Luke_Wilbur Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 The word caucus is a North American Indian word, thought to be of Algonquin origin, meaning a gathering of the ruling tribal chiefs. The modern definition describes caucuses as a process of political party members gathering to make policy decisions and to select candidates. On caucus night, Iowans gather by party preference to elect delegates to the 99 county conventions. Presidential preference on the Republican side is done with a straw vote of those attending the caucus. This vote is sometimes done by a show of hands or by dividing themselves into groups according to candidate. In precincts that elect only 1 delegate they choose the delegate by majority vote and it must be a paper ballot. Democratic candidates must receive at least 15 percent of the votes in that precinct to move on to the county convention. If a candidate receives less than 15 percent of the votes, supporters of non-viable candidates have the option to join a viable candidate group, join another non-viable candidate group to become viable, join other groups to form an uncommitted group or chose to go nowhere and not be counted. Non-viable groups have up to 30 minutes to realign, if they fail to do so in that time, they can ask the for more time, which is voted on by the caucus as a whole. If the caucus refuses, re-alignment is done and delegates are awarded. A "third party" may hold a convention to nominate one candidate for president and one for vice president as well. The results of this caucus activity on both the Democratic and Republican sides are not binding on the elected delegates, but the delegates usually feel obligated to follow the wishes expressed by the caucus-goers. Thus the initial caucus results provide a good barometer of the composition of Iowa's national delegation. Iowans gather by party preference in designated schools, public buildings or in private homes. Efforts are being made to move caucus locations into public buildings. The caucus location is determined by the County Chairs of each political party for all 1,784 precincts. The exact location is determined by the expected turn-out of each precinct and by availability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LAW_* Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 I really like Tim Russert's analysis of what is happenning in Iowa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlingBling_* Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 I knew Obama would win Iowa. Now watch all the money start steering his way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Human Events Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 McCain won big despite his fourth-place finish. An impressive third-place would have given McCain serious momentum into New Hampshire, but he is still the favorite there. Letting the air out of Romney's balloon is a huge boost to McCain, who once again is now at the front of the pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DNC in WASHDC Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 McCain won big despite his fourth-place finish. An impressive third-place would have given McCain serious momentum into New Hampshire, but he is still the favorite there. Letting the air out of Romney's balloon is a huge boost to McCain, who once again is now at the front of the pack. The clear winner in last night's Republican caucus was President George W. Bush. All of the Republican leaders promised four more years of the Bush Administration's failed policies, from continuing the President's war in Iraq, to pursuing his efforts to privatize Social Security, to extending his budget-busting handouts for special interest friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest human_* Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 So far everything is going well, my network is back in place with latino's, and latina's from both parties. I'm really going to enjoy these election's like no other. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The clear winner in last night's Republican caucus was President George W. Bush. All of the Republican leaders promised four more years of the Bush Administration's failed policies, from continuing the President's war in Iraq, to pursuing his efforts to privatize Social Security, to extending his budget-busting handouts for special interest friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LAW_* Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Here is Obama's Victory speech. It really was quite charismatic. He reminds me a little of Bobby Kennedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke_Wilbur Posted January 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2008 This was an interesting overlooked story reported on Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,321085,00.html Is it true that in Iowa you asked your supporters — where you didn't get 15 percent in those caucuses— to throw their support to Barack Obama? Was that an accurate report? RICHARDSON: No, it's totally inaccurate. And, you know, a lot of people keep talking about it. Iowa voters, they're the most sophisticated in the country. You can't tell them what to do. I barely can get them to support me. I can't just tell them go shift to somebody else. You know and it's a lot of the Clinton people that are putting this out, and I really resent it. It's wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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