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| 2/6/2008 9:11:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Obama, Romney win Park County at Feb. 5 caucuses
Large turnouts reported in county from Democrats and Republicans
First-time caucus-goers in Park County made their presidential preferences known on Feb. 5, doubling and even tripling previous turnout numbers around the county for the Republicans and Democrats and favoring Mitt Romney among the Republican candidates by a margin of almost three-to-one compared with John McCaien and choosing Barack Obama among the Democratic candidates by more than two-to-one compared with Hillary Clinton.
Romney and Obama won in Colorado as a whole, and, at the national level, McCain developed a substantial lead while Obama and Clinton remained locked in a close contest.
Democrats
Park County Democratic Chairman Soren Frederiksen said the voter turnout was better than he expected, although he didn't know what the turnout was like during the last presidential election year.
"It was very exciting," he said. "The turnout was just phenomenal."
Two years ago, Frederiksen said, four people showed up at his precinct. This year, 30 people showed up. County-wide, 309 Democrats showed up to the caucuses.
Obama captured the majority of the Park County caucus votes, with 210, while Hilary Clinton garnered 94. John Edwards captured four votes, and one voter was uncommitted.
Shawnee resident Brian Heber turned out for the precinct four Democratic caucus, his first one, because he said he wanted to be part of the process.
Jon DeStefano, a past chairman of the Park County Democrats, said one possible reason for the greater turnout was that citizens felt like something must be done about the federal government.
"People have a sense that they need to do something," he said.
Republicans
Among the Republican candidates, Mitt Romney captured the most votes from caucus attendees in Park County, with 179, while John McCain had 62. Mike Huckabee took in 31, Ron Paul received 19, Fred Thompson got two and Duncan Hunter and Alan Keyes received one vote each.
A total of 295 votes were cast by the Republicans at the Park County caucuses.
Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly two to one in Park County, since there are 4,853 registered Republicans and 2,656 registered Democrats. Yet the 309 Democratic attendees outnumbered the 295 Republican attendees by 5 percent.
However, Susan Pullman, chairwoman for the Park County Republicans, said the turnout for Republicans was better than in the past few years.
"It was just like the good old days, when we always had 20 to 30 people there," she said.
Her phone has been ringing nonstop since last weekend. "That's good," she said. "It's really exciting."
Park County Coroner Sharon Morris said precinct three had 17 voters turn out, and brought in an additional 10 "youthful observers," or people under 18.
A lot of first-time caucus-goers went out to have their voices heard on Feb. 5
Park County Clerk and Recorder Debra Green said the Park County Republicans got their 111 delegates for the County Assembly.
Pullman said there was some confusion among the attendees about how the caucus process works.
One woman got up and walked out when she realized she wouldn't be casting more than a straw vote for a candidate, but most of the voters were happy to have their voice heard.
"They wanted to come and cast their vote, even if it was just a straw poll," she said.
Bailey resident Mary Sasser showed up at the precinct four Democrat caucus because she wanted to help take part in steering the future of the country.
"I'm delighted to be part of the process," she said. "I love being an American."
Precinct breakdown
The breakout for number of attendees at each precinct, by party, was as follows:
Park County Democratic caucus precinct number: number of people attending the caucuses at that precinct
1:36
2:15
3:10
4:12
5:2
6:27
7:21
8:10
9:43
10:47
11:16
12:30
13:40
Park County Republican precinct number: number of people attending the caucuses at that precinct
1:22
2:19
3:17
4:18
5:28
6:22
7:11
8:15
9:31
10:21
11:32
12:33
13:27
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