Whatever anyone's opinion is on caucuses vs. primaries, I listened to the audio and Eli clearly won the discussion.

Erica didn't caucus because she didn't want to get "yelled at"? Nobody yelled in my precinct, or in any of the precincts around me, or in any of the precincts that my friends attended. She really doesn't know what she's talking about.

Eli won. By a Bernie landslide.

It should be snarkily noted that on-line polls, (particularly those hosted on a venue like The Stranger where the audience is heavily pre-selected), are considerably more like the caucus system. Right down to the peer-pressure-y chorus of comments.

Caucuses are great for all the reasons Eli mentioned, but they should not determine the 'winning' candidate from any state for all the reasons Erica mentioned. Keep the caucus but have the primary election and actual votes be the determining factor.

Eli did a better job at supporting his argument, and Erica came across somewhat incoherent, but I still would rather vote in a primary than caucus.

Caucuses would be great if the WA Democrats would actually provide enough room. At my caucus, people were literally standing shoulder to shoulder in an 85-degree room, shouting at the top of their lungs to be heard -- and even then you couldn't hear a damn thing. I fail to see how that is so democratic.

Plus, you're disadvantaging lower-income people, who are more likely to be working on a Saturday.

I voted pro caucus mostly because I was just at mine and did appreciate the civility of the discourse. I was pro-Hillary, one of a minority in the room for sure. I was glad I went. If you’d asked me before I went I would have been anti-caucus, for all the good reasons Erica outlines. My father, who was paraplegic and loved to debate your ear off, would have loved it. My caucus at Lowell School was wheelchair accessible, a straight, flat shot through the building toward the tables set up for caucus. Good. But the crowding, which meant several precincts had to be changed to other rooms, would have made it hard and possibly embarrassing/humiliating for someone in a wheelchair to navigate. The convening guy made a joke about how we were for sure not within fire code for occupancy. And the acoustics were really rough. To be heard at our table you did have to yell, but our people yelled civilly. Being even a little hearing impaired or yelling impaired would have cut a person out for sure. Plus the whole thing was English-only. So. Problems. But I liked doing it anyway.

Enough whining.

You can't change this by whining, only by running for the Washington State Democratic Committee positions at your local Democratic Party meetings or by being a Democratic District Chair.

So pay your membership and that of your friends and run for it.

Oh and most of those behind our Caucus Not Primary choice are ... Hillary supporters.., so blame them. And run to replace them.

Caucuses are out of date. They belong to a time when news traveled slowly, if at all. In the 21st century, when we can find out a candidate's stance on any issue by clicking a few buttons, we don't need to hear it from people in a crowded room. I hate crowds. I hate the time it takes when I'd rather be doing a thousand other things. I would so much rather buy a stamp than try to find somewhere to park.

Erica Barnett seems most likely to be the one yelling. She couldn't even let Eli finish his sentences before interrupting.

Eli is wrong, though... Primaries are a better, more inclusive system. We should vote by mail, and it should be clear that postage is free on the return envelopes.

I really don't get this notion that people get yelled at in caucuses. I've caucused 5 times and have never seen anyone yell at others. At my caucus Saturday one person spoke passionately and calmly for Clinton. Another did the same for Bernie. I did a quick check-in with folks about whether they were going to change their minds and noted that they would have to change 19 minds to get another delegate (we had 152 folks and 8 delegates) and we went straight to delegate selection. Easy peasy.

Caucuses work great for bullies. Which, judging from the intolerant tone of comments from many Bernie supporters, explains why he wins the caucus states.

I love you Eli, and am sympathetic to the desire to actually bring people out of their homes and into active political involvement, but your argument seems to come back to some subjective preference for the romanticized aesthetic of direct democracy, as if something as unwieldy as a national political party can be managed by New Hampshire town councils.

Next up: Eli investigates Will Affleck-Asch's near-admission that he bribed his way onto the KCDCC.

@16: Damn, that was one of the weakest Sanders-bashing forced segues I have ever seen! Congrats!