Really. I just got a call from the woman who’s doing the precinct caucus with me Thursday night. She’s a Hillary supporter, and she just got a big box of Hillary stuff in the mail – signs, literature, tee shirts, etc.
Included in this stuff are instructions for picking up sandwiches, cookies, and bottled water on Thursday at the local Hy-Vee. It’s already paid for. By Hillary’s campaign.
Multiply this by 1784 precincts and you get – a lot of money! I guess somebody really wants to be president.
Your story reminds me of the time I was living in Ohio and Dennis Kucinich was running for what would turn out to be his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives. The phone rang, and someone asked “Is this Robert?” When I replied in the affirmative, the man said: “This is Dennis Kucinich, and I’ll do anything for your vote. I’d like to take you out to breakfast.” I was familiar with Kucinich’s voice, and this dude sounded nothing like him, so I figured that I was the intended victim of a crank call, and thus hung up the phone.
Maybe Kucinich had others making the calls, and it would have been a group breakfast with everyone who said yes?
I’m sort of amazed at the level of organization (as well as the money) it takes to do something like this. My whole town is one precinct. We have three delegates to send to County. We’re small pickin’s. The woman’s serious.
Be careful. If she buys you dinner Hillary is going to expect to at least get to third base.
Sigh. The story of my life.
Call Obama’s people and get a bidding war started…you might work that Hy-Vee sandwich up to dinner at the Red Lobster after the Chippendale’s show if you play your cards right.
Good idea! What I’d really like is someone to clean the catbox.
It’ll be interesting to see what the other candidates might be doing to make the caucuses more comfortable.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.
Aren’t there laws against candidates giving voters things of value (like food)? It smacks of buying votes.
As an Irish graduate of Trinity College Dublin I get to vote in the Irish Seanad elections.
I got a letter this year from one of our Senators inviting me to lunch, a tour of the Dáil and Seanad and drinks in the bar afterwards, an invitation he extends to all graduates and repeats on his website. I didn’t take him up on it, but I like the idea that we might “repair to the bar” in Leinster house!
Currently Trinity’s three senators are Shane Ross (the one who invited me, a journalist and stockbroker), David Norris (an openly gay Joycean scholar) and Ivana Bacik (a pro-choice, feminist lawyer). Pity they don’t have any actual power!
Make sure she picks up the check, and leaves a tip.
http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/po/2007/12/26/
I would have thought so, but maybe not, or else they wouldn’t be giving away tee-shirts, caps, coffee mugs, etc. Even a bumper sticker could be considered a gift.
Maybe a Doper can explain what’s going on with our county caucuses. The Democratic caucuses are all being held in the usual places, but the Republicans are having their caucus at the county courthouse.
I’m wondering why. Is it because they don’t expect much of a turnout, so they’ll all fit in one place? Or there aren’t enough interested Republicans to chair individual caucuses? If I were a Republican, I’d be miffed that I had to drive 30 miles instead of attending in my neighborhood.
You might be on to something. I was just reading the other day how the Republicans are very nervous about the upcoming caucus…it is showing how Democrats are fired up; Dems have a good selection of candidates and an overpowering urge to see a Democrat win the next election.
It seems the Republicans are afraid this fervor is going to translate to a huge Democratic surge at the polls come the General Election, and they are afraid the Republicans and conservative Independents will not be as highly motivated to rush out to vote for any of the current Republican candidates.
My own personal theory is that is why the Republicans are hoping to see Hillary get the nomination - they know that she alone is reason enough to get Republicans to march through broken glass just to vote against her.
Aw, man! I wish I lived in a state where someone gave a damn about who I voted for. No one cool ever comes here! Except Bush, but it’s Bakersfield, so that’s expected.
No one buys me sandwiches, that’s ferdamnedsure.
Perhaps, but the people in the position to make those things illegal are the very same ones handing them out, so there might be just a touch of a conflict of interest here. 
Update: Hillary bought 12 sandwiches, 12 bottles of water, and a dozen cookies. We had 47 people. Piker!
Well, no wonder you all went over to Obama. How many sandwiches did he provide?
Zero.
I just learned today that it’s against caucus rules to provide sandwiches. The cookies and water were okay, but no sandwiches allowed. We didn’t know that. Hillary didn’t know that. 1784 precincts x a lot of sandwiches = $ ?
That’s not fair, AuntiePam. She buys you dinner, but according to her recent commericals, she’s trying to drive under the company I work for (well, to be fair, there are only 4 major companies in the entire industry, and she’d destroy them all), which will leave a lot of people unemployed if she gets her way. I guess she doesn’t want the swing vote in NH considering how many people are employed by the company…