The 3rd District Caucus: Witnessing the unexpected

I know I said I would have this written up by Sunday, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I couldn't do it until now.  Anyway, now to the post: I expected nothing but the unexpected when I left for the Indian Springs Middle School in Columbia City to witness the election of a nominee from the Republican Party for Congress in the 3rd District. (I have plenty of pictures if you want to see them)

After parking right next to this car (talk about dumb luck!), and after waiting for some time for the caucus, things got rolling at about 10:15 a.m.  After an introductory speech by Indiana GOP chairman Murray Clark, a motion was called by a precinct committeeman to have one election to decide who the nominee would be in both the special and general elections.  Because the candidates agreed to support the winner of the special election caucus, however, the motion was ultimately withdrawn.

At 10:40 a.m., the candidates, introduced by select individuals, began speaking to the committeemen, with all of them talking about their strengths as candidates, or what they would do if elected, or criticizing the actions of the Obama administration.  Shortly after noon, the 1st round of voting commenced, and at about 12:24 p.m., voting was closed.



The whole thing, still very much a circus, was exciting throughout, but during the counting of the 1st round of votes, it was also suspenseful, for coming in with no expectations on results, I didn't know how it would turn out.  The surprising thing was seeing former U.S. Senate candidate Don Bates there.  I had also seen him at the Candidates' Forum at IPFW, and I must say he was the last person I expected to see.

After over an hour of waiting, the results of the 1st round were announced.  Of 406 votes cast, with the number needed for a winner to declared at 204, and the threshold vote for a candidate to advance to the next round at 21, none of the candidates got the majority, and of the fifteen candidates, only five got enough votes to advance to the 2nd round: Marlin Stutzman with 180 votes, Randy Borror with 67, Liz Brown with 46, Ryan Elijah with 43, and Bob Thomas just squeaking by (dammit!) with 21.

I was surprised at the results of some of the candidates, like Wes Culver with only 11 votes, Mike Foster with only 5 votes, and Greg Dickman being one of three candidates who didn't get a single vote; I thought they deserved better.  The 2nd round of voting began shortly after, and at 1:55 p.m., voting was closed.  The suspense was still there, but not so much, considering how far ahead Mr. Stutzman was of everybody else at the end of the 1st round.

When the results were announced for the 2nd round, 400 votes had been cast, with the winning number now at 201, and the threshold for advancement to the next round at 40.  Marlin Stutzman won with 229 votes.  Randy Borror finished in second with 69 votes, followed by Ryan Elijah at 46 votes, Liz Brown at 39, and Bob Thomas at 17.  Needless to say, all of us supporters of Mr. Stutzman were excited at the news.

Because two of the candidates left before signing official withdrawal forms, a third vote had to be held to decide the nominee for the general election.  It was a mere formality, as Mr. Stutzman won with all but three of the 271 votes cast.  With the caucus over, we gathered at Big G's Sports Cafe in Columbia City to celebrate Mr. Stutzman's victory.

Overall, what I saw was indeed unexpected; I was expecting multiple rounds of voting before a winner would be selected instead of the two rounds which took place, and I can't say I expected as many as 10 candidates would be eliminated in the first round.  I certainly hope some of these people make runs for other political offices in the future; they struck me as good people who would do good work if elected.

Anyway, November is a few months away, and we all have our work cut out for ourselves.  Go Marlin!