Your Idiot's Guide To The Democratic Caucuses

Your Idiot's Guide To The Democratic Caucuses
By Eric Kleefeld - January 3, 2008, 2:47PM


Here it is: Your Official Election Central Idiot's Guide to the Iowa Democratic Caucuses.

Tonight is the big night when Iowa Democrats will gather in precinct caucuses, normally held in school gymnasiums and other public places, to voice their support for different presidential candidates. So what exactly will they be doing in there?

A Democratic Party caucus is not a conventional primary. Instead, it has its own peculiar processes, with their virtues and deficiencies. For example, it has a form of instant runoff that allows people to initially support minor candidates and then go for a front-runner. On the other hand, the system is undemocratic in that it's only open to people who can show up at 6:30 p.m. and then stay for two hours. And on top of that, there is no such thing as a secret ballot — a participant's vote is made in the full view of his friends, family and neighbors.

But what on earth actually happens, and how does a candidate win?

Our guide to the whole process is after the jump.

Here's what's going to happen tonight. Starting at 6:30 P.M. Central Time, every registered Democrat in Iowa who wants to participate in the caucuses will show up at his or her local precinct. There are 1,781 precincts across the state. Each precinct will have anywhere from a handful of caucusers all the way up to several hundred.

Independent voters (or even Republicans) who want to caucus merely show up at their local precinct, then re-register as Democrats at the door. The act of doing this effectively turns them into Dem voters for the evening — even if they remain independents (or Republicans) in their hearts.

A record number of independents is expected to turn out tonight, a development that could benefit Barack Obama, who's leading among them in polls.

At each precinct, these caucusers will then divide up into groups, depending on which candidate they are supporting. It's important to understand that the caucusers aren't technically voting for a candidate by caucusing for him or her. Rather, at the end of the process, candidates get awarded a number of delegates to county party conventions, based on how many Iowans caucus for them. Those delegates will later go on to elect state convention delegates, who at their convention will finally pick the federal delegates.

But never mind all that stuff about conventions. What you need to know is that at the end of the day, the winner will be the candidate with the most projected state delegates from all the precincts statewide. Here's how we get to that point.

more...

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/the_election_central_guide_to_democratic_caucuses.php

We Democratics are so very "inside our heads". I wonder how many of us have Adult Attention Deficit Disorder?

Do you mean that every republican in Iowa can theoretically show up at a precinct tonight and vote for whoever they think would be the easiest dem to beat in november? Do I have that right?

How has that set up never been challenged? Is that how the people in Iowa really want it? Can someone please explain the advantages to this. I'm farklempted.

Hey listen, I seriously considered registering as a repuke and participating in their caucus to try and sway it towards the ghoul (IMO the easiest to beat), but then I wouldn't be able to participate in the Dem caucus and Joe needs all the help he can get.

but that means they would be giving up their opportunity to participate in the Republican contest - which is a close one - so it's unlikely many will do that.

In later states, if the Dem race is still open and the repig race is settled, the crossover voter scenario can become a real problem.

with lots of delegates that have this set up - that people can change their party affiliation on the day of the primary?

And by the way, thanks for posting this idiots guide. It's exactly what I needed.

posted the guide, I can't take credit for that. She is the queen of good information on DU and I bow before her wisdom.

I don't know the answer to your question. I know many states allow cross-over participation, but I don't know the deadlines for re-registration or the number of states.