By Kathleen Miller
MERCER ISLAND, WA- "Inspiring" was the word used to describe this year's caucus by Ron Feinberg, a Mercer Island resident out caucusing at West Mercer Elementary School.
West Mercer was the location for 13 precincts of Mercer Island, and had an astounding turnout of "around 300," ACC Carol Friends said.
Feinberg, who attended the 2004 caucus, said the energy of the room was "much more than 2004; the energy was on a different level." Feinberg, whose son attends the University of Washington and has organized about 20 of his friends in the dorms to go caucus today, was astounded by the energy surrounding youth voters. Feinberg laughed when he stated that he was one of the youngest voters at the 2004 caucus.
Though the officials numbers aren't yet in, the general consensus throughout the caucus was a two to one, three to one delegate win in each precinct for Sen. Obama over Sen. Clinton.
"I thought it went fantastically," exclaimed Maureen Judge, a volunteer at the caucus.
"The people were great," Friends said with a smile. "It was crazy...I ran out of sign-up sheets!"
One female voter mentioned that it was her first caucus, and she came because it "felt important, it felt historic."
She expressed how wonderful it was to see her neighbors out caucusing for their candidate of choice. "I vote here, but don't live here; the ability to come back to the small town feeling was great...it's great to see all these neighbors."
The caucus process was praised by many for its Democratic nature.
"This is the Democratic process, meaning everyone gets to talk," Dan Bean, a precinct captain told his group.
A precinct captain's role is to lead each individual precinct through the caucus process.
"I wanted to help the process, because this is one of the most exciting times of my lifetime," Bean exclaimed when asked why he volunteered to be a captain.
Bean was overwhelmed by the amount of first-time caucus goers in his group. He estimated that 80 percent were first-time participants.