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and some of the larger precincts have caucuses like you describe. Other smaller caucuses mught be held in a church,or at a school, or even someone's living room (although they are trying to get away from that). The caucuses that I have attended you meet usually divide into groups according to the candidate you support and you are given opportunities to realign depending on the information and considerations you hear...and people often do. I caucused for Dean in 2004, and it was interesting to see the most vehement Gephart supporters switch to Edwards and some really dedicated Dean people switch to Edwards too. You never know what will be the tipping point for voters. Most caucus goers aren't firmly decided on one candidate though or if they are, they are still open to another candidate. A phrase you hear often around Iowa when caucus time rolls around is "I've pretty much decided who I'm supporting". One thing that struck me most when I attended my first caucus (in 2000..had no idea who I was supporting and alligned with Gore) was how calm they were. I expected them to be like the floor of the NYSE for some reason. I don't know if its just the way Iowans are, or if other caucus states are the same, but it's actually very serious, and there isn't a lot of tolerance for drama, aggression or attempts at intimidation. It seems as though the more calmly a candidate's strengths are discussed the more likely the chance of realignment for that candidate. I've been checking over Biden's schedule, and it would appear that he's holding a meet and greet in nearly every county in Iowa. If he can create and initial stir, and make a second lap to those counties...he could potentially sweep Iowa..even with his small coffer. Damn good strategy I'd say. In fact, it's almost exactly how Carter took Iowa. And even with a second, third in Iowa, his coffer gets a pump and on he goes. The thing with the big rallies like Obama and Clinton hold, is that they draw a lot of people that are likely to vote in the GE, but a much smaller percentage of them are likely to caucus. For a lot of people going to one of these big rallies is exciting, and gets people pumped...but they don't learn enough about the candidate to motivate them to caucus for them. Biden is on the right track, I believe, even if the current poll numbers don't show it.
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