Hope and mercury are on the rise

Every morning my husband's friend John calls from the Lynn Canal side of town and asks what the weather is like here on the Chilkat River side. It's "balmy and green" I wish out loud, hoping for a change.

He laughs. "This is God's country, isn't it? Now tell that husband of yours we're going to go snare some rabbits."

John isn't going to the caucus, and he isn't going to join the Republicans voting over at the Captain's Choice Motel either. He says all politicians are crooks.

I am not ready to give up on what I learned about democracy in grade school. I always vote optimistically, and I always think my vote counts.

Caucus organizer and borough Assemblywoman Deb Vogt is the widow of Alaska statesmen Hugh Malone; she chose the senior center over the larger Alaska Native Brotherhood hall down the street because "Hugh always said never rent a hall you can't fill." And with about 30 people milling around, it was pleasantly full.

But people kept coming. Soon it was packed, and it was getting warmer because we were all dressed for the weather. The guys from out the road had on big down parkas, and it looked like they hadn't shaved or cut their hair since August. It was hard to tell, though, since fur and fuzzy wool hats were everywhere.

There was some confusion about what one does at a caucus. When we learned that we would have to stand by the name of the candidate we support, there was a pause.

It was bad enough that we had to tell everyone we were a Democrat (or similarly sentimented), but now we were going have to show them who we were voting for?

"I'm used to going in the booth and voting -- privately," Joanne said, glancing toward the door. There was no quick escape, especially since she had brought her friend's elderly mother. Besides, this was turning into a real party.

Jenny ate a cookie, dodged a running child and said she was uncomfortable about having to choose between a black man and a woman. She wanted both of them.

The deacon from the Catholic Church said, " I'm not exactly proud to be a Democrat, but it's neat to see an election where we actually have a voice."

Then he half-joked, "Is the paper here? I hope they don't take our picture."

Marge is halfway between 80 and 90. Her late husband was a Democrat, and she was honoring him by voting in this first caucus.

"Besides, what else is there to do on a cold winter night?" she said.

By the time we voted, there were 100 of us with similar thoughts, and 117 more showed up at the Republican preference poll across town.

They didn't have as much fun as we did. My husband voted at the motel and said it was pretty quiet. He just wrote his choice on a piece of paper, dropped it in a box, talked with borough Assemblyman Doug Olerud for a minute and left.

Doug said he had to switch from undeclared to Republican to officiate at the GOP event. "But I was happy to. I wanted to be sure there was a place in Haines were we could vote."

The Republicans favored Huckabee by a few votes over McCain and Romney. Ron Paul got three, and there were two undecided voters, which Doug said was a little odd. "Why come out in this cold when you don't even know who to vote for?"

There were no undecided voters at the Democratic caucus. But when we were directed to huddle by the sign with our preferred candidate's name, four stood under Mike Gravel's. He is the only candidate who has been to Haines. The former senator has owed our lumberyard $1,594 since 1991, when a business he started here failed.

A handful also stood by the Kucinich sign and the Richardson sign. Clinton had more folks, but the Obama supporters filled the room.

The rules say if any candidate gets less than 15 percent of the vote, we have to vote again, which may be part of the reason for supporting those no longer running for president. (Since we thawed out the car and got here, might as well make an evening of it.) Then again, not everyone follows the news closely, and the weather has made the TV so fuzzy we can't see it.

On the second vote, Obama was again the big winner, and we were done.

On the way out, I picked up a "Got Hope?" bumper sticker. I'll have to wait until the ice is off my car to stick it on, but the weather is already improving. My interior barometer, now halfway between Change and Fair, is rising, and so are a lot of other people's.

As Doug said, speaking of both parties' actions here: "I think it is exciting when you can get over 200 people out to vote when it's zero, with no advertising or anything. Both races have a lot of people interested in them, and that's great."

Heather Lende lives and writes in Haines and is the author of "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name." She can be reached at hlende@adnmail.com.