Minnie Mouse wins big in mock caucus of Clinton volunteers

By Scott Lucas

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015 | 2 a.m.

With less than 100 days remaining before Nevada’s presidential caucuses, Hillary Clinton’s campaign wants to leave nothing to chance. So this Saturday, several dozen campaign volunteers gathered in an empty car warehouse in North Las Vegas to nominate Minnie Mouse for president.

The campaign has been holding mock caucuses since August to familiarize supporters with the sometimes-arcane process used in Nevada to select delegates for the parties’ nominating conventions. “My first caucus was 2012,” said Linda Overby, an activist with the painters union who manages precinct captains for the campaign. Connie and Richard Munk, who have been organizing in Sun City Summerlin said that they wanted to make sure that transportation would be available for seniors to attend.

The campaign’s goal is not just to turn out supporters, but to make sure that they know what to do once they arrive at their caucus locations on Feb. 20.

“We have built a base of support, and we will continue to grow the list of Nevadans who want to see Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States,” said Hillary for Nevada State Director Emmy Ruiz. “Now, our focus shifts to ensuring our showing is strong and successful in the caucus process."

It’s an important task for the campaign, which in 2008 received a greater number of supporters in the Nevada caucus. But, the Obama campaigned received more delegates — 14 to Clinton’s 11. It was as if one team scored more runs during the World Series, but lost more games.

So this year, in the face of challenges from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Mike O’Malley, the Clinton campaign wants to both score more runs and win more games.

To that end, the campaign gathered 43 supporters, fed by pizza delivered by Rep. Dina Titus, to conduct the faux caucus.

To chants of “First mouse president,” a large group of Minnie supporters gathered in one corner. Smaller groups formed for Mickey and Goofy, and a large block remained undecided. After the first round, voters turned off by his steamboat diplomacy failed to deliver enough support to Mickey, leaving the other campaigns to bid for his supporters. (Pluto dropped out before the caucus began, citing a lack of funds.)

In the second round, Minnie received three delegates, while Goofy and undecided tied with 1.5 each.

Since delegates could only be awarded in whole numbers, the campaign had to consult the rule book. What to do in case of an exact tie? Turns out that each caucus site comes equipped with a deck of cards and dice to decide randomly. Since nobody had either of those, someone fished a coin out of their pocket.

A quick flip later, two delegates were given to Goofy, leaving just one delegate undecided.

The lesson? No matter how prepared, sometimes chance intervenes.