By ILANA STERN

My husband, Britt, and I are co-committee chairs of La Plata County's Precinct 3 (Colorado) for the Democratic Party. We were elected to these positions at the 2004 caucus, at which there were 12 people. At the 2006 caucus, we had 6 attendees. On February 5th, 2008, we had 39.

The total Democratic turnout in La Plata County was 1,506; some precincts had as many as 90 people crammed into one small room. Still, when you consider that there are 10,219 registered Democrats in the county, the record turnout translates into slightly less than 15%. Power truly belongs to those who show up!

Things started out in total zoo mode, as we shared a large room in the County Courthouse with Precinct 2. A lot of people showed up even before we did (we thought half an hour early would be fine!) and a lot of people didn't know their precinct. So we whipped out the laptop and brought up the database and sorted the room. Interestingly, several people showed up who were not even remotely in the right precinct; we found out where they needed to go, and sent them there.

We had a reporter from our local public radio station (KSUT) and a nonvoting observer. And lots of people we'd never seen before, which was awesome, really.

Barack Obama has a very strong organizational presence here (both statewide and regionally) and his supporters turned out in force. Which raises the concern: if he doesn't win the nomination, will his supporters work for Clinton?

This was a problem in 2004 with the Senate race, in which Mike Miles, a progressive and inspiring candidate, lost the primary to the more centrist Ken Salazar. Many of Miles's supporters lost interest in the race after that, and those of us who were working on get-out-the-vote efforts had a harder time. It was a much closer election than we had hoped.

We have a lot of older women - Hillary Clinton's demographic - in our precinct, and Britt had thought that Clinton would make a strong showing, but during our straw poll she only drew 5 votes. Obama had 32, including Britt. We had two uncommitted voters, and I was one of them; I had supported Bill Richardson, until he dropped out, and then after much thought decided to support John Edwards - who dropped out shortly before our caucus.

(In previous primary seasons I've supported Paul Tsongas, Bill Bradley, and Howard Dean, each of whom was no longer in the race by the time I got a chance to vote. It's almost funny! But I'd rather live in Colorado and have a smaller field to choose from than live, say, in Iowa.)

I moved to Obama, and the other uncommitted voter moved to Clinton, but the percentages worked out such that all three of our delegates went to Obama.

Countywide, Obama cleaned up. I expected him to win both the county and the state, as he did, but I was stunned at how big his margin was. We called in our results to the county as soon as we had them, and they passed them up to the state, so Colorado's results came out pretty quickly.

The Senate preference poll was really only pro forma, as Mark Udall had been unopposed until just a few weeks before the caucus, and all we knew about his opponent was his name.

A lot of people left after the presidential preference poll, which was clearly the main event. But almost half stayed for resolutions, which to me exemplify democracy at its best and at its worst. Talking about political issues with your neighbors - what could be more important and energizing? Yet it's easy to get off on tangents or distracted by minutiae, and even if a resolution makes it all the way to the state party platform, all that means is that we, the people agree it's an important issue. Getting something done about it? That's a whole different ballgame.

The caucus participants came up with ideas and issues that interested them, and talked about what they thought was important, and then I formulated their ideas into a statement of resolution. Then there was a bit more discussion, and then a vote.

Eventually, we approved five resolutions; they covered health care, the Electoral College, the state constitution, the primary/caucus structure, and affordable housing.

Then several of us went out to one of the local brewpubs and drank beer as we watched the results come in on CNN on the TV over the bar. And in a way, that encapsulates the caucus system in Colorado. We hang out with our friends and neighbors and talk about politics, just like we might do over a pint after work on any evening. The difference is that after the caucus, the results of our discussion - and the results of all the discussions being held statewide - end up on CNN.

Ilana Stern is a meteorologist, writer, backcountry junkie and Democrat who has lived in Durango since 2002 and Colorado since 1989. She is a delegate from La Plata County, and is pledging her support to Barack Obama.