We did not vote in the last presidential primary in Kansas because the 2004 contest was so late that the nomination was all wrapped up. This year, Kansas did not have enough money to hold a Super Tuesday primary. The Democrats and Republicans opted for caucuses.
While Erik has some misgivings about non-secret, non-private voting, we were intrigued by the opportunity to caucus. We were initially unsure if Carter would be admitted, however. The local Democratic Party office assured us that he could come as an observer. So, Carter is following in his father's footsteps, serving as a non-voting observer in today's Kansas Caucus.
Lea was a strong Edwards supporter throughout the early part of the presidential campaign. Edwards' departure from the race prompted us to caucus for Barack Obama. Erik was particularly swayed by an interesting piece about Obama in the Atlantic Monthly, which is summarized on a fellow political scientist's blog.
We were directed to caucus at the Douglas County Fairgrounds and headed out in the increasingly inclement weather. The site is only two miles from our house, but it took around 30 minutes to get there because the traffic was so heavy. We arrived just as the cold rain picked up in intensity, and stood in line for a few minutes before we were admitted. The caucus was held in a building that is essentially a large barn; it hosts cattle competitions during the annual fair. After officially registering, we entered the cattle pens and sat with other Obama supporters. The turnout was a real cross-section of Lawrence, with strong student representation.
An hour or so later, the process began. Our site had 2,218 voters who grouped themselves by their preferred candidate, with a group of undeclared voters as well. As a side note, more voters were at our polling site than participated in the entire state in the last Kansas primary. To remain viable, 15% of attendees must support a candidate. Each candidate was able to have a representative speak for five minutes to convince other caucus-goers to cross over. Four candidates had advocates state their cases, two that have already dropped out (Edwards and Kucinich), as well as Clinton and Obama. After the speeches, voters could realign. The initial count was taken, and only Clinton and Obama had the requisite 15%. Another realignment allowed supporters of non-viable candidates and the undeclared to choose a candidate. In the end, a few stalwarts remained in the Edwards and Kucinich camps, but most supported Obama. He received 9 of 11 delegates selected by our caucus. These delegates will join others from across the state to allocate 32 of 41 delegates to the Democratic National Convention (9 are "super delegates"). After the allocation, we headed out into the driving snow to make our way home.
Carter and his friend Thomas were featured in the Lawrence Journal-World's "Friends and Neighbors" daily photo gallery on January 28, 2008. The picture, from our trip to the Carpathian mountains in Ukraine, is on the LJWorld website. The caption incorrectly refers to us as Thomas' parents, too. We are happy to have Thomas credited to the Herrons, though we are sure that his parents, Phil and Jani, want to keep him!
Lawrence is a traditional pit stop on the migratory path of bald eagles, and several area organizations sponsor an "Eagle Day" event to raise awareness of environmental issues. Eagle Day is especially aimed at children, so we decided to take a look. Carter saw many of his animal friends from the nature center, made an eagle hat, got to sit in a model eagle's nest, and wandered about to see "more real animals." He pet a snake, and took a close look at owls and other adorable, feathered killing machines. Unfortunately, Eagle Day featured no live eagles, but rather tours to go eagle spotting.
We have spent the last few weeks establishing a new post-L'viv routine. Erik has set up his attic office space, spending full days working on his book manuscript away from most distractions. Emerging for lunch or fresh tea, Erik has many opportunities to see Lea and Carter during the day as well. Exploration of potential pre-schools and attending science, dance, and gymnastics classes and library story time fill out Lea and Carter's daily schedule.
We have family time during evenings and weekends. On Saturday, we decided to re-visit a hands-on museum in the Kansas City area that we discovered last year. Carter enjoyed it even more this time as the displays are a bit more friendly to the nearly 3 and up (and a bit more challenging for those 2 and under). We visited the planets, saw underwater scenes made from Legos, learned about health and hospitals, pretended to go grocery shopping, and explored some physics with the help of ramps and golf balls. 
The image on the left shows Carter fighting with the high-powered air system to insert pom-pons into tubes. He particularly enjoyed changing the air flow, much to the chagrin of other kids who found their scarves and pom-pons stranded in suddenly pressure-less areas of the pretzel-shaped tube wall. He also enjoyed the Lego submarine (on the right) complete with a toilet, microwave oven, coffepot, fridge, and hamburger made entirely of Legos. After a couple hours of fun, we returned home. Below you can see Carter practicing his driving - thankfully that is over a decade away!
After visiting with the Bistaks over Christmas, we traveled to Michigan to see the Herron side of the family, returning on New Year's Eve. In the photo above, you can see several generations - Thomas and Yvonne, their four children (Kristin, Erik, Jordan, and Brett), spouses/significant others, and six grandchildren.
We wish everyone a safe, healthy, and joyous 2008!
We did not vote in the last presidential primary in Kansas because the 2004 contest was so late that the nomination was all wrapped up. This year, Kansas did not have enough money to hold a Super Tuesday primary. The Democrats and Republicans opted for caucuses.
While Erik has some misgivings about non-secret, non-private voting, we were intrigued by the opportunity to caucus. We were initially unsure if Carter would be admitted, however. The local Democratic Party office assured us that he could come as an observer. So, Carter is following in his father's footsteps, serving as a non-voting observer in today's Kansas Caucus. 
