Iowa caucus

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Since 1976, the Iowa caucus has been the first indication of which candidate for President of the United States would win the nomination of his or her political party at that party's national convention.

1 History
2 Process
3 Past winners
- 3.1 Democrats
- 3.2 Republicans
4 Resources

[edit] History

The Iowa caucus has falsely claimed to be the first such caucus each year in the United States for a century. In fact, this was never the case, as delegate selection at the precinct level would begin in many states as early as two years prior to the quadrennial convention. In 1976, for example, both Alabama and Mississippi had their delegate selection process completed before Iowa's caucus process had even begun.

It came to national attention in 1972, with a series of articles in the New York Times on how non-primary states would choose their delegates for the national conventions. For the record, the winner at the precinct level was front runner Edmund S. Muskie.

In 1976 an uncommitted slate received the most support, however, the headlines went to a formerly obscure Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, who, while coming in a distant second, won the most votes for any actual candidate. With no actual front runner at the time, Carter was able to use the publicity of his "win" to achieve victory in the New Hampshire primary, and then on to win his party's nomination and eventually the presidency. Since then, presidential candidates have focused increasingly on achieving a win in Iowa.

Beginning in 1980, the Republicans began the tradition of holding a straw poll at their caucuses, giving the appearance of a primary election. George H. W. Bush campaigned extensively in Iowa, defeating Ronald Reagan, and briefly challenging the former Californa Governor's lock on that year's nominataion.

While they have been a financial boon to the state, (the candidates have spent sometimes years campaigning) the political value of the Iowa caucuses has gone up and down over the years. In 1988, for example, the candidates who eventually won the nominations of both parties came in a poor third, and Walter Mondale in 1984, Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000, all of whom went on to win the nomination, were badly beaten in New Hampshire.

The nadir of the caucuses was in 1992, when local Senator Tom Harkin ran for the Democratic nomination and none of the other candidates mounted campaigns in deference to him. President Bush was unopposed on the Republican side, and the media completely ignored the state.

While the Democrats have tried to preserve the priority of Iowa and New Hampshire in their schedules, the Republicans have not. Alaska and Hawaii generally have their caucuses before Iowa, and in 1988 the Hawaii victory of Pat Robertson and the 1996 Lousiana victory of Pat Buchanan over Sen.Phil Gramm had a significant impact on the results in the Hawkeye state.

The caucuses are an important factor in determining who remains in the race and who drops out. In the months leading up to the caucus, predictions showed candidates Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean neck-and-neck for first place, with John Kerry and John Edwards far behind them. Negative campaign ads attacking each other by the two front runners soured the voters on them, and a last minute descision by Kerry to put all his remaining money in Iowa, changed things around at the last minute. Gephardt's presidential hopes were dashed and Dean's badly battered, as Kerry went on to become the second non-incumbent to win both Iowa and New Hampshire since Edmond Muskie in 1972. (For further information on the 2004 Iowa caucus, see 2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses.)

[edit] Process

The Iowa caucus operates very differently from the more common primary election used by most other states (see U.S. presidential primary). The caucus is generally defined as a "gathering of neighbours". Rather than going to polls and casting ballots, Iowans gather at a set location in each of Iowa's approximately 2,000 precincts. Typically, these meetings occur in schools, churches, or libraries. The caucuses are held every two years, but the ones that receive national attention are the presidential preference primaries held every four years. In addition to the voting, caucus attendees propose planks for their party's platform, select members of the county committees, and discuss issues such as voter turnout.

The Iowa caucus is less-binding than the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary because Iowan caucus-goers elect delegates to county conventions, who, in turn, elect delegates to district and state conventions where, ultimately, the national convention delegates are selected.

The Republicans and Democrats each hold their own set of caucuses subject to their own particular rules that change from time to time. Participants in each party's caucuses must be registered with that party. Participants can change their registration at the caucus location. Additionally, 17-year-olds can participate, as long as they will be 18 years of age by the date of the general election. Observers are allowed to attend, as long as they do not become actively involved in the debate and voting process.

[edit] Republican Party process

The Republican caucuses are a straw poll where each voter places his or her vote in a hat (by secret ballot). The non-binding results are tabulated and reported to the state party who releases the results to the media. Delegates are later chosen at the Republican District and State Conventions.

[edit] Democratic Party process

The process used by the Democrats is somewhat more complicated. Caucus-goers form into "preference groups," where their candidate preferences become public. For roughly 30 minutes, attendees try to convince their neighbors to support their candidates. Participants indicate their support for a particular candidate by standing in a designated area of the caucus site.

After 30 minutes, the electioneering is temporarily halted and the number of votes for each candidate is counted. The supporters of any candidate who doesn't have enough supporters to be "viable" will then have to find a viable candidate to support or simply choose to abstain. This viability level is currently set at 15% of the number of attendees at the caucus site. Consequently, for a candidate to receive any delegates from a particular precinct, he or she must have the support of at least 15% of that precinct. This causes the caucuses, unlike primaries, to favor front-running candidates.

From here, the caucus-goers have roughly another 30 minutes to support one of the remaining candidates or choose to abstain. When the voting is closed, a final head count is conducted, and each precinct proportionally apportions county delegates for each candidate who later attend a county convention.

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. At the district convention, the delegates assign 29 of the actual delegates to the National Convention from Iowa. At the state convention, the other 16 delegates are chosen. Delegates to each level of convention are not bound to vote for their chosen candidate and can switch allegiance.

[edit] 2004 process

Main Article: 2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses

In 2004, the meetings ran from 6:30 PM until approximately 8:00 PM on January 19, 2004. The county convention occurred on March 13, the district convention on April 24, and the state convention on June 26. Delegates may change their votes based on further developments in the race; for instance, in 2004 the delegates pledged to Dick Gephardt who left the race after the precinct caucuses chose a different candidate, perhaps based on instructions from Gephardt.

The number of delegates each candidate receives eventually determines how many state delegates from Iowa that candidate will have at the Democratic National Convention. Iowa sends 56 delegates to the DNC out of a total 4,366.

Of the 45 delegates chosen through the caucus system, 29 are chosen at the district level. Ten delegates are at-large delegates, and six are "party leader and elected official" (PLEO) delegates; these are assigned at the state convention. There are also 11 other delegates, eight of whom are appointed from local Democratic National Committee members, two are PLEO delegates and one is elected at the state Democratic convention. The group of 45 delegates are pledged to a candidate; the group of 11 are unassigned.

The 2004 Iowa caucuses concluded with John Kerry winning the Democratic contest with approximately 38% of the state delegates, winning 20 delegates to the national convention. He ran ahead of John Edwards who won 32% and 18 delegates and Howard Dean who won 18% and 7 delegates. Richard Gephardt finished fourth at 11% but won no delegates. George W. Bush was not seriously contested on the Republican side.