UPDATE: People's Caucus 'Delegates' Turn Thumbs Down on Obama, Romney

President Barack Obama was the big loser in Tuesday’s People’s Caucus with 30 of the about 100 “delegates” committed to occupying his re-election headquarters in the days leading up to the Jan. 3 Iowa Caucus.

Second on the “dis-preference” list was Mitt Romney with 20 delegates, Ron Paul with 18, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry with 10 each, Michele Bachmann with seven, and Rick Santorum with one. Four of those attending remained uncommitted.

The caucuses are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Occupy Des Moines and affiliated movements across the country to shift the focus of the movement from the Wall Street banks and corporate interests the protesters say have robbed 99 percent of Americans of fair income and earnings by the 1 percent who control most of the world’s wealth.

The People’s Caucus was a clever bit of semantics by Occupy Des Moines demonstrators to exploit Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status and gain the attention of media who have camped in Des Moines to cover the Jan. 3 caucuses. Demonstrators from California, New York, Missouri and Wisconsin are joining Iowans in the Occupy the Caucuses events.

The “delegates” will be back at the Occupy Des Moines headquarters at 504 E. Locust St. in Des Moines Wednesday morning to discuss tactics they’ll use to make their points to the campaigns of Obama and the six Republicans vying for Iowans support in the first-in-the-nation test of presidential strength.

Arrests are expected to be among the tactics the Occupy activists employ, and visiting occupiers are being schooled on the unique relationship Occupy Des Moines enjoys with local police – one organizer Ed Fallon says he hopes will become the norm across the country. In Oakland, CA, for example, police used tear gas in late October to disperse protesters after the demonstrators threw paint and other objects at officers.

“Occupy Des Moines hopes this will become the norm rather than the exception,” said Fallon. “It shows it is possible to develop good relationships with the police, who also are part of the 99 percent.”

In Des Moines, protesters and police have generally agreed that when protesters are arrested, they will walk with police rather than force the police to drag them.

The protesters have agreed not to vandalize or destroy property, disrupt the caucuses or engage in violent activities.

“This is What Democracy Looks Like”

The People’s Caucus began with what has become a trademark mic-check.

“Tell me what democracy looks like?”

“This is what democracy looks like.”

And continued with the crowd-rousing stump speeches. “We here to overthrow money power with people power,” organizer Aaron Jorgensen-Briggs began, welcoming guests to the “first-in-the-nation People’s Caucus.”

As in a neighborhood caucus meeting, speakers from Occupy movements in Seattle, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Oakland and Des Moines introduced a spate of resolutions. A common theme was limiting corporate contributions to campaigns and caps on spending.

Even children got into the action. Frankie Hughes, 14, reminded the activists that “government was created to protect the people, yet our people are out there dying and if they do come home, they have a mental issue.”

“We deserve respect, not only because we are human beings, but because we give them the power,” she said. “Any government that puts profit before people really needs to get their priorities checked.”

Organizers had expected hundreds to attend the People’s Caucus. There were about 250 at the event by most estimates, about half of them respresentatives of the media.

Earlier in the afternoon, a few dozen people had turned out for teach-ins providing training on civil disobedience, one on putting forth resolutions and a third on corporate personhood.

Explaining the Process

People’s Caucus procedures loosely followed the Democratic caucus rules requiring that a particular candidate be viable by winning the support of at least 15 percent of caucus-goers. If a candidate fails to get 15 percent, those supporting him or her as least representative of their views will move to a group representing another candidate.

“Democrat rules are more fun,” said Occupy supporter Stephen Toother, a computer programmer who joined the cause because of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that corporations are people with constitutional rights, among them the “right” to contribute unlimited sums to political campaigns.

When they meet Wednesday, the different preference groups will determine the best strategies to make their points with the candidates in a week-long series of demonstrations at candidates’ Iowa headquarters and their events, where more open-mic protests may take place, said Ed Fallon, one of the principal organizers of the People’s Caucus.

“Each group gets to decide what the protest will look like,” said Jess Mazour, a 24-year-old West Des Moines resident who has a full-time job, but considers herself part of the 99 percent. She has been part of the Occupy movement since it began in Des Moines in October and is one of the organizers.

“They may want to hold signs, or they may want to occupy with tents,” Mazour said. “There’s a lot of room for imagination and creativity.”

Discussion on Occupy Tactics Ongoing

Fallon, a former state representative who has been affiliated with the Occupy movement since it started in Des Moines last fall, discounted reports of a schism within the ranks of the Occupy Des Moines movement regarding the best way to make a political statement. Discussion about the best tactics is open and ongoing, he said.

He was quoted a week ago in the Des Moines Register as critical of the mic-check tactic where Occupy members interrupt candidate speeches.

“To me, it’s not a tactic I want to recommend be used,” Fallon told the Register about the systematic disruptions to campaign events. “That, to me, is violent rhetoric. It’s threatening. It’s inappropriate. That’s not how I see nonviolent action working.”

However, he said this week that “a mic-check has its place,” Fallon said. “There are some actions that are not helpful in gaining the support  of the general population.

“The best way to rebuild America is the same way you build a house,” he continued. “You use very tool available — in this case, protest marches, running for office, building a new political party, education — it’s all important.”

“I think Ed Fallon is wrong about that,” said Aaron Jorgensen-Briggs, an unemployed writer who has been involved in Occupy Des Moines since its beginnings.

“People have preferences about the different kinds of activities they’re comfortable with,” Jorgensen-Briggs said. “We give everyone the freedom to work with other like-minded individuals within the movement.”

Occupy Des Moines movement organizers also downplayed an affiliation with Anonymous, a group linked to this weekend’s computer hacking attack on the U.S. security analysis company Stratfor. Hackers obtained credit card numbers and diverted more than $500,000 from private bank accounts to charities that included the Red Cross, CARE and Save the Children.

Protesters have shown up at Des Moines Occupy events wearing the Guy Fawkes mask worn by a lone freedom fighter in the film version of Alan Moore’s graphic novel, “V for Vendetta.”

“That mask has a long history of citizen discontent,” Fallon said.