Don't Read Anything into a Caucus Victory or Loss

[AllTooEasy]

I'll say this before the results are in: The Caucus process is an Insulting Joke to Democracy.

To stress my point, read this explanation of caucus rules: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/29/politics/iowa-caucuses-explainer/index.html

Hillary or Bernie, neither side should read anything into a victory or loss tonight. As of this post, the vote tally is %0 for both Candidates.

I haven't decided between Hillary or Bernie. I'll make my decision just before the AZ primary on March 22...which brings up another effed up thing about our "democracy", why aren't all the primaries on the same day?!

[cali]

1. That's just not political reality. Not remotely.

[Joe the Revelator]

3. Co-signed. The Iowa Caucus is important, and no amount of...

...beating your fists on reality will break that. On either side.

[AllTooEasy]

7. Right, like when Santorum won it last time

[Joe the Revelator]

10. And it gave him a ton of press coverage and momentum. He was just too bad...

.....of a candidate to capitalize on it. Neither of the top 2 dems are shitty candidates.

[AllTooEasy]

20. Glad you said it: "Neither of the top 2 dems...

...are shitty candidates." The divisive banter on DU lately has truly turned me off. O'Malley isn't shitty either, but he is going against titans.

The link I posted offered a detailed explanation of caucus rules. It explains how only the most committed, registered, and party affiliated voters would even bother. I'll vote in the AZ primary, but if it was caucus...by those rules...I would probably stay home.

Santorum (and Huckabee in 2008) definitely took advance of their committed crazies to turn out.

BTW, I'm not saying that Dem Caucus participants are crazy.

[Joe the Revelator]

22. M'OM is definetly not shitty either, he's actually my preferred candidate of the choices, there...

just wasn't enough oxygen left for him in the room sadly. Hopefully, next open cycle, he'll make another go of it.

[AllTooEasy]

27. Well then how do you explain this list...

...of past Iowa caucus winners:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_caucuses#Past_winners

With the exception of sitting presidents running virtually unopposed for re-election, Iowa's caucus hasn't proven reliable.

[yeoman6987]

2. Bernie and other not well known candidates would be in a big loss

Let's say today was primary day: Bernie hasn't been to many states. How can he win?

[cali]

23. What? He's been to a lot of states

[AllTooEasy]

28. For real

I can't find a complete list of his past presidential campaign stops, but he's been all over the US. Plus, we've all seen him on cable news, the internet, etc.

[daleanime]

4. Primary does need change....

like many things.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

5. 'Insulting joke' or not, a LOT of new people appear to be showing up for it tonight.

I think that right there says an awful lot about how this election stacks up against past ones.

[AllTooEasy]

13. They are showing up in Iowa though. Voters in other states...

...have other problems, demographics, environments, etc. Iowans don't represent Arizonians, Texans, New Yorkers, etc.

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. I'm in AZ, too ...

I don't think my Primary vote will count.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. Iowa and New Hampshire are Senator Sanders' wheelhouse...

Rural, homogeneous, and sparsely populated. Outside of Vermont he couldn't have asked for two more favorable places to start the campaign.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. Why are you calling Bernie a racist???? eom

[AllTooEasy]

15. What?! How did you come up with that?

I'm Black too. If White males like Bernie, that doesn't make him racist or sexist.

[1StrongBlackMan]

17. Sorry. Kind of old-timers joke ...

Whenever, anyone ... particularly, a PoC, noted the lack of diversity among Bernie's crowd or the demographics of Iowa/N.H. and/or Vermont, we were promptly accused of calling (or, insinuating) Bernie a racist.

[AllTooEasy]

21. I can dig it.

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. This is as recently as this past weekend. eom.

[Jackilope]

11. I am in South Dakota. One of the last states.

In 2008 with the Primary between Obama and Clinton going on, we actually got several visits from them. Very unusual for us. I was able to shake Obama's hand outside of the Corn Palace.

[AllTooEasy]

26. I'm jealous

The closest I got to him was watching his daughter play basketball (Sidwell Friends HS) against my cousin (Holy Child HS).

BTW, My cousin took her apart

[AllTooEasy]

29. The damn electorial college makes sure our Dem vote...

...in a red state like AZ doesn't count in the general election either.

Don't you just love American democracy?

[bigwillq]

8. Caucus or Primary is not the problem for me

I am cool with both a caucus and a primary, although I like that my state is a primary.
I wish they had them all on one day, as you said.
My primary in CT is not until April. The nominee will likely be decided by then. So, essentially, my vote will not count towards selecting the nominee.

[brooklynite]

14. ...and 8 years ago the Primary ran all the way until June.

We can't have a system where everyone goes first.

[AllTooEasy]

18. Why not? Everyone "goes first" during the General Election Day

...okay, with the exception of the timezone changes. I doubt that folks on the West Coast change their decision after seeing East Coast results from 3 hours earlier.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

16. Momentum's a bitch...

When you don't got it.

[RBInMaine]

19. Please, go take an upper.

[AllTooEasy]

24. Haha. It has been a sour Monday, but...

...I've felt this way the past 3 elections. Check out the past Iowa caucus winners:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_caucuses#Past_winners

With the exception of presidents running virtually unopposed for re-election, Iowa's caucus hasn't proven reliable.