And 27 electoral votes for a non-state?

Try again, CNN:

Below is a video of today’s caucuses at Mason Middle School in Tacoma:

I talked with Scott Miller yesterday after the Barack Obama speech. Here’s what he had to say in my story today:

Tacoma’s Scott Miller has been on the Obama bandwagon since the senator announced his candidacy last year.

“I’ve always admired him, liked him, was drawn into what he was saying,” said Miller, 69.

Miller said Obama’s speech “was right up there at the top” when compared to other political speeches he has attended. He compared it to Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that propelled the then-state senator to national prominence.

“It was exhilarating, moving, encouraging and hopeful,” he said.

Well, by a stroke of chance, he was at the caucuses at Mason Middle School today. Because he’s a really, really nice guy and editors salivate when we do follow-ups, I asked him about his caucus. He’s in Precinct 306, which overwhelmingly voted for Obama.

“Obama’s my guy,” he said. “I’ve never seen a turnout this big, and I think it’s greatly attributed to Obama.”

I’ll have to double-check, but I believe Sen. Barack Obama won the most delegates from each precinct caucus at Mason Middle School in Tacoma today.

Now each group is electing delegates to the county convention.

Bill Baarsma was pumped. They read the first delegate count for Precinct 305, and Sen. Barack Obama had almost doubled Sen. Hillary Clinton’s count. The mayor clapped his hands, pumped his fists and let out a yelp.

He’s the most vocal person in his caucus. It’s a noisy atmosphere, so he’s acting as a human microphone: A speaker will say something, and he’ll scream it out louder.

The sign-in sheets ask caucusers if they’re disabled, what ethnicity they are – stuff like that.

They also ask if you’re LGBT. I’ve heard dozens of people yelling out, “What is LGBT? Does anyone know?”

For the record, it stands for “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.”

I just ran into Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson at Mason Middle School. She’s sporting a pair of Obama buttons on her blue vest. She said the senator first landed on her radar after his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and she also has had the chance to watch him speak again. She’s sold.

“I haven’t seen people so hopeful – ever,” she said. “I have to get that behind that kind of passion.”

It’s a good thing The News Tribune doesn’t allow its reporters to participate in the caucus. I’m the kind of guy who would be won over by free coffee and cookies.

Mmmmm… free.

Nathe Laver has the not-always-so-fun job of trying to organize this mayhem.

It’s becoming obvious there just aren’t enough places for people to sit in either the gymnasium or the multi-purpose room at Mason Middle School. Folks are sitting on the floor, leaning against the walls and standing in aisles.

And it’s gonna get worse: More people still need to check in.

The gymnasium at Mason Middle School is crammed with people signing in, finding seats, catching up with neighbors and doing a little early campaigning.

People have campaign gear stashed everywhere: bumper stickers on shirts, lawn signs hung over backs and, of course, plenty and plenty of buttons.

There's an overabundance of homemade signs, mostly for Sen. Barack Obama. There's one written in blue, red and yellow that reads "Barack my world." Another tapes the cover of a Newsweek issue and quotes from the magazine's glowing profile of the candidate.

They’ll open the doors at Mason Middle School in Tacoma’s North End in about five minutes. It’s pretty calm now. Soon, not so much.