I caucused today. The process is a little odd in that most people cast their vote before we moved into the discussion phase. First you fill out the registration form, then show ID and they check the computer to make sure you're 1. a registered Republican, and 2. Voting in the right precinct. They give you your ballot at this point, and that's when most people voted.

After that, our House rep Mark Amodei showed up and made a brief and unremarkable speech. Then we went into the discussion part where a few people made their stump speeches for their preferred candidates in order to attempt to sway the few undecideds. About nine people stuck around for this part. A show of hands at the beginning showed that five of us had voted for Ron Paul, one for Gingrich, and the rest for Romney.

Following this, we elected a precinct chair and secretary. Voting was not exactly hotly contested. Our next task was to elect delegates to the county convention next month. Our precinct has 300 registered Republicans, and we're authorized one delegate for every 50 people, which means six slots. I hadn't been planning on running for delegate, but due to the low turnout, I volunteered. I get to go to the county convention next month.

Initially, only five people wanted to be delegates, but then one guy who was already going convinced his wife to join him. We all voted for each other and then took care of a few other minor things such as suggestions for the platform. I don't think mine about legalizing and taxing pot will go very far, but I have slightly higher hopes for turning most of I-80 in Nevada into an unrestricted autobahn. Then we had to wait until 1500 to count the ballots. My precinct (which has 300 registered Republicans) had all of 40 votes cast, so counting them didn't take long. We ended up with 15 for Romney, 11 for Gingrich, 7 for Paul, 6 for Santorum, and one blank ballot.

Bonus: As I returned to my car to leave, I found a business card with the following note on my windshield:

From his business card he is the secretary/treasurer of a small outfit concerned with nuclear engineering.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Statewide results:

Primaries - State Results - Election Center 2012 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com

I figured Romney would probably win, but I thought Paul would come in second like he did in 2008. I was not expecting Gingrich to do as well as he did.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

I'm almost thinking that was the reason that one gent funded Newt to keep him in the race - to knock Ron Paul down to the status of an also-ran - that Paul's strong showing early on made the R establishment nervous, before Newt's rejuvenation it was starting to boil down to a Romney/Paul contest for the nomination, and they didn't want Paul as a runner-up at the convention with his "unconventional" ideas.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

Why didn't they do it down in Vegas ---where every thing is ReaL.

You're right. The "mainstream" ideas are much better. Fortunately, I don't have any kids or grand kids who have to worry about the 15 trillion $ and rising debt. I love the 1% return on my savings thanks to Big Ben, it's much better than losing it in the Wall St. Casino. I "feel safe" every night when I go to bed thinking about the NDAA, the Patriot Act, and how "Cousin Janet" and the TSA will protect me from terrorists if I ever decide to fly again. (Not likely). I also get that warm fuzzy feeling knowing that our "defense" spending, which is twice the rest of the world combined, is keeping all the "boogie men" away. Isn't that why we built the billion $ embassy in Iraq?

It was MORE than a single bil my friend, i assure you. seeing as a lot of it was "done" by haliburton theres no telling how much it will end up costing.