SUPER-FANTASTIC TUESDAY!!!
Super Tuesday. I really didn’t understand what made all the pundits call it “super” Tuesday. I mean it couldn’t be all that amazing of a day could it? It was cold, dark, and snowy, not the traditional makings for a “super” day. Well, Lets just say that I learned real quickly why they call it “super”.
My Tuesday began in a very usual Tuesday manner. I went to work, ate lunch, went to class, but after my last class the day started to get really interesting. I quick ran home to get decked out in all the Al Franken and Hillary Clinton gear I could fit and met up with other Concordia Campus democrats to have one last run through of the plan for the crazy night ahead of us. Everything was accounted for; we had all three huge vans ready to shuttle students over to the caucuses at MSUM, We had the table set up to tell students where to go, and we had the room and the pizza ready for the “watch the results” party we were hosting. Having a big role in setting everything up for the caucuses when everything was finally in line it would be an understatement to say that I was relieved. After we shuttled around sixty students over to MSUM it was time to caucus.
We knew that the caucuses were going to be busy, but I had no idea of how hectic it was really going to be. The line to figure out which room your caucus was in wrapped its way around the inside of the building and out the door. Once we got in I took it upon myself to push and shove my way to the front and figure out which room Concordia and its surrounding area caucused in. When I figured it out I pushed and plowed my way out of the group gathering around the map and me and Ross Dybvig (Campus Democrats president) stayed out and told Cobbers where they should go. Then we cast our ballots.
After all the ballots had been cast we elected delegates to the county convention (Ross and I are delegates!) and counted our precinct’s presidential preference ballots. Obama had 183 votes and Hillary got 46 votes in our precinct. Those results left me with very mixed feelings. The first was that I hate losing, handedly at that. The second is the one I focus on the most and that gives me a sense of sheer joy. That joy comes out of our precinct, made almost exclusively of Concordia College students, having at least 200 Cobbers show their support for a Democratic candidate. Two-hundred is exactly what our rather lofty turnout goal was, and we reached it, and might have actually surpassed it by a few votes.
Another “Super” event on one of the most super-fantastic Tuesday’s of my life was the amazing turn out that we had at the post-caucus pizza party. Cobber students came out in groves and were genuinely interested in watching the results and discussing them with other students of the same political leaning.
Concordia’s mission statement is as follows:
“The Purpose of Concordia College is to influence the affairs of the world by sending into society thoughtful and informed men and women dedicated to the Christian life.” I think that it is obvious that Concordia’s mission statement resonates inside many Cobbers, because they knew it was an election where they really can influence the affairs of the world.
P.S. The next day I spoke with the president of the Campus Republicans and he said that they too had a great turnout to their caucus.