Hello, everyone!
It's 6:30 p.m. and people are continuing the file in the door of the gymnasium at Vernon Middle School in Marion. It's difficult to say how many are here tonight as more than one precinct is sharing the area.
6:38 p.m. -- I'd estimate that there are 300 people in the room right now (but we still can't tell who is in what precinct). There are large groups gathering for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, former North Carolina John Edwards and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Right now everyone is in what I can only describe as "clumps" of people. There are chairs, but there will not be enough. The bleachers have been pulled out from the wall too and, for now at least, they appear to be sparsely populated.
An Obama supporter is standing at the main entry and asking everyone who comes in if they are "fired up." A few people, walking in from below zero wind chills, have given her a rather odd look, obviously unaware of the campaign slogan.
6:51 p.m. -- Nine minutes before the doors close and we've had our first sighting of a supporter for Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich. All the candidates -- Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, in addition to those already named -- now all have at least some supporters at the caucus.
It's getting a little hectic to try to liveblog both here and at Iowa Independent. My apologies to those following along here on Essential Estrogen, but I'm going to limit the operation to this post on Iowa Independent. Please hop over there for the remainder of the caucus.
Cool