Grant County Democrats favor Obama

Longtime supporter killed in accident Friday

GRANT COUNTY - The Grant County Democrats opened their caucus Saturday afternoon by saying farewell to a friend.

Longtime Democratic supporter, past chair and former treasurer Pat Schrom was killed in a car accident Friday night, said Grant County Democrats Chair Ellie Webb.

"It's a huge loss," she said. "It hits a lot of people hard."

The Grant County Democrats have 165 precincts, and held caucuses in all but seven of them Saturday, Webb said.

The Democrats have 175 delegates, Webb said, 97 of whom voted for Barack Obama and 78 for Hillary Clinton.

Webb said she wasn't sure what to expect.

"I thought maybe Clinton would win here," she said. "She has got a lot of support among women, particularly over 40 in this community. But it didn't turn out to be any kind of a stereotype. I was surprised, really, by some of the votes."

Webb estimated about 550 people were in attendance at the Moses Lake location at Frontier Middle School, probably exceeding attendance numbers in the last four-year cycle.

"What we saw yesterday was so much enthusiasm and I think a certain amount of absolute relief that the Bush years are over," she said. "And we are in a unique position of having the first woman and the first black candidate, and both of those situations draw a lot of enthusiasm on their own. Who would have guessed in one election, both of those barriers would be broken? It's kind of neat."

Many young people showed up Saturday, Webb said, and about half of the people in Moses Lake had never been to a caucus.

"The purpose of the caucus is basically a grassroots effort to get people in their neighborhoods together to talk about the candidates and the issues they feel need to be represented in the platform of the party or represented by whichever candidate might win," Webb explained. "It's kind of one of the lost vestiges of community interaction regarding like minds talking about the issues."

Webb said there was a lot of confusion about primary ballots and the caucus from residents concerned about whether or not their vote counts.

"Everybody's vote counts and everybody should fill in their ballots," she said. "In Washington, before the primary was brought into existence, the Washington State Democrats had moved forward with a caucus, so we were committed to a caucus before the primary became a fact of life."

Webb anticipated that might change in the next election in two years. The Democrats' national party law would require the Democrats to go all caucus or all primary.