Univ. Of Iowa Dorms Won't Be Open For Caucus — Which Dem Benefits?

Univ. Of Iowa Dorms Won't Be Open For Caucus — Which Dem Benefits?
By Eric Kleefeld - December 3, 2007, 12:00PM

A new wild card has opened up in the Iowa Democratic caucus: The University of Iowa won't be keeping the dormitories open for the winter holiday. This is the first time the caucus is being held during the break, and this decision means that a lot of students who would have wanted to participate in either party's caucus will be left out.

One might initially think this is bad news for Barack Obama — after all, he's relying on heavy support from students — but on closer inspection it's actually a wild card that could help or hurt any of the candidates, and in fact stands to reward whoever has the strongest organization among students. Check after the jump for a full explanation.

Counter-intuitively, this does not lessen the power of student areas in the caucus. Caucus participants actually vote for delegates to the state Dem convention, where the presidential delegates will then be picked. Those state delegates are apportioned according to a function of population and Democratic performance in the area — and it has nothing to do with how many people actually show up on caucus night. As such, the power of student areas will remain the same even as the number of people participating in the caucus falls.

The bottom line: Those students who do show up will have a disproportionately heavy weight when they vote, given their expected low overall turnout — which means the campaigns will likely work to find their supporters some temporary lodging if they have to. And whoever can pull that trick off really stands to benefit.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/12/univ_of_iowa_dorms_wont_be_open_for_caucus_who_benefits.php

to challenge Iowa and NH. So IA and NH moved up too.

Classes resume at University of Iowa January 20.

I read recently the colleges were planning to open the dorms.

gobama.

nohill...

To pay for housing is tantamount to a bribe. Would even YOU condone this?

:shrug:

Also, campaigns have campaign housing for volunteers. It would be naive to not think that everyone is going to get as many votes as legally possible.

This is a fake crisis.

Are they normally closed during this time?

I was reading an article on Politico that suggested Edwards wasn't connecting with youth voters, and polls show he is failing to capture their attention and support. So if this happens, Obama will be hurt and Edwards could possibly benefit.

Why would this university close and let it's students be left out of the caucus?

Weird.

I didn't know too many that participated in the caucuses when I was there. I was in Ames though, which is a lot more conservative. U of I is known for being much more 'left'. To give some perspective though, I should mention that Iowa is a lot more to the left compared to when I lived there. While I was there repubs had the Gov, House and Senate. Now it's reversed.