Dmitry and Marina Molla aren’t exactly sold on the caucus style of political discourse.
The young Queen Anne couple who are immigrants from Soviet countries, attended the Republican caucus at the downtown Labor Temple on March 3 and left decidedly unimpressed.
Wearing Ron Paul stickers, the two were strong believers in the long-shot candidate for president. They liked Paul’s support of personal freedoms and limits on government intrusion. It turns out they were far from alone.
The final tally of the straw poll for the 36th District Republican Caucus shows that Mitt Romney only narrowly defeated Ron Paul, 261 votes to 237 votes. That slim 24-vote lead may be totally erased, depending on the delegates chosen to attend the state Republican Convention this spring.
Statewide, Romney won 5,268 votes, or 48.4 percent and Paul won 2,565 votes, or about 23.6 percent. Santorum finished third, with 1,966 votes or 18.1 percent.
They are against the government spending money it doesn’t have. They want to get out of countries such as Afghanistan where world empires continually find trouble.
Judging by the turnout at the different 36th District caucus meeting places, it is hard to see how Mitt Romney was able to defeat Ron Paul. But this is a complicated process and those numbers could change as Washington’s caucus system unfolds.
One thing is for sure: Paul’s supporters are organized and energized.
“When I heard him it made so much sense,” Dmitry Molla said of Ron Paul’s libertarian message. “My relatives came from the Soviet Union and we value the freedoms that brought us here and the freedoms we enjoy here.”
Dmitry is originally from Latvia and his wife, Marina, is from Kyrgyzstan.
However, while they were happy to attend the caucus, the Mollas said the process left much to be desired. The packed room, which held about 260 people, was loud and disorganized. And to make matters even more complicated, a delegation from Estonia was in the room to observe the American political system in action.
Marina Molla said many people didn’t seem to understand how the system worked and couldn’t hear the instructions being given. The process also seemed needlessly complicated. She also wanted more transparency in the tallying of votes for the straw poll. She said it wasn’t clear how the vote was conducted.
“It was a little bit of a circus,” she said.
While the meeting of the Queen Anne contingent of the 36th District caucus may have been a bit disorganized, one group on message was Ron Paul’s campaign.
The Mollas said they had gone to mee ings, read online and had personal interaction with the Paul organization so they knew what to do at the caucus. It turns out that they were the only people from their precinct, so they elected each other to the next phase of Washington’s complex caucus system. They also believed that the majority of attendees were Paul supporters.
Up at Magnolia’s United Church of Christ, a strong showing of Republican supporters filled a meeting room where neighbors spent most of their time working on a Republican Party Platform questionnaire which offered multiple answers to the group’s position on such topics as the economy, immigration and foreign policy.
Again, the most organized supporters in the room appeared to be those following Ron Paul. A table was set up that held Paul’s materials and a number of people in the room were wearing Ron Paul buttons or stickers. There was also a smattering of Mitt Romney stickers and buttons. But very little support for Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich was evident.
Paul supporter Elliott Cain said he was confident that the majority of people in the room were also Paul supporters. When asked to describe what he liked about Ron Paul, Cain said it came down to his libertarian philosophy. He said the socially conservative candidates want to impose their views on the people and he didn’t agree with that.
“Paul’s fiscally conservative and socially liberal and I think that a lot of young people can relate to that,” Cain said. “I agree with the philosophy that I don’t care what you do in your own home as long as no one is hurt and I don’t have to pay for it’.”
Like the Mollas, Cain will be back for round two of the caucus process in a few weeks when local delegates meet for the 36th District meeting. And he has no interest in any of the other Republican candidates.
“It’s Ron Paul or nothing for me,” Cain said. “He’s the only reason I’m here.”
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