I'm a little behind reading the Sunday papers (I've been thinking of doing a continuing twitter feature in which I notify everyone when I finish them, local and NYT. I think the average is around Thursday lunchtime, not counting the Book Review). At any rate, I finally reached the state news of my local paper, where I learned that Texas Democrats are retaining the famous -- infamous? -- Texas Two-Step. That's the presidential nomination procedure in which most of the delegates are selected in a presidential primary, but a significant chunk are selected in a caucus/convention system, beginning with precinct caucuses that take place just after the polls close for the primary. As you may recall, in 2008 Hillary Clinton won the primary by a narrow margin, but Barack Obama defeated her decisively in the caucuses, with Obama walking away with a slim majority of Texas delegates at the end of the day.
Anyway, the Texas Two-Step wasn't new in 2008, but it was news to almost everyone, because Texas hadn't actually been a meaningful stop on the presidential nomination tour for some time. As a result, first of all the caucuses were chaotic...normally sleepy precinct caucuses were overrun by enthusiastic, committed, activists, hardly any of whom had ever attended such a meeting before. In many of the cites, the rooms were too small, and there weren't enough materials for the number of people that showed up; in almost all cases, no more than a handful of people had any experience with the procedures that were supposed to be used. Good fun!
One way or another, they've decided to retain it at this point. Of course, barring anything unforeseen, the caucus portion will be back to a half-dozen voters per precinct or less in 2012, and for all we know it may be decades before Texas plays a key role in a Democratic presidential nomination again. For those of us who chronicle the demands on the American voter, however, it's good to know that it's not easing up any time soon, at least not for Texas Democrats.
Anyway, the Texas Two-Step wasn't new in 2008, but it was news to almost everyone, because Texas hadn't actually been a meaningful stop on the presidential nomination tour for some time. As a result, first of all the caucuses were chaotic...normally sleepy precinct caucuses were overrun by enthusiastic, committed, activists, hardly any of whom had ever attended such a meeting before. In many of the cites, the rooms were too small, and there weren't enough materials for the number of people that showed up; in almost all cases, no more than a handful of people had any experience with the procedures that were supposed to be used. Good fun!
One way or another, they've decided to retain it at this point. Of course, barring anything unforeseen, the caucus portion will be back to a half-dozen voters per precinct or less in 2012, and for all we know it may be decades before Texas plays a key role in a Democratic presidential nomination again. For those of us who chronicle the demands on the American voter, however, it's good to know that it's not easing up any time soon, at least not for Texas Democrats.
