Things did not exactly run very smoothly at our caucus. It was not a complete disaster by any means, but folks here in Carson Coty are not used to the caucus system at all. Then again it isn't exactly the most simple process.

The only dispute that happened was over signs in the caucus room. The volunteer running things said only one sign was allowed. Then an Obama volunteer discovered there was no such rule. The signs were eventually brought back in.

They did a headcount and literally had people count off themselves to determine the minimum amount of viability for each caucus. There had to be 15% for any one candidate in the room to be viable. In our room that number was 14 people. The only candidates that met that threshold were Clinton and Obama. The Kucinich and Edwards supporters had to decide if they wanted to realign with either Obamam or Clinton. Several elected to vote undecided or for Edwards despite the fact that it wouldn't count. The majority went for Obama and less for Clinton. Overall the vote was 50 Clinton and 41 Obama. We had 7 delegates up for grabs, so it split 4-3 for Clinton. I just heard that they called it for Clinton overall, which fits with the polling.

As for me, I ended up helping run the caucus, collect and tabulate votes. Quite a few people registered for the first time, which was great to see. There was an Obama volunteer helping translate the process. Things worked out in the end but it was a bit hairy for a while. Now it is time to drive back to CA.

Apologies right off the bat, I am typing this on my phone.

The day has been action packed complete with bad directions, fast food, and dogs chasing me down the street.

All over the state today the staffers have been training the hordes of volunteers who have flowed through their office doors. Some people are handed call sheets to call lists of voters and ensure they are planning to caucus tomorrow. Others are handed a stack of door hangers, a map, directions and a list of voters.

There were only 8,000 voters who made it to the caucuses in 2004, while the primary winners were already determined, that turnout is really low. They are only expecting about 50,000 caucus goers tomorrow so the campaigns have a fairly small universe to target. That means they are not wasting much time on peruading truly undecided voters to swing their way. The name of the game is to make sure your supporters know where the caucus locations are and that they make it to the caucus location.

Given the close proximity of California to Nevada there are a fair number of Californians.

Fellow Courage blogger Todd Beaton called a couple of times earlier relaying the goings on in Las Vegas. They have all of the candidates there holding big rallies. Up here in Reno it's more about the grunt work.

I've got to run. Hopefully I will get a chance to blog inside a caucus tomorrow. I believe the plan for Lucas, Brian and myself is to check out a caucus in Carson City, which is about 30 miles away. Fitting for me to be in the Capitol city, given I am coming from Sacramento.

The Courage Campaign in coalition with five other progressive state groups have launched PickYourPresident.org, as the name suggests it is an open primary poll. Yes, you can vote for both Democrats and Republicans, though the response rate as one would imagine is exponentially higher for the Democrats.

Edwards had been leading in almost all of the states, but Obama overtook him this afternoon in many states. He just captured the lead in California. Will Edwards catch back up?

Here is the current order:

1. Sen. Barack Obama
2. Sen. John Edwards
3. Rep. Dennis Kucinich
4. Sen. Hillary Clinton
5. Gov. Bill Richardson
6. Sen. Mike Gravel

Only one vote per person please, though do pass it on to your friends and family members. This is a great opportunity to do some person-to-person outreach on behalf of your favorite candidate. It's a good icebreaker to start the conversation.

And here is the national order:

1. Sen. Barack Obama
2. Sen. John Edwards
3. Rep. Dennis Kucinich
4. Sen. Hillary Clinton
5. Gov. Bill Richardson
6. Sen. Mike Gravel

Have some fun with the poll, but start some serious conversations with it.