Somebody please explain to me what happens in a caucus.

[ZzzImAsleep]

I'm very ignorant on what actually happens. I'm under the impression it is not a vote.....

[Ron Paul Fan]

Republicans go to the caucus, they listen to some speeches from supporters of the candidates, they vote in a secret ballot, vote is tallied and called into the state party HQ, vote for delegates, go home. That's what I've gathered so far.

[TruePatriot44]

I went to the caucus up in Minnesota last presidential race - not sure how closely it is to Iowa. We were assigned seating according to where you lived - ours was by city precinct. You get to meet those in your neighborhood and community who are politically "aligned". You sit around and talk politics which is nice.

There are some speeches along with resolutions by the caucus participants on what the state party platform should include in the upcoming years. Delegates are chosen for the next party meetings, which is basically the next hierarchy level caucus. You vote for the party nominees then and thats basically it. You're votes dont really mean much, because it is the delegates who go to the national convention who cast the binding votes. They could in theory screw over those who attended in the caucus and vote a different way. Kinda like the electoral college, but more shady.

[surf]

what state do you live in? check out the info here. http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=121

i'm a precinct committee officer in Washington State, and i'm gonna drag some neighbors with me.

[ZzzImAsleep]

This begs the question: What if a ton of people vote for Paul, and there is no delegate who actually backs him up.

[ChickenHawk]

I don't know exactly how they do it in Iowa. Here in Washington each precinct has its own caucus. It is usually held in some sort of public building or your neighbors living room. Every one I went to was at the Precinct committee officers house. At the caucus you discuss the party platform and informally vote on planks so the party has an idea how things are going to go at the conventions. You talk about the candidates and declare who you are supporting. Then you vote for delegates to go to the district caucus and county convention.

I found that young people and minorities get the red carpet treatment in the GOP because they are so few and far between. When I was younger all I had to do was show up and they would send me the the county convention as a delegate. Now that I am older it isn't so easy. The one thing that will guarantee you won't be a delegate is if you tell them you won't support the nominee if it isn't your guy. They REALLY hate that.

[austin356]

This begs the question: What if a ton of people vote for Paul, and there is no delegate who actually backs him up.


Then Paul supporters are screwed in that regard. But someone could easily step up for my understanding. And election of delegates is not the major part of the Republican race. It is the straight ticket poll of candidates before the election of delegates that get the media attention.

[austin356]

Steps in Iowa (not an Iowan but if nobody will say it I will try)

1)Arrive and register if not already.
2)Short speeches for candidates if reps are there.
3)straight line ballot voting. no thresholds on R side.
4)Voting delegates to state/county (?) conventions
5)"other" business, such as platform, local party position nominations, etc
6)Totals are reported with reps of candidates overseeing telephone report.
7)go home.


FYI there are < 3,000,000 people in Iowa. And 1500 < x < 2000 caucus precincts in Iowa.

[inibo]

This is the best explanation I've seen.

Straw polls are taken with candidates required to get at least 15 percent of the vote to be considered "viable." Failing that, "supporters of nonviable candidates have the option to join a viable candidate group, join another nonviable candidate group to become viable, join other groups to form an uncommitted group or chose to go nowhere and not be counted." And all that has to be done within 30 minutes. Iowans are serious about their civic duties but they're not going to take all night performing them.

The caucus chair then multiplies the number of members in each preference group times the number of delegates allotted that precinct and divides by the number of eligible attendees at the caucus. The candidate with the most delegates wins -- sort of.

What the caucus is doing is electing delegates to a later county convention, which in turn chooses delegates for a district convention, then the state convention and finally the national presidential nominating convention by which time Iowa has been all but forgotten.

One other thing: The choice of candidate is nonbinding on the delegate.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/4124


Well the funniest anyway.