Caucus in the Cafetorium

It's been awhile since I set foot in a middle school cafeteria (let alone a cafetorium), but that's where I was tonight for good ol' Travis County Precinct 248's Democratic Party caucus. Kate took this photo with her phone while we were waiting to sign in.

For those of you not from Texas, Lone Star Dems use the precinct convention system to select one-third of the delegates that represent candidates at the national convention. At least that's how I understand it. Chron political reporter Lee Nichols does a better job of explaining the system here.

With Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton embroiled in a tight primary race here, precinct conventions are drawing a lot more attention this year. Most everyone in the cafeteria - myself and Kate included - had never participated in one before. The hastily-appointed precinct secretary announced the last convention only drew four people, prompting applause from the standing room only crowd.

The vast majority of people who showed up were there to support Obama, which wasn't surprising given Obama's tremendous ground support in Austin. The initial system of having two sign-in lines for each candidate was quickly abandoned because so few people were signing in for Clinton. It'll probably be several more hours before we know how this scenario plays out in the rest of Texas.

Click here for more coverage from Kate.