Vote is unofficial, but turnout strong.

Leelanau Democrats would really like Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois to be the next president.

At least, that’s what 73 party members said on Saturday afternoon when 89 Leelanau Democrats showed up for an unofficial caucus in the Munnecke Room at the Leland Library.

Only 14 Leelanau Democrats, about 16 percent who caucused, supported Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Two Leelanau Democrats voted “uncommitted.”
That’s in stark contrast to the 40 percent statewide who marked “uncommitted” on their ballot during the non-binding Democratic Presidential Primary on Jan. 15.
Obama’s name wasn’t on the Jan. 15 ballot, but since then John Edwards dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination for president, as did Dennis Kucinich. None of the major candidates other than Clinton was listed on the Jan. 15 ballot.
“A lot of people were disgusted with the Jan. 15 Primary because not all the names were on the ballot,” said Leelanau caucus organizer Barb Schneider of Cedar “That’s why we decided to hold this caucus – and we’re ready to hold another, official caucus if we can,” she added.
The chair of the Leelanau Democrats, Jon Boulton, said results of the county’s Feb. 9 caucus would be forwarded to the State of Michigan Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee for their information, if not for action.
The Democratic National Committee (the DNC) decided to sanction Michigan and Florida for moving up the dates of their Presidential Primary elections in an attempt to shift some of the public’s attention from early events in Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton won easily in Michigan, partly because Obama and other candidates took their names off the ballots in solidarity with the DNC.
Now that the race between Clinton and Obama is so close on a national level, however, it’s not clear whether the DNC will continue to discount the votes in Michigan and Florida – or whether Michigan Democrats will be called upon to conduct official caucuses on the local level in the coming weeks as part of an effort to break a potential delegate deadlock.
“My guess is the Hillary people wouldn’t be too happy about another caucus in Michigan because, as it stands, she’s got 60 percent of the party’s vote from Jan. 15 – if those delegates are seated,” said Boulton.
“On the other hand, none of the candidates wants to get on the bad side of Michigan Democrats,” Boulton added. “So I’m sure all the candidates will encourage the DNC to seat Michigan’s delegates once we’ve selected them.”
In Michigan’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes Leelanau County, Democrats will meet March 29 in Mount Pleasant for a district convention during which they will select five potential delegates whose names will be forwarded to the state organization.
The state organization will hold a meeting May 17 in Grand Rapids to select the state’s Democratic party delegates. The Democratic National Convention will be held in Denver Aug. 25-28.
As for last week’s caucus of Leelanau Democrats, Boulton said he was “pleasantly surprised” at the number of people who turned out to participate despite poor weather. Boulton acknowledged that although many of the most active party members in Leelanau County could be characterized as “senior citizens,” a fair number of younger Democrats showed up at the caucus as well.
National polling data has shown that many older Democrats tend to prefer Clinton over Obama, while Obama enjoys strong support from a larger percentage of younger Democrats.
But those who participated in the Leelanau Democrats caucus did not fit the mold of “older” Democrats.
“What we saw Saturday was primarily an activist vote within our party organization,” Boulton said. “And there’s no question that this group overwhelmingly favors Obama.”