THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604140053
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Caucus, shmaucus - Victoria Epps was interested in one thing Saturday: doing all she could to make sure President Clinton gets re-elected.
That's what brought her, at age 67, on the first glorious spring day of the year, indoors to the fellowship hall of Great Bridge Presbyterian Church in Chesapeake. It was the first political caucus for the lifelong Democrat, the initial step for party members to choose the delegates who eventually will choose the Democratic candidates for president and senator.
``I just want to be here to make a difference,'' said Epps, who left her business, Doll's House of Beauty in Portsmouth, to cast her vote for delegates for Clinton and U.S. Senate hopeful Mark R. Warner.
``When I leave here, I'm going back to work,'' Epps said. ``That's how important I think it is.''
Democrats in cities and counties across Virginia gathered at noon Saturday, giving up a perfect gardening or beachcombing day to participate in the political process at about its most basic level. Most were party leaders and regulars for whom the pages of complex, arcane caucus rules are like the air they breathe.
For many, though, it was their first foray into politics beyond the voting booth. Starting more than half a year before the fall elections, the first-timers encountered democracy at its least-slick level:
The church fellowship hall with a hand-lettered pink sign designating a wall timepiece as the ``Official Clock'' for the caucus.
A toddler carrying a stuffed-toy platypus in a Norfolk elementary-school gym lined with safety posters, gurgling loudly with joy while the adults nearby discussed voting credentials and delegate slates.
People in shorts plopping down on an orange sofa in Virginia Beach Democratic Party headquarters to fill out their ballots.
Victoria Beales put down roots in Norfolk after having her son and buying a house. That brought her to her first caucus, at Suburban Park Elementary School, to cast a ballot for Lyndon LaRouche delegates.
``If you don't make a statement or a stand, you can't really complain about anything,'' the 29-year-old Beales said. ``It's best to have your voice heard.''
She nodded to her 15-month-old son, Ceilleon, who was munching a snack before the caucus opened. ``The decisions I make today will affect him in the future,'' she said.
In Virginia Beach, William J. and Ann Reid Tatman had been listening to their eighth-grade daughter talk about her government class and participatory democracy.
``We just decided to be more active,'' Ann Reid Tatman said.
``It was time to be more involved,'' her husband agreed.
She works in college administration; he's a therapist. Both are concerned about government funding. Both voted Saturday for delegates for Clinton and Mark Warner.
``I work in mental health, and I'm always telling people to get involved, get active,'' William Tatman said.
``And we've got children in school. So we need to model behavior for them.''
KEYWORDS: DEMOCRATIC PARTY POLITICS CAUCUSES
by CNB