Former Biden staffer takes the Caucuses to Cornell University

(and this time Biden comes in third!)


http://cornellsun.com/print/26919

Political Gestures: Eric Kollig '08 points out Joe Biden's favorable policies

Dems Take Sides in Caucus-Style Debate
By Brian Racow

As the country prepares for the excitement of “Super Tuesday” next week — in which 24 states will be holding presidential primaries for both the Republican and Democratic candidates — the Cornell Democrats attempted yesterday to recapture the prevailing national political passions of early January by staging a mock Iowa caucus.

“The Super Tuesday primary dilutes the importance of those states’ votes, and it’s already assumed that New York will go for Hillary Clinton,” said Cornell Democrats President Randy Lariar ’08. “The Iowa caucus has the advantage of being examined more in depth by the press and the candidates.”

Members of the C.U. Dems met in Rockefeller Hall to act out the process of a precinct-level caucus, like those that took place at some 1,700 localities across the state of Iowa on Jan. 3. Despite the fact that many of the Democratic candidates have now dropped out of the race, all of those who were on the ballot in Iowa were represented at the event. In a similar fashion to the actual caucus, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won by a clear margin, with nine out of 20 possible mock delegates. However, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) placed better than in real life, finishing in second with six delegates, as did Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who finished in third with five delegates.

In recent decades it has become tradition for Iowa to be the first state to conduct its selection of delegates to send to the national convention, and so receives a significant amount of media attention as a perceived early indication of national voter preferences. Excluding this year’s results, the Democratic candidate who won the highest percentage of Iowa’s precinct caucuses also won the Party’s nomination six out of nine times since 1972, and many political commentators attributed Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) successful 2004 campaign for the Democratic nomination to his surprise defeat of front-runner former Vermont Governor Howard Dean in the Iowa caucus.

“We’re holding a presidential caucus in the way that took place in Iowa so people become aware of what the caucus system actually entails on the ground. Members of the progressive community will be able to debate, discuss, and vouch for the candidate they support in front of fellow progressives,” said Ethan Felder ’09, communications director of the C.U. Dems.

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