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How does the caucus thing work?

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politicasista Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 07:51 PM
Original message
How does the caucus thing work?
I wasn't here in 03/04 primaries and am leaning towards a couple of candidates, but how does this caucus thing work? Is it a group of people going to Iowa and/or any primary state and GOTV the same day?


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Vincardog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 07:56 PM
Response to Original message
1. The caucus thing is that voters show up at the caucus place. They to ta a place in the room
and say who they support and why.
The have about 3 hours to convince as many other people as possible to agree that their candidate is the best. IF a candidate gets less than 15% of the people their "votes" get traded to another candidate.

There are people/groups going to Iowa and doing GOTV.
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politicasista Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 07:58 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. So this isn't like voting in a voting booth? n/t
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Vincardog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 08:00 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. No it is stating publicly who you want and why. Not secret at all. The election is in a booth and
secret but this is the primary.
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politicasista Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 08:04 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. Oh, ok. thanks n/t
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tammywammy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Search for Debi posts on this
She's from Iowa and explained it well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_caucus#Democratic_Party_process

Democratic Party process

The process used by the Democrats is more complex than the Republican Party caucus process. Each precinct divides its delegate seats among the candidates in proportion to caucus goers' votes.

Participants indicate their support for a particular candidate by standing in a designated area of the caucus site (forming a "preference group"). An area may also be designated for undecided participants. Then, for roughly 30 minutes, participants try to convince their neighbors to support their candidates. Each preference group might informally deputize a few members to recruit supporters from the other groups and, in particular, from among those undecided. Undecided participants might visit each preference group to ask its members about their candidate.

After 30 minutes, the electioneering is temporarily halted and the supporters for each candidate are counted. At this point, the caucus officials determine which candidates are "viable". Depending on the number of county delegates to be elected, the "viability threshold" can be anywhere from 15% to 25% of attendees. For a candidate to receive any delegates from a particular precinct, he or she must have the support of at least the percentage of participants required by the viability threshold. Once viability is determined, participants have roughly another 30 minutes to "realign": the supporters of inviable candidates may find a viable candidate to support, join together with supporters of another inviable candidate to secure a delegate for one of the two, or choose to abstain. This "realignment" is a crucial distinction of caucuses in that (unlike a primary) being a voter's "second candidate of choice" can help a candidate.

When the voting is closed, a final head count is conducted, and each precinct apportions delegates to the county convention. These numbers are reported to the state party, which counts the total number of delegates for each candidate and reports the results to the media. Most of the participants go home, leaving a few to finish the business of the caucus: each preference group elects its delegates, and then the groups reconvene to elect local party officers and discuss the platform.

The delegates chosen by the precinct then go to a later caucus, the county convention, to choose delegates to the district convention and state convention. Most of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention are selected at the district convention, with the remaining ones selected at the state convention. Delegates to each level of convention are initially bound to support their chosen candidate but can later switch in a process very similar to what goes on at the precinct level; however, as major shifts in delegate support are rare, the media declares the candidate with the most delegates on the precinct caucus night the winner, and relatively little attention is paid to the later caucuses.
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politicasista Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 08:02 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Thanks
:hi:
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TheCowsCameHome Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-02-08 08:07 PM
Response to Original message
7. Not sure, but the sharp pointy things can really hurt your fingers.
Be careful when handling them.
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