Texas Democrats gripe about caucus costs

The Texas Democratic Party is complaining about the un-reimbursed costs of counting the results from the March 4 presidential caucuses, which drew a record number of participants and sparked reports of chaos and confusion.

For $140,000, the Party has voluntarily hired a contractor -- it won't say whom -- to electronically scan the sign-in sheets from the caucuses; the unnamed contractor is also manually compiling searchable spreadsheets based on those paper records, officials say. All of it is being provided to the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns ahead of the next step in the Texas nomination process -- the March 29 county and Senate district conventions. (See the Lone Star Project for the details on how it works).

"They're quick to ask for this information but they haven't offered to help pick up any of the costs,'' complained Texas Democratic Party spokesman Hector Nieto. "We would love to see either campaign help by covering some of these costs.''

Nieto said the state party isn't required to scan and count the sign-in sheets for the campaigns. The official tally will be conducted at the March 29 conventions, a prelude to the party's state convention this summer.

Though Clinton won the popular vote in Texas, partial and unofficial returns indicate Obama prevailed in the caucuses. As a result, CNN projected Obama actually won more pledged Texas delegates -- a net gain of five -- than the former first lady.   

-- Jay Root