wins the primary is based on votes from people who have no clue how the process works and such terrible use of the English language and proper grammar.
All the Republicans have to do is get
Hillary on the ticket, she has no chance to win... Obama could win against McCain. God help us all if another Republican gets in... All Americans will be put into slavery to pay the damn taxes and to get us out the hole the damn Republicans already got us into.

Well, Why not support HIllary if she wins the nomination? Hey, I like Clinton, I won't lie. However, because of the state of the Union. If Obama is nominated, I will vote for him come November. Any one of the two candidates is worth of the presidential nomination and both would be good for the country. But what needs to be done is no matter who wins, they need the DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT that they both deserve. We can't have another 4-8 years of Republican rule. Its crippling the country. We shouldn't worry if it is CLINTON/OBAMA '08, it should be DEMOCRATS '08. That is what's best for this country. Lets all get out and vote come november no matter who wins. If we don't do that as a people and political party, we are just as to blame for the countries problems as the Republicans. Lets not be two faced. We have shown power in numbers so far these past several months showing that we can not and will not take any more of this crap. The message MUST stay the same.

Come on you guys! What kind of country can't even get the basics right every time you hold an election. It certainly ain't no democracy you've got there.

One last thing that all people should never forget. It is sad that it has taken this country to get to the point that it currently is to get people to vote in the numbers that they have these past few months. It should not come to this. We should always be involved and motivated just to make sure that we don't repeat history. We should all be ashamed of ourselves. As it is with record turn outs in texas, there is still only expect to be about 40% of registered voters to participate in elections. That is sad to know that upwards of 5 million people still don't care enough to go out and vote. That is nation wide people. Those people who don't vote are the same people complaining that a gallon of milk is more expensive than a gallon of gas. Don't be a part of the problem then complain about how can we fix it. Fix yourself and the rest will follow.

Seeing democrats finally getting on board with Voter ID because their candidate (Obama) might be getting cheated because of illegal aliens voting?

Priceless.

Hey, we told you so. Glad you democrats are FINALLY catching on!

I decied not to vote in the Texas primary. So which one is going to go to the Supreme Court who installed George?

Clinton has won Ohio and Texas, the big ones. Good news for her. Common sense tells us that it is a bad news for the Democratic Party. McCain has won the Rep nomination. But Clinton will continue to hurl negativities against her opponent, not McCain but Obama, a Democrat who happens to be the people's choice. American voters have again demonstrated that only negative campaign wins in America. If Clinton wins the nomination, the new registered voters, the Obamacans and the Independents will definitely not vote for Clinton. Clinton is a very polarizing figure in American politics. McCain has chosen to resist negative campaign. He will win the sympathy of many Obamacans, the youths and the independents. That means, 4 more years of the Rep in the White house. The ego of Hilary and Bill will become sober -- if that is possible at all. The Democratic leadership has failed to exercise the necessary moral courage and political wisdom to take the WH. 11 straight win, was that not the time to tell Clinton „enough is enough“?

For anyone interested in seeing how the "electability" picture looks between Obama and Clinton, I have been keeping track of which states I predict will be swing states (less than 5% difference in 2004 and/or less than 30% Bush approval rating). I also include the Red and Blue states in my counting based on voter turnout. I am not including McCain numbers since I knew he would get their nom. Here is what the numbers look like so far:

For states that have held primaries/caucuses for both parties so far:

Red States in 2004 with higher Dem turnouts account for 78 electors. 52 Clinton, 26 Obama
Blue States in 2004 with higher Dem turnouts account for 142 electors. 102 Clinton, 40 Obama
Blue Battleground States in 2004 with Higher Dem turnouts account for 74 electors. 36 Clinton, 38 Obama
Red Battleground States in 2004 with Higher Dem turnouts account for 102 electors. 62 Clinton, 40 Obama

Electoral totals so far: 252 Clinton, 144 Obama

Clinton definitely appears more electable considering the fact only 270 electors are needed to win in November and there are only 10 states left in the primary contest. She is onto something here... if she can pull out a win and unify the party with the right ticket... I think she will beat McCain.

I say we support the person who wins the nomination too. But that does not include thinking they can force the nomination with less delegates then Obama. If that happens, there is no way the Obama supporters would EVER support Hillary in the general election - that's a given.
But does Hillary understand that? I don't think so. Bill Richardson was even saying yesterday that unless Hillary won big, he thinks the person with the most delegates should take the nomination. I am not saying Hillary should bough out yet but Barack did come from 20 points behind last mount to within 3 points in Texas and 12 points in Ohio. Barack just needs to figure out fast that people do fall for the red-phone adds. Sad, but true.

dc voter.....as a TX resident and Democratic voter let me tell you that the Latino vote is traditionally Republican.

Last night Hillary's large win in the Latino areas indicates the newly energized voting block for Democrats.

The Texas delegate count has been revised in recent years by the Democrats for primary voters and is heavily weighted to reward urban/black voters in traditional Democrat voting areas and cut the influence of Latino districts.

The Latino crossover from Republican to Hillary is consistantly minimized by the media and often portrayed as contested by Obama pundits. Latinos are for Hillary by large margins....and they used to be Republicans by large margins. Go figure...

Yep J Allen - as a displaced Texan, I am well aware the hispanic voting bloc was shifting Dem as was Tom Delay when he illegally redistricted Texas to negate their impact as much as possible. I cant remember if they ever reverted it but I think I remember reading there was a Supreme Court ruling. For some reason, the black voting bloc did not turn out in TX or at least not as many as before. Although, I am not sure it would have changed delegates based on the way TX apportions. I do miss Texas and I am proud of them today!!!!!

Alot of accusations where thrown back when Johnson won in Texas. Do we need to go back and see how many dead texans voted then? Who would have known in a time where we have not only a white woman and a african american man running for President that bigotry would be so alive and well?
***************************************
Jamie Did you truly have any doubts? I knew as soon as Edwards dropped out tht the bigots and sexists would have a field day.

Edward, because the citizens of this country have failed to perform their civic duty the military-industrial complex and the Bush family have been successful in there systematic destruction of our country. Unfortunately people only value something once they have lost it. I have serious doubts, but I can only hope that people will reflect upon how much damage has been done to our country over the past 7 years and realize that only they have to power to prevent it from ever happening again. The pathetic thing is that those of us who do care about our country are the ones who suffer from the laziness and irresponsibility of those who can't be bothered to perform their civic responsibilities.

Obama is "the peoples choice" because the people of this country are too lazy to look beyond a good soundbite. If we are lucky one person out of every 500,000 has taken the time to actually read the books Obama has written; one of 100,000 has any idea what his position is on the top five concerns of the people of this ocuntry; one out of 80,000 hsd actually made the effort to read his website. The truly pathetic thing is that if you were to walk down the street and ask 100 people how Obama plans to change the country you would be lucky if 1 person could give you an answer.

why all the fuss about the super delegates inferring they must choose Obama ? one word answer McGovern

The caucus I attended last night in Longview, Texas was absolute chaos. People were let in early and voter registration/IDs were not checked against the book showing all persons who had voted in that district. To top it all off, some convicted felon from California named Leroy Joseph Guillory walked in and started answering questions about the caucus process. And the precinct judge believed him. The precinct judge got on the microphone and said he had been given permission to not check IDs until tomorrow from a Marshal. Didn't finish until 12:10 a.m.

I live in Dallas. My daughter heard a student at her highschool bragging about caucusing in Oak Cliff for Obama. This student went with a group of teenagers, was under age and had not voted in the primaries. She was not eligible to vote because she is 17, but because there was no documentation verification at this caotic precinct was allowed to sign in to caucus with her friends. I was poud of my daughter who dressed this kid down for voter fraud. Is this kind of thing happening elsewhere?
Enthusiasm is one thing but Obama must take leadership and make sure his supporters educate these young people. I think the caucus results should be scrutinized carefully. What I've read is shocking even for Texas.