Accidental Blogger

No, not on the basketball court – at the Texas Democratic convention to assign delegates to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. When I attended the caucus on the evening of March 4, things were a bit confused but not chaotic. See if you can figure out what happened today in Texas.

AUSTIN — Traffic jams, long lines, crowds, confusion and chaos marked Texas Democratic regional conventions Saturday as an unprecedented number of political activists turned out to help elect presidential nominating delegates for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

There are 67 at-large delegates at stake, depending largely on the results of the state senatorial district and county conventions.

Obama was the caucus winner on primary night, but an Associated Press delegate count showed Obama might lose ground. However, Obama’s campaign late Saturday said he would win, claiming he would receive 38 delegates to Clinton’s 29. If accurate, that would give Obama a total five-delegate advantage over Clinton in the Texas primary/caucus contest.

Houston-area conventions often were marked by exasperation as thousands of people who had never participated in the process before gathered to show support for their candidate and try to win a slot to attend the state party convention in June.

"It’s going very good," state Senate District 17 Chairman Bert Anson said in the midst of the convention in the Alief Elsik High School gymnasium. "I’ve only been yelled at and cursed twice. I’ve only lost my temper once. No. I’ve lost my temper twice."