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March 02, 2016 02:26 PM UTC

Democratic Caucus Attendance Breaks Record

  • 30 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Statement from the Colorado Democratic Party:

Last night’s Democratic caucus in Colorado was one for the record books. Nearly 122,000 Coloradans caucused for our two presidential candidates, breaking our 2008 turnout record of 120,000.

In stark contrast, the Colorado GOP muffled its voters’ voices by deciding to scrap their caucus altogether – leading to some brutal press coverage like this editorial in The Denver Post, “Colorado GOP blundered on 2016 presidential caucus.”

It goes without saying that Coloradans are energized and ready to elect a Democrat as the 45th President of the United States, while Republicans are in disarray and denial that Donald Trump is well on his way to becoming the Republican nominee.

—–

Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton.
Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton.

The Colorado Democratic Party is now reporting over 122,000 presidential caucus participants last night across the state. If accurate, that total surpasses the 2008 Democratic caucus to become the biggest presidential caucus in the state’s history.

As the Fort Collins Coloradoan reports, the crush of attendees sent the fire marshals into action:

Democratic voters outside Fort Collins’ Lincoln Middle School took to the trees Tuesday night to participate in their party’s crowded caucus.

As firefighters and police looked on, the overflow crowd at the school spilled outside to support presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Some took to the trees outside the school so their voices would be heard. Shortly before 8 p.m., Colorado Democratic State Sen. John Kefalas tweeted that he was part of “historic” crowds at the school, “preparing to vote under stars.”

In a scene recreated across Colorado Tuesday night, the throng of Fort Collins voters overwhelmingly cast their support behind Sanders, allowing the Vermont independent-turned-Democrat to claim victory in Colorado even as Clinton swept many of the other Super Tuesday states.

The huge crowds of Colorado Democrats who turned out to caucus yesterday were motivated to join the tally by Bernie Sanders’ electrifying campaign: either as supporters of Bernie, or Hillary Clinton backers hoping to keep up in a race Sanders was always expected to win. The end result in Colorado, a decisive victory for Sanders, helped the Sanders campaign keep their game face on a night where Clinton won many more votes, delegates, and states.

Looking beyond the Democratic presidential race, the strong turnout by Colorado Democratic caucusgoers for both candidates is another reminder that Colorado, a “swing” state, is populated by a large number of true-blue Democratic voters. In recent years it hasn’t been the left in the streets, it’s been the “Tea Party.” The far right has made so much noise politically that it’s easy to forget about the voters who quietly add the blue to the attention-seeking red to make this state purple.

But folks, that electorate is out there, waiting to be rallied to action as Bernie Sanders did last night. Therein lies a powerful lesson for Colorado Democrats with the courage to learn it. A “purple state” does not mean you have to mute your progressive values to win here.

That realization is more important than the result of any one caucus.

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30 thoughts on “Democratic Caucus Attendance Breaks Record”

  1. Worth repeating:

    A progressive/liberal electorate is out there, waiting to be rallied to action as Bernie Sanders did last night. Therein lies a powerful lesson for Colorado Democrats with the courage to learn it. A “purple state” does not mean you have to mute your progressive values to win here.

    That realization is more important than the result of any one caucus.

    Don't freeze them out. And I'd say we don't have to stay "purple", not with Republicans acting almost as crazy here as at the national level. It's best we pull them back to reality one day at a time. 

    1. It is a revealing look at our newest D caucus goers- lots of first timers last night.

      But let's not start comparing Colorado to Massachussets or Finalnd just yet.

  3. Don't think it's all about The Bern.  My precinct caucus was overflowing (165 people) and went 4 to 1 for Hillary.

    Personally, I think it's that what's going on in the Republican realm of the Presidential campaign scares the bejeesus out of people, and they are getting awakened to saving their country from these whackos.  Last night was Step 1.

    1. It is a revealing look at our newest D caucus goers- lots of first timers last night.

      But let's not start comparing Colorado to Massachussets or Finalnd just yet.

      1. Agree. Bernie is the best thing that could have happened to the HRC campaign. Luckily somebody managed to get pass DWS's roadblocks on the way to the coronation. If it had gone the way the party establishment and the Cinton machine had wanted it to, it would have been a complete yawner compared to the Trump circus and a major contributer to early polling is just who people are hearing most about and whose name rings a bell, obviously the latter not a problem for HRC. 

        With no talk to speak of about anything but the GOP race,  HRC probably be doing worse, at least at this stage, in head to head match up polls and that would be lending even more momentum to Trump and depressing Dem enthusiasm.

        We definitely owe our historic turn out, as well as HRC's more progressive populist stances on several important issues, to the surprising strength and staying power of the Bernie insurgency. I hope DWS is smart enough to see how lucky she is that her efforts to crush all opposition in the bud failed but I doubt it. That idiot has to go.

    3. I don't know. Getting scared by the other side (which has become more scary AFTER the deadline for party registration passed by validation Trump's ascendancy) doesn't usually drive caucus-goers on its own.

      I think we have two good candidates who are driving supporters to action.

      1. Absolutely right , PR.  Of course, Madco is right that without a contested race, turnout would have been much lower.  But Hillary put out a great effort in Colorado and had a really good turnout.   Bernie did even better and more power to him.  But they came for Bernie and Hillary, not because they were scared of Trump.  We will have a united front against the neo-fascist alliance in November.

  4. My precinct went 6-2 for Bernie.

    And hey let's not overlook the dynamics of the night:

    DENVER (AP) — Bernie Sanders’ big Colorado win over Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s presidential caucuses underscored a sharp divide between party elites and the voters. Top donors and elected Democrats here almost universally backed Clinton — but the throngs packing precinct [caucuses] disagreed.

    1. "Top donors and elected Democrats"..

      .Without all those elected Democrats (read…super delegates), this is an entirely different race. They are not bound to Hillary, and if enough of them read the writing on the wall and realize their long term political future may not be with the Clinton Dynastic Extravaganza! (GG..V…how'm I doin' ?) ,things could change…I don't think either side should start counting chickens just yet…

      1. Duke, you may be a good chicken counter, but I suspect that V will find you to be a very shoddy feminist. As my Dad would say, though, I'm all in favor of you.

        1. There are good arguments for getting rid of the super delegates but they've been around for over 30 years now. Should the rules be changed before the game starts rather than in the middle when one side isn't doing as well nationally as had been hoped?

          And by the way, if Bernie was so upset by the existence of super delegates, why didn't he seek to change the party rules sometime during the past 30+ years.

          Probably because he's only been a Democrat for the last six months or so.

          Finally, I remember 2008 when HRC had a slew of super delegates "committed" to her. Once Obama started to overtake her, they melted away. The same will happen if and when Bernie starts winning the popular vote and takes the lead in elected delegates.

          1. I am not quoting Senator Sanders.

            nor am I sggesting, implying, hinting, whispering, saying, claiming or otherwise expressing the thought that the Supers should be abolished now.

            i am saying that in my day-to-day, the Colorad D complaints I hear most about process are these. Freely acknowledging that this is "anecdotal", my experience, a basis to shape me and my understanding, not Big Data upon which to conclude anything. Not like others apparently are wont to do with their anecdotes.

            I propose we let (make) the voters decide.

            1. As Frank pointed out, the idea that super-delegates would try to "steal" the election for Hillary is a straw man promoted by Bernie supporters – totally unfounded, as we saw in 2008. The candidate himself is guilty of stoking the anger of political neophytes with talk of a "rigged" system. A system so rigged that an insurgent Obama managed to out-maneuver Hillary for the nomination in '08. Give me a break. 

    1. Molly B, That's not what I saw. Even in my little corner of beet red Morgan County, the Bernie voters in my precinct alone were: elderly poor and working class people, Latinos of all ages, me (middle aged white teacher), , farmers and ranchers, retired folks, and yes, 1 or 2 millenials. That's who voted 35 to 26 for Bernie at my caucus location.

      1. In my precinct there were people of all ages and both genders on both sides. We went 31 for HRC, 30 for Bernie. I have a neighbor who is my demgraphic twin except for gender. Early mid 60s, Jewish. He went for Bernie. I went for Hillary. Most but not all the youngest went for Bernie. We had young Latinas and an older African American woman going for HRC. The oldest of the seniors on both sides. The 30ish and middle aged on both sides. Men and women on both sides. This may not match big trends but those who seek to over-simplify and put us all in boxes are missing a lot.

      2. That's who the Sanders voters ought to be, Mama. What I can't figure out to save my life is what all those working-class, paycheck-to-paycheck and religious Republicans see in Trump. Then again, I can't figure out what most of them are doing being registered as Republicans to  begin with. His Hairness makes more in a couple of days than most of these idiots do in a year. I just don't get it.

        And I’m not buying the “values voter” bilge, either. Trump has the morals of an alley cat.

         

        1. What I can't figure out to save my life is what all those working-class, paycheck-to-paycheck and religious Republicans see in Trump 

          The same thing all the other demagogues throughout history have done:  stoked the irrational fears of these folk and offered to protect them from the dangers posed by the "others."

          The height of the irrationality of these folk was on display in the Kentucky gubernatorial race last November. Because of their hatred of all things Obama, they elected one Matt Bevin, a tea partier who pledged to abolish Obamacare in Kentucky once and for all. 

          The problem is that a lot of Kentuckians have gotten health care through the state's health care exchange which, of course, is part and parcel of Obamacare. So now they face the prospect of becoming victims of their own irrationality.

    3. My admittedly light-tinted precinct could not be used to make such a prediction. We had men and women, white and PoC, young and old voting on both sides. The fact that there were millenials in numbers might have tipped the scales toward Sanders in the end, but they weren't the majority voting bloc in my classroom.

    1. What ? A source?  Me likes.

       

      but it doesn't matter.  Everything Sanders- irrelevant.  If one Republican somewhere voted for HRC, Aha! proof she's gonna get the crossover.

      Bernie is popular with D's, and a big number of others.  His negatives are easily overcome with better name recognition and better branding (ask Luntz).  HRC is popular with D's and her negatives are startlingly large. Big enough that if she wins with them where they are now, it will be News.

      1. If you must compare the size of their negatives, I have to say, Trump’s are much bigger 😉

        (he has to compensate for his small, er, hands)

  8. Heard Rick Palacio say that he'll be working with GOP's House on putting forth Primary legislation.  He says there is bi-partisan support.  An issue is if it would get a funding note.  Estimated costs seem to vary between $1 and $2 million.  

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