When I first heard this phrase, I was sitting at the desk in the UMC and the awesome New Era Colorado kids were arranging their materials in the glass display case across the hallway. “That’s foul,” a passerby said, laughing heartily. “But it’s still funny.”

I have been psyched about the caucuses since long before December 5. As a longtime Barack Obama follower, my position in support of Obama has only solidified in past months; Senator Clinton, bless her heart, has just not been able to win over my vote. Part of this is the fact that she could possibly continue the line of Clintons and Bushes to be in the White House during my entire lifetime. I just can’t stomach the thought.

However, tonight promised to give Hillary a run for her money. I headed up from Boulder this afternoon, Barack posters and voting rights information in tow, sitting in some grand traffic while blasting will.i.am’s “Yes We Can.”

Ah, delightful Diagonal driving.

Earlier this week, I was made a precinct co-captain for the Obama campaign and worked with a very nice older man in my precinct who was excited to have me on board.

It was a pleasant environment as soon as I arrived at my caucus location, which happened to be my old high school. I began handing out stickers and voters’ rights sheets right away. The voters’ rights sheets were gone within moments, and the stickers were very close to finished by the time we gathered by precinct in the cafeteria. A whopping 65 people turned out from my precinct, and roughly half a dozen precincts gathered at my location. I later heard that only twice that amount showed up at another location, with roughly the same amount of precincts assigned to the location. I am still not disappointed with my county’s turnout.

I volunteered to become the secretary while a former teacher’s son was committee head, working closely with his wife to distribute the appropriate information and organize the many papers involved in the process. Right off the bat, we had a few problems with the count as referenced with our precinct turnout sheet; it took almost three counts for one particular woman to let us know that she was not involved in the process and was merely attending with her husband. After that was solved, we came to a count of 65 people: 43 for Barack, 21 for Hillary and 1 uncommitted.

Left: Sean, our committee head, reads the caucus regulations. Right: finishing up the papers to send ‘em out.

Our precinct had been awarded 11 delegates (as decided by last year’s turnout), and we calculated 7 Obama delegates, 4 Hillary delegates and no delegates for the uncommitted person. As we went through our platform propositions, I gathered delegates (one of them being myself, hooray!) and alternates for the Obama side.

After heading home for a little while, I brought my brother with my to the post-caucus party at the Greeley Obama office. We spent roughly an hour mingling with fellow Obama fans, and even made a few new friends.

Left: our new little buddy. We wound this poor kid up with candy and goofing around until practically midnight!
Right: Obama cookie! Yum!

Overall, I am very pleased to have been part of the caucus process. I’m even more pleased to have become a delegate, and I have also applied towards becoming a state delegate. I’ve decided to work towards becoming a DNC delegate and am currently gathering supporters, such fellow precinct members (like a family friend, fellow Buffalo and 14-time-caucus-goer, Steve) and some journalists with whom I’ve kept contact regarding the DNC. I attend my county convention in a month and my calendar is already marked.

I now realize how much a part of my life this will be in the future. I will continue to caucus every election and hopefully gain more and more experience in the process. It is nothing but inspiring to see so many people turn out for a cause I once believed to be lost.

For me tonight, it wasn’t just “Rock out with your caucus out,” it was “BARACK out with your caucus out”!

After a brief caucus training with the Boulder for Obama staffers at the UMC Ballroom on the CU campus, we were treated to a short speech and a Q&A with Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Phone Booth, The Crying Game). Not being the type to ask for autographs, I simply thanked him for visiting and shook his hand (it was still very awesome!). I also managed to snap a shot with my Crackberry while he spoke.

Darin McGregor, a photographer I remember from the Greeley Tribune,was at the event, now shooting for the Rocky Mountain News. (The information is a bit dated, obviously, but you can see some of his work in that link.) My friend and former classmate Trevor, now working for MTV, was also at the event. I think I knew more journalists in the room than I did students (and probably more Obama staffers at that), but I enjoyed it quite a bit and it was really neat to see Mr. Whitaker up close and hear his argument for Obama. Hopefully Darin shot some good photos that I might also be in, so I guess I’ll have to bug him about his results.