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A Look Inside Saturday's Republican Caucus in Manchester

Area republicans gathered at the Manchester Police Department for the Queeny Township Caucus. Check out the event in this photo slideshow.

Saturday is the first time in years that Missouri Republicans have used the caucus system to help determine which presidential candidate will receive the state's 52 delegates.

It will likely take a week to learn the results of Saturday's caucus across St. Louis County and the entire process won't be completed until the congressional district-level convention in April and the state GOP convention in June.

Queeny Township Republicans gathered at the  Saturday morning. You can see the event in the above photo slideshow.

According to Peg Koch, Committeewoman for Queeny Township Republican Committee, Queeny has been allotted 14 delegates, which breaks down to a total of 28 names for each of the District and the State Conventions. 

The delegates selected Saturday do not need to declare for a presidential candidate, although they can do so. 

Ninety-seven registered voters attended Saturday's caucus. Koch was elected caucus chair and Erin Brown was elected caucus secretary by those in attendance Saturday. 

While Republican Presidential Candidiate Rick Santorum made is way around West County Saturday, his wife, Karen Santorum, was initially expected to stop by the Queeny Township Caucus. Koch said she learned that morning that Karen Santorum would not be able to visit the Manchester caucus.

 

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Rod Hoover March 17, 2012 at 06:38 pm
The vote went something like 22 for Paul, 32 for Santorum, and 32 for Romney. In the runoff between Romney and Santorum, Romney won.
I was most shocked by how Peg Koch sneakily admitted that in anticipation of being elected chair, she had already written up rules and submitted them to the rules committee! They included big issues, like whether the delegates would be winner-take-all or proportional.
Denise Bertacchi March 17, 2012 at 07:37 pm
I'd like to point out that Ron Paul supporters tried to amend the rules for a proportional distribution of delegates, which was voted down. As it was, the meeting was entirely too long with people constantly questioning and debating the procedures--we even voted on bathroom breaks! If Koch had not done some prep work for us we'd still be there. Besides, I'm sure she didn't drawn them up from scratch--the Mo GOP has a packet for all the chairs.
Phil Gonzalez March 18, 2012 at 01:13 pm
I sorry Denise, but this is how a caucus is fairly run. Peggy Koch conducted a fair and not to biased meeting. This is how a democracy is supposed to work. I sorry if you were inconvienced. This was much easier than what happens in Jefferson City legislature or Washingtod DC's legislature.
Phil Gonzalez March 18, 2012 at 01:48 pm
I would like to thank Peg Koch & the other elected/selected people on the panels.
They conducted a mostly fair & unbiased meeting. Thank you Peggy Koch & all. The fairly elected Caucus Chairwoman Peggy Koch did every thing in her power to run a somewhat fair and not to biased caucus. It is normal for the candidates to prepare a caucus chairman on how to run the meeting and to have everything, including the rules, prepared in advance. You also must have the delegates already chosen & their permission. It is normal for a meeting where 3 or more candidates are in contention for the minorities to seek a Proportional Apportionment of the delegates rather than a winner take all. At the beginning, neither Romney or Santorum had a majority (50 % PLUS one vote). So, compromise was in the best interests of Romney, Paul & Santorum voters but the Santorum people didn't understand as this was their first time doing this & probably never had training like the Paul & Romney voters did.
Gabrielle Biondo (Editor) March 18, 2012 at 02:05 pm
This was certainly a learning process Saturday!
Phil Gonzalez March 18, 2012 at 02:48 pm
I am Phil Gonzalez, the 2008 Queeny Township Caucus Chairman. That was a temporary position and ended at the end of that meeting. I did gain some invaluable experience being the chair.
I would like to extend my heart felt thanks to Peg Koch & the other elected/selected people on the panels. They conducted a mostly fair & unbiased meeting. Thank you Peggy Koch & all. The fairly elected Caucus Chairwoman Peg Koch did every thing in her power to run a somewhat fair and not to biased caucus. They did their best. I know for a fact that it is hard to be unbiased when you have a favored candidate yourself. But Peg Koch did a very good job of remaining unbiased. Most decent human beings want to treat others fairly and be treated fairly themselves. Most people in the Western World believe "Do unto others as you would have done to yourself". Peg Koch did a very good job in that also. Thank you all again.
Jonathan Gallez March 19, 2012 at 12:18 am
In my personal opinion I believe the caucus was ran pretty fairly. No body was shut out and left behind without a chance at getting their two cents in. This was a rough caucus in that most officials didn't even know a ton of the boundaries, but that's not to confuse that with being unfair or bad. I'm happy in how the turnout went and the results were fine.

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Regina G. Dowling February 26, 2013 at 09:01 pm
This is a real testimonial to a true 'Community Bank', They are named GREAT for a reason!