Occupy the Caucus: Next Stop New Hampshire, Then Later Illinois

Occupy the Caucus didn’t end Tuesday night in Iowa.

Members of Occupy the Caucus, in solidarity with Occupy Des Moines and Occupy Wall Street, plan to occupy the rest of the presidential nominating contests including Illinois’ primary on March 20, Occupy the Caucus participants said Tuesday night.

“We’re going to keep it moving from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina to Nevada and all the Super Tuesday states and beyond,” said Jess Mazour, a member of Occupy Des Moines, who spoke in front of a packed crowd at Occupy’s make-shift headquarters in downtown Des Moines.

As Iowa’s GOP caucus results began to come in from the state’s 99 counties, Mazour said the occupiers “racked up a lot of victories this week.”

Occupiers sat in at Wells Fargo Bank; “mic checked,” or interrupted, GOP candidate Mitt Romney; and got U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, to acknowledge the Occupy movement in national media, Mazour said.

Aaron Jorgensen-Briggs, an organizer with Occupy Des Moines, said the real story of democracy in action on Iowa’s caucus night was not at the ballot box but in the streets.

“Tonight, tomorrow and onward through this election cycle and into the next presidential election, the real story of American politics has been forever changed,” he said.

Serena Fath, 18, a Des Moines resident, marched with Occupy the Caucus earlier this week and celebrated her 18th birthday by voting for the first time.

Fath said she will vote Democratic in November’s general election. But she registered Tuesday night as a Republican so she could vote for Michele Bachmann – to “go against who everyone else is the room was voting for,” she said.

Fath’s vote was one of just two votes the Minnesota congresswoman received in Des Moines’ 70th precinct. Statewide, Bachmann received 5 percent of the vote, placing sixth in the GOP field.

Before voting took place at Fath’s precinct, each candidate representative took a few minutes to speak to caucus-goers. Whenever a speaker mentioned a candidate’s opposition to gay marriage, Fath and her friend Sarah Challender, 17, would kiss.

“We started making out openly,” Fath said, adding that the kissing “attracted a lot of media attention.”

Wesley Belkamp, 18, joined Fath and Challender at the precinct site to view the caucus process.

“Last year, I went with my parents to the caucus as an observer, but this is the first year I can vote, so it’s pretty cool,” said Belkamp, who didn’t vote Tuesday night but plans to vote for President Barack Obama in the general election.

Belkamp said he hasn’t been involved with the Occupy movement – at least yet.

“I agree with a lot of what they stand for, and I think I’ll get more involved as time passes,” he said.

Barbara Cappaert, a mother who used to live in Wheaton, Ill. before moving to Des Moines eight years ago, voted for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who nearly won this year’s caucuses.

She said she was surprised by how small the Occupy the Caucus movement was compared to New York and Chicago. Cappaert called the Iowa occupiers a “minor nuisance.”

“Instead of protesting, we get out and do it,” Cappaert said, referring to the caucus-voting process.