DES MOINES — Karen Wallace came out to the First Presbyterian Church Monday night to support former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley at a Democratic caucus only to find that she was the only one in the room to do so.
In the Democratic caucus system, if a candidate receives the support of fewer than 15 percent of attendees, he or she is not considered viable, and those voters can defect to another candidate. O’Malley received just one vote in a room where an initial count revealed 141 attendees.
“I was not surprised not to be viable, but I was surprised to be the only one,” Wallace told the Washington Examiner.
She said, “I think that O’Malley got a tremendous amount done when he was mayor and governor and I think he has the ability to work with both parties and I’m probably more than anything else concerned about how deeply divided this country is.”
In the end, she migrated to the Clinton camp. “I think she is more likely to be electable in the general election,” she said.
Clinton ended up with the support of 79 voters, compared to 59 for Sanders, bringing the final count in the room to 138. But under the arcane rules of the Democratic caucus process, she only came out with a proportionate number of delegates to the state convention, edging out Sanders on that front four to three.
I visited the same location in 2008, and back then there were 160 attendees. Clinton ended up with 58 votes, to 56 for then Sen. Obama, and 49 for John Edwards. Clinton had a wider edge initially, but 17 supporters of Bill Richardson flocked to Obama and narrowed the gap. Last time, three people at this location voted for Joe Biden.
Sanders supporters were interested in his transformative economic agenda, whereas Clinton backers valued her experience.
“She seems to have the most knowledge, she’s been through it before,” said Kathleen McLean, who caucused for Obama in 2008. “She seems to have a better grasp.”
A Sanders supporter told me, “I just support Bernie in everything as a recent college graduate. With the debt and all that stuff that I’m a big supporter on.” She added: “I just don’t like Hillary Clinton.”
