Can someone explain how these "caucases" work and what the point of them are?
 

I'm based in Canada and I don't think we have these caucases as I just witnessed on CNN with Huckabee winning for the Reps and Obama winning for the Democrats. Can someone explain (in laymans terms please) what this state by state caucase elections are? Do they decide who in the end represents each party for the final vote for president of the USA? Is there only 1 winner from each party and are all the states tallies added up to decide who the final winners are?

The caucuses and primaries are used to determine how many delegates each state will throw to the candidates at the National Conventions held by the Republicans and Democrats. The National Convention is where the final choice for each party is made prior to the election.

The Dems and Repubs have different methods. I think the Repubs have more of a straw poll, while at the Dem caucuses, we got together as a big group first, then they split us up according to our precincts. Then we sat together and chatted about all the candidates, and we decided during that discussion who we would support. This is DEFINITELY not a secret ballot!!! Then we got back in the big group and had a straw poll. Any candidate that did not get 15% was dropped from the poll and then we did it again until there were only candidates with at least 15% still left. From that point, the caucus chair tallied the votes and transmitted those tallies to the county chair who then sends those tallies to the state chair. So, lets say Edwards did not get any votes from Adel County but he did get votes from Worth County. The 15% rule only applies in the local groups, so that is how a candidate can end up with less than 15% in the statewide results.

It is a convoluted process, but it is interesting as all hell to participate in it. My last time at the Iowa caucuses was 2000 and I gave my support to Bill Bradley.

Chad did a great job of explaining it.

It's hard to tell who is really the strong candidate with a caucus because it could be that there supporters are just more vocal and able to convince more people to vote for them. When we have the actual primaries it is more a measure of who has momentum because it is a secret ballot and more people tend to participate.

oh and one other thing. Only a few of our states have caucuses, most have what is called a primary election. You go and vote for the person you like. they assign delegates to the candidates by how many votes you get. So basically if you win most of the states you will get enough delegates to get the nomination, but other candidates will also get delegates, just not enough to win it.

Each party tallies their delegates and the winners will go on to face each other in the general election. so right now there are many candidates, in a few months we will be down to just 2. One from each party.

Interesting stuff Chad, thanks for the info. I kind of knew how it went down but I guess I didn’t realize how many steps are involved in the process. It sounds like it would be a mad house of fun.

It's all bullshit in the end. That's my educated opinion.

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The Iowa caucuses are a test of stamina, because the candidates need to work their asses off to get votes there. TV ads are not enough -- the candidates have to go to every damn town meeting, coffee shop, and quilting bee to get supporters. Those Iowans (and I are one) want to get to know the candidate before supporting them, and fund raising is not enough. I think Huckabee was outspent by Romney by a huge margin but Romney still lost to Huckabee. However, Pat Robertson did well in Iowa in 1988 and George the First ended up with the nomination. We Iowans throw an interesting wrench into the races.

I don't think Iowa has predicted a Democrat nominee since Carter, but it was Iowa where Kerry came from behind and Dean went from the lead to sucking major ass. Obama should get a boost going into New Hampshire and Nevada which he will need to overcome Hillary's leads in other states.

There are still millions of dollars to spend on TV ads and political marketing calls. My parents, still living in Iowa, started screening calls 2 months ago because there were so many calls asking for their support of somebody. I am registered to vote in Arizona and that is one of those later states that does not get much attention. Thankfully.

This is from one of the news stories about Romney losing to Huckabee in Iowa:



Romney's ads, criticizing Huckabee's pardons for prisoners and his position on illegal immigration, backfired with some caucus-goers.

"I was a Romney supporter, and then when the whole issue of pardons came up, I first was against Huckabee but then went back to him when I did more research and learned the full reasons why he released some people," said Colleen Vangore, 45, of Clive. "I felt that if Romney didn't tell me the whole story on that, there might be other things he wouldn't tell me the whole story on."





This should scare the hell out of candidates. Some people actually check things out before believing political advertising bullshit!!!

I thought they were what people in Boston called dead animals :helpme

:Oh crap