It's not the youth who are speaking today in Ballard, but citizens there are speaking loudly for Sen. Barack Obama. The crowd at Calvary Lutheran in Seattle was mainly the over-30 set, representative of this neighborhood of single-family homes. The pews were packed; Calvary Lutheran — which a neighbor told me is going "belly up" — probably hasn't seen this much action since the 1950s. One woman I spoke with said that in 2004, the caucus was "a few people sitting at a cafeteria table." Today there was no parking to be had, but most folks walked. As I headed down there around 12:45 p.m., I found the sidewalks filled with my neighbors.
I noted lots of handmade signs for Obama, reflecting his energetic, spontaneous movement against Sen. Hillary Clinton's establishment appeal. Said one: "Reach for what is possible! Vote Obama! Vote for change!" They contrasted with the slick campaign signs for Clinton.
Precinct 2593 pulled in 50 voters, up from 31 who showed up to caucus in 2004. The final tally was 39 for Obama, giving him four delegates, and six for Clinton, giving her one delegate. The final counts for Calvary Lutheran is 42 delegates for Obama and 16 for Clinton. They estimate between 800 to 900 people showed up there to caucus today. I will be surprised if Obama doesn't get a victory in Washington state tonight.
