To Caucus or not to Caucus

After a little prodding from Jennifer, i decided to try out this caucus thing. My district had our caucus at a local elementary school. Overall it was an interesting experience that I would probably do again. I did discover a few things though:

1. Some people are strange. I guess "different" is anything that is not what you are, but I must say... there were some people here who were definitely different than anybody I have ever met.
   
2. The election process has gotten way overcomplicated. Y'know, for a simple thing like counting votes, it was way over complicated.... Or maybe it was complexly worded. Anybody have a "Caucusing for dummies" book lying around?
   
3. The democratic caucus is more political than anything else. I cant tell you how many times I heard the phrase "Hillary cant win against McCain"... or ..."Republican's will come out in numbers to make sure Hillary will lose"
   

The 3rd conclusion above is what really gets me. Why cant we be voting for the most qualified candidate? If both parties voted that way, couldn't we be reasonably assured that a good candidate will be elected? Furthermore cant we be assume women will come out in numbers with Hillary as the candidate as well? Last I checked women are more democratic than men.... so wouldn't it be likely to assume that a woman candidate would drive the female gender to "come out in numbers" for the democratic candidate??

Obviously I'm no political strategist, but I feel that people tend to rely on previous successes to ensure future success. From what I've seen it seems success favors the risky.