Yesterday, this Seattlest headed to the U-District library to meet with other Hillary Clinton delegates (Hillegates?) from the fightin' 43rd, and to learn about what lies between us and the national convention. Because we care, we thought we'd share the info with you. If you're not a Hillegate or Obamegate, you can just skip to reading about other things.

Okay, so first things first: all alternates should really, really show up to next weekend's April 5 Legislative Caucus. (Locations and other info here.) Of course, this is a little more important for Hillegates than Obamegates, simply because there are some precincts that only have one Hillegate. If that person doesn't show, and their alternate doesn't show, Hillary loses that delegate. Say you're an Obamegate alternate and your delegate is there, you can still run to be a delegate to the next level. You don't have to be a delegate or alternate to attend, and you don't have to be a delegate or alternate to become a delegate to the state caucus. And if you've changed your mind, you're free to do so. You'll be seated as a delegate for whomever you were elected to represent and then, during the course of events, you can change your vote. Sounds like it's pretty much like what we already went through, just....well, different.

There was some confusion and lack of clarity about how exactly one will "run" to be a delegate to the next level (Congressional District Caucus, May 17) from the fightin' 43rd. Apparently, some districts are allowing people to make 30-second speeches, some are asking that you print out a flier of sorts to pass out and argue your case for you. Others will be splitting into groups and having elections in groups, and then those electeds move on to a "general election" with the big group. It's all very confusing and unclear, but the organizers requested patience and flexibility from all attendees. It was recommended that you print out a written statement, just in case.

There's going to be around 2,500 delegates and alternates at next weekend's caucus from our district, and that's just our district. When you take into consideration that, by the end of this whole siphoning process, there will be a total of 97 delegates and 13 alternates from the entire state going to Denver in August, that makes our chances of getting to Denver as a Hillegate really, really slim. Personally, we're hoping our gay lady status will bump us up in the race, thanks to Affirmative Action minimum requirements. But we're not going to hold our breath.

If you want to hound your delegates and alternates, learn more about becoming a state delegate, find out locations for legislative caucuses and every other round in our future, and other fascinating statistics and directives, it's all on the Washington State Democrats website. Republicans can find their info here.

Fabulous photo called 'ass wipe' pulled sopping wet from the Seattlest Flickr Pool user zoomar.