It felt like the whole weekend took place in about a ten-hour period. Fast. That is the only way I know how to describe my caucus experience.

It started out, for me at least, on Friday morning, at the Rally for a Change, with Barack Obama at the Key Arena. From then on, it continued straight until about five p.m. the next afternoon.

When I arrived at the caucus, I was already buzzed from my experience the day before at the Obama rally. What an experience. A chance to sit in the press box of an event that could possibly hold the next president of the USA, it was a once in a lifetime experience. So, at the caucus the next day, my expectations were high.

And they were met.

The caucus itself was nothing short of chaotic.

When my group and I arrived people were running around everywhere; garbed in red, white and blue and every combination there of. There was no one person who stood out as the leader of the event; everyone seemed to play a part.

As it turns out, the person that was supposed to run our precinct, the ACC of the Magnolia caucus, had decided to switch precinct at the last moment. So when we got there, there was no familiar face.

However, after a little mingling, we found out whom we needed to get the “in” with. Janis Traven was her name, the new ACC of the Magnolia caucus, and she was running the shots in this caucus. Luckily, she was rather excited that we were there and told us to go ahead and set up wherever we could find the space.

Phew!

After that little mishap, the show was on and everything was moving so fast. I really enjoyed speaking with all the different people who came to the caucus to play their part in democracy, at the grass roots level.

As the caucus began to wrap up, a surprise guest showed up to inspire the people and get the importance of voting out.

This was, by far, a highlight for me.

The Governor, Christine Gregoire, showed up at our caucus and talked to the people about how important their participation was and how important this election is.

The majority of the people were in the lunchroom of the school, where we were, and this is where Gregoire spoke. As she left the stage, I saw her exit a side door and quickly followed. Luckily, I happened to catch her out the side door and she was nice enough to take a second and speak with me about her excitement of this election.

She, like so many others I have talked to through this experience, compared her excitement to the election when John F. Kennedy was running for president. This seems to be a theme for the over 40 generation.

After I got a chance to speak with her outside, I was invited to the press conference she was having a bit later in the day. This was quite exciting for me because I would be up there talking with her, while CNN was only five feet away.

It was a nice cherry on top of the a great day.