Yes, I admit, willingly, to my children that I am a geek.  I graduated fourth in my class from a high school class of just over 400.  I graduated from a major university with a 3.4 while tutoring for the athletic department, volunteering through the Catholic church on campus and having pledged a national sorority and living the Greek life.

I have discovered a new side, a new slant to my geekdom.  I am living in upstate New York yet I am glued to – even channel surfing the 24 hour news channels – the news that is covering the Iowa caucuses.  I am finding it absolutely riveting that people are gathering in groups from 50 to 500 to decide in a very public manner who they are voting for to help their party decide on a presidential nominee.

My first thrill of the day came with a reporter earlier in the day actually explaining how Iowa caucuses.  I didn’t know that the Republican and the Democratic parties did it differently up until today.  I live in a state where, even if you switched your party affiliation back in December, the switch would not have taken effect for the February primary.  In Iowa, you could change your party affiliation today as you went in and it would be effective.

My next thrill was when I found a feed on CNN that is showing a caucus in someone’s living room.  There were 49 people in this home similar in size to mine.  These people were moving around the room from area for one candidate to another.  It was truly moving.

I heard Bill Bennett state that regardless of how strange the Iowa caucuses are we should think of it this way – Kenya was having riots and killings over an election; Pakistan killed a politician.  Here in the US, we are doing two of the most intimate things we can do – voting and inviting others into our homes. 

 I also heard Jack Cafferty say that he thought Iowa could decide if for us all.  It is evident that the Iowans take more time in this process than the rest of us.  They truly meet the candidates.  They spend time in caucuses.  We, at least in NY, show up and complain about having to wait in line – which basically means that people participating.

What a great night!