St. Charles County Young Republicans

Do you think your vote counts? Are you sure that you know the process? Have you bought into the hype about every individual vote mattering so you better get out there and make your voice heard?

Let’s see if you really know the process. You think there’s a primary, and during the primary you take a Republican, Democrat, or third party ballot and pick the political stud or goddess you want to beat the evil jerk on the other side. Then when the general election comes you go vote for your superstar in a valiant effort to put the good guy or gal in the political position to make a real difference for the kids or the dogs or whoever. Or you vote for the person you think will do the least damage, more likely. Think that’s how the 2012 Presidential election will go? Nope.

The usual method of choosing our Presidential nominee (the Presidential Preference Primary in February) doesn’t apply this year. The Republican and Democratic National Committees each have a preference for when which states choose their nominee. Since they do not have the power to directly choose the dates for the primaries in the states, they attempt to influence this decision by "punishing" states in their delegate count. If a state's presidential primary is sooner than what the RNC or DNC wants, they will cut that state's delegate count in half. The RNC has declared that our primary should not be sooner than March, but our primary is still in February. In order to retain our entire delegate count, the Missouri Republican Party has chosen to use the caucus system as the actual method of choosing our delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Think a caucus is just an Iowa thing? At the risk of repeating myself, nope. We have always had a caucus system, one held in every county every four years. In recent years, delegates to the Republican National Convention were chosen at each Congressional Caucus and the Missouri State Convention, and these delegates to those events were chosen at the county caucuses. This process stays the same. The difference this year is, we vote in a primary in February, but those votes won’t choose who Missourians backs at the Republican National Convention. The caucus, held on March 17 – after the RNC’s acceptable date – will show the rest of the nation where we stand.

Each county caucus will adopt their own rules for their particular caucus that day. These rules will determine their delegate breakdown to the national conventions. A county may adopt a proportional rule, which means that the allocated delegates for the county will be proportionally divided among the presidential candidates according to their showing at the caucus that day. A county may adopt a “winner-takes-all” rule, which means that whichever candidate has the majority at the caucus will receive all the delegates allocated to that county. There may be variations, but those are the two mostly likely options for delegate allocation. The only constant are the logistical details which are dictated by state law. The caucus will be held on Saturday, March 17, at a location within the county – details on that will be forthcoming. The doors will open at 8:00 a.m. and close promptly at 10:00 a.m., the start of the caucus. You must be there by 10:00 in order to participate. The registration will continue past that time only to accommodate those that were in line by then. In order to participate, you must be a registered voter in the county. The same form of ID will be required as if you were at the polls. The caucus will go until all the business is completed. Besides the adopting of rules, voting for the presidential nominee and choosing delegates, there will also be an opportunity to suggest amendments to the Missouri Republican Party Platform, which will be considered at the State Convention. You are not required to stay the entire time, but you will not be allowed reentry. If you have any questions, you may contact Bryan Spencer at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). He is the O’Fallon Township Committeeman and chair of the caucus committee, in charge of putting together the logistics of the St. Charles County Republican Caucus. Please make an effort to be there that day in order to make your voice heard.

Interesting note, because the caucus is held after the primary, it provides an opportunity for someone who may not have met the requirements to be on the MO ballot for the primary to have delegates voting for them. And since this time the caucus actually chooses the delegates AND the candidate, a presidential hopeful who wasn’t on the primary ballot might take the caucus. So Newt, you might have a shot now!

Our fifth annual Trvia Night is coming up on January 14.

Are you running for office? Thinking about running for office? Being on a campaign staff or volunteering? Just looking to get involved and want ot know where to start? The St. Charles Young Republicans' 2011 Turn the Tide Campaign School is where you need to be!

The Turn the Tide Campaign School is a one-stop shop for all things campaigning. Whether you are a candidate, staff or volunteer, we will have sessions that will make you a more effective political activist. We are bringing in the best of the best to teach on all areas of campaigning, from ethics compliance, to social networking, to more effective door-to-door campaigning. It will be held on November 4th & 5th at the Columns Banquet Center in St. Charles, Missouri. Please visit the official site for more information and to register. Seats are limited, so sign up today!

As you are aware, the St. Charles Young Republcans July 2011 meeting was a candidate forum for the 2nd Congressional District, featuring Ambassador Ann Wagner and Ed Martin.

Like many Young Republican organizations, the St. Charles Young Republicans are fond of forums. It gives us and our guests the chance to quiz candidates on the issues, to interact with them in a relaxed environment, as well as assess the difference between them - sometimes hard to spot when you have more than one great candidate running for the same position, as we are fortunate enough to recognize here. We also like them because we meet monthly, and this allows us to cram many great speakers into our limited time slots. Also, and not inconsequentially, the YRs do not endorse candidates during primaries, and forums are designed to give all candidates a chance to make their case.

What forums are not intended to do is blindside candidates or put them in a position where they look foolish. As a club, the St. Charles Young Republicans are always open and up front about the nature of our meetings. We would NEVER intentionally do this to any Republican candidate. We exist as an organization to promote the political activism of young people, and our monthly meetings are a way to introduce young and old to their representatives in local, state and federal government and give them a chance to volunteer or donate to those they believe in provided by their friendly YRs. When we hold forums all candidates are informed as to the nature and schedule of the evening before they are ever asked to accept the invitation. If they prefer not to speak in a forum environment we always respect their wishes and try to schedule them for some other meeting. This was true for our meeting on Thurs, July 21, just like every other.

Ann Wagner was regrettably not able to join us for that evening. We had confirmed her attendence on June 15th and confirmed that twice subsequently. Once we had both candidates confirmed is when we began advertising the forum. The St. Charles Young Republicans would never advertise an event's speakers unless we had them confirmed. Due to a clerical error, Ambassador Wagner was double-booked that evening. The error was discovered too late to get the word out that the evening would only feature Ed Martin. We apologize to the attendees of our meeting that were expecting/hoping to see Ann Wagner there that evening. We are sure that she will be around St. Charles many times throughout the next year and we look forward to working with all the campaigns in the area. Our goal as a Young Republicans chapter is to provide education to the voters so they can make an informed decision. We will seek to ensure that happens. Throughout the history of campaigns, this is not the first time has been accidentally double-booked and we are certain it will not be the last!

Ann's husband Ray and several staff members were gracious enough to come all the way out to O'Fallon to personally express Ann's regret to us. The Young Republicans have a great program each and every month and other events, such as our Turn the Tide Campaign School, throughout the year as well. Please feel free to go to our contact page and request to be put on our email distribution to receive notices about future events. Since you know that our meetings are lively and informative, and that we are generally a forgiving bunch, how about checking us out next month at our meeting on Aug 18? Our meetings and most events are open to the public, whether you are chronologically young or young at heart! We look forward to seeing you there.