Cookies Counted, not Crumbled, at Hillis Cookie Caucus
From precinct captains to poll watchers, the Cookie Caucus at Hillis Elementary School had fun with a serious lesson.
A total of 45 schools at Des Moines Public Schools will be the sites for official Iowa presidential caucuses tonight but a traditional, if unofficial, variation got underway first thing this morning at Hillis Elementary School.
Yes, it’s time again for the Cookie Caucus.
In 2012 Chocolate Chip prevailed over M&M and Sugar. This year a 4th candidate was added to the field: Lorna Doone (by suggestion of NBC weatherman Al Roker).
Promptly at 9:00 AM, ambassadors from the 5th grade classrooms of Tammy Fastenau, Heidi Slinker and Lindsay Banks were dispatched to the office to escort media representatives to the polls. Sydnie Greer, Cierra Bryant and Amer Oric were 1st graders last time around but now they and their classmates were cast in prominent roles that included registrar, campaign spokesperson and precinct captain. Between 9:00 and 9:30 in Precinct (Room #) 175, 2nd grade voters listened to speeches on behalf of each cookie (e.g., Chocolate Chip was running on a platform of being especially good fresh out of the oven and dunked in a cold glass of milk). Then they were peppered with questions in a caucus quiz. How old do you have to be to vote in a real election? How many years between presidential elections? What state goes first in the presidential selection process?
Sometimes the actual winnowing process in politics can get figuratively cannibalistic. In the Cookie Caucus every voter literally gets to eat the candidate of their choice, thanks to the Windsor Heights Hy-Vee’s provision of ample supplies of each type.
There was some catchy sloganeering on posters adorning the Hillis hallways:
“Chocolate Chip is Hip!”
“Lorna Doone is Over the Moon!”
“M&M: MMM…”
As if the Cookie Caucus were not enough by itself to get a new week and a new month off to an extra special start this morning at Hillis, today also happens to be the 100th day of the school year, as just about any DMPS elementary student can tell you. That is a concept that many a K-2 lesson centers on and builds toward as the year unfolds. But there is only so much room in a school day for special events. At Hillis, the Cookie Caucus, a quadrennial occasion, trumps the 100th day which, while important, happens every year. Celebration of that will have to wait until Wednesday at Hillis.
Official results of how the cookies crumbled are not expected until after school this afternoon but there were some anecdotal returns trickling in this morning. In Precinct 176 a very unscientific show-of-hands canvass appeared to be about equally split between M&M and Sugar. Both Chocolate Chip, the incumbent, and Lorna Doone, the newcomer, were blanked! Those trends are not expected to hold throughout the voting.
UPDATE @ 3:21 PM…
The official results of the Hillis Cookie Caucus are as follows:
- M&M – 161 (39.1%)
- Chocolate Chip – 129 (31.4%)
- Sugar – 103 (25.1%)
- Lorna Doone – 18 (4.4%)
