The downstairs function room of the East End Club was sociable and peaceful tonight as the Lowell Democratic City Committee met to select 28 delegates to attend Wednesday’s Middlesex County Democratic Caucus which will select the party’s nominee for the office of Register of Probate.  The low-key nature of the evening was undoubtedly attributable to the fact that the local candidate, Assistant City Solicitor Maria Sheehy, already had the support of everyone in the room.  The other candidates must have known that because none of them were present to ask for our support. 

About 45 members of the various Lowell Ward Committees were present this evening.  Procedurally, each ward committee convened at a circular table and caucused individually.  The only rules were that you had to be a member of the Ward Committee and present to vote, a member of the Ward Committee to become a delegate (even if you were not present), and the delegate distribution had to be gender balanced.  The 28 delegates allocated to Lowell were divided amongst the 11 wards as follows:  Ward 1 selected 4 delegates; Wards 6, 8, 9 and 11 selected 3 each; and Wards 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 each selected 2.  I participated in the Ward 8 caucus.  Our delegates were State Senator Steve Panagiotakos, State Representative Kevin Murphy and School Committee member Jackie Doherty.  As each Ward caucus finished, folks quietly departed so there was no central announcement of the outcome.

The next event in this process is Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Waltham High School when delegates from all over the county will convene to make a selection.  I’m not sure what will happen either procedurally or substantively that evening.  UPDATE: Blue Mass Group sets out the official rules of the caucus here.