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EspañolIOWA CAUCUS
(Redirected from Iowa Caucus)
Since 1972, the 'Iowa caucus' has been the first major electoral event of the nominating process for President of the United States. It has served as an early indication of which candidate for President of the United States might win the nomination of his or her political party at that party's national convention.
The Iowa caucus is commonly recognized as the first step in the United States Presidential nomination process for both the Democrats and the Republicans. 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. Democratic operative Norma S. Matthews, state co-chair of the George McGovern campaign, helped engineer the early January start for Iowa. McGovern finished second to Edmund Muskie in the first early Hawkeye state caucus, but the momentum was palatable for an ultimate Democratic nomination in 1972 for McGovern in Miami.
In 1976 an uncommitted slate received the most support, followed by Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, who, while coming in a distant second, won the most votes of any actual candidate. With no dominant 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 to win his party's nomination and eventually the Presidency. Since then, Presidential candidates have increased their focus on winning the Iowa caucus.
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, but ultimately failed to win the nomination.
While they have been a financial boon to the state, 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 third in Iowa. In elections without a sitting President or Vice President, the Iowa winner only goes on to the nomination about half the time.
The nadir of the caucuses was in 1992, when Iowa Senator Tom Harkin ran for the Democratic nomination. None of the other Democratic candidates chose to compete in Iowa, which minimized its importance in the nomination process. President Bush was unopposed on the Republican side, and the media completely ignored the state.
While the Democrats have tried to preserve the position of Iowa and New Hampshire in their nominating 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 Louisiana victory of Pat Buchanan over Sen. Phil Gramm had a significant impact on the results in Iowa.
The caucuses are an important factor in determining who remains in the race and who drops out. In the months leading up to the 2004 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 decision 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 Edmund Muskie in 1972. (For further information on the 2004 Iowa caucus, see 2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses.)
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 neighbors". Rather than going to polls and casting ballots, Iowans gather at a set location in each of Iowa's approximately 1,800 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 caucuses 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 important to their local organizations.
The Iowa caucus does not result directly in national delegates for each candidate, like the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary. Instead, caucus-goers elect delegates to county conventions, who elect delegates to district and state conventions where 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.
For the Republicans, the Iowa caucus follows (and should not be confused with) the Iowa Straw Poll in August of the preceding year. In the history of the Iowa Straw Poll, except in 1987, the winner of the Iowa Straw Poll has gone on to win the Iowa caucus.
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.
The process used by the Democrats is more complicated. Each precinct divides its delegate seats among the candidates in proportion to caucusgoers' 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 that many caucus participants in that precinct. 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 you.
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.
Main articles: Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2004
In 2004, the meetings ran from 6:30 p.m. until approximately 8:00 p.m. 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 could and did 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 to support at the county, district, and state level.
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 that were chosen through the caucus system, 29 were chosen at the district level. Ten delegates were at-large delegates, and six were "party leader and elected official" (PLEO) delegates; these were assigned at the state convention. There were also 11 other delegates, eight of whom were appointed from local Democratic National Committee members - two were PLEO delegates and one was elected at the state Democratic convention. The group of 45 delegates were pledged to a candidate; the group of 11 are unassigned.
Main articles: Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008, Iowa Republican caucuses, 2008
'Bolded' candidates eventually won their party's nomination. Candidates with an asterisk (
★ ) subsequently won the presidency.
★ 2004 - 'John Kerry' (38%) defeated John Edwards (32%), Howard Dean (18%), Richard Gephardt (11%) and Dennis Kucinich (1%)
★ 2000 - 'Al Gore' (63%) defeated Bill Bradley (37%)
★ 1996 - 'Bill Clinton'
★ (unopposed)
★ 1992 - Tom Harkin (76%) defeated Paul Tsongas (4%), 'Bill Clinton'
★ (3%), Bob Kerrey (2%) and Jerry Brown (2%)
★ 1988 - Dick Gephardt (31%) defeated Paul Simon (27%), 'Michael Dukakis' (22%) and Bruce Babbitt (6%)
★ 1984 - 'Walter Mondale' (49%) defeated Gary Hart (17%), George McGovern (10%), Alan Cranston (7%), John Glenn (4%), Rueben Askew (3%) and Jesse Jackson (2%)
★ 1980 - 'Jimmy Carter' (59%) defeated Ted Kennedy (31%)
★ 1976 - "Uncommitted" (37%) defeated 'Jimmy Carter'
★ (28%) Birch Bayh (13%), Fred R. Harris (10%), Morris Udall (6%), Sargent Shriver (3%) and Henry M. Jackson (1%)
★ 1972 - Edmund Muskie (36%) defeated 'George McGovern' (23%), Hubert Humphrey (2%), Eugene McCarthy (1%), Shirley Chisholm (1%) and Henry M. Jackson (1%)
★ 2004- 'George W. Bush'
★ (unopposed)
★ 2000- 'George W. Bush'
★ (41%) defeated Steve Forbes (30%), Alan Keyes (14%), Gary Bauer (9%), John McCain (5%) and Orrin Hatch (1%)
★ 1996- 'Bob Dole' (26%) defeated Pat Buchanan (23%), Lamar Alexander (18%), Steve Forbes (10%), Phil Gramm (9%), Alan Keyes (7%), Richard Lugar (4%) and Morry Taylor (1%)
★ 1992- 'George H. W. Bush' (unopposed)
★ 1988- Bob Dole (37%) defeated Pat Robertson (25%), 'George H. W. Bush'
★ (19%), Jack Kemp (11%) and Pete DuPont (7%)
★ 1984- 'Ronald Reagan'
★ (unopposed)
★ 1980- George H. W. Bush (32%) defeated 'Ronald Reagan'
★ (30%), Howard Baker (15%), John Connally (9%), Phil Crane (7%), John B. Anderson (4%) and Bob Dole (2%)
★ 1976- 'Gerald Ford' defeated Ronald Reagan
★ Ames Straw Poll
★ New Hampshire primary
★ United States presidential primary
★ Iowa caucus class
★ http://desmoinesregister.com/caucus (2008 cycle)
★ http://desmoinesregister.com/extras/politics/caucus2004/index.html (David Yepsen)
★ http://www.gazetteonline.com/iowacaucus/basics/caucushistory.aspx
★ http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/states/IA/index.html
★ http://www.IowaCaucusClass.com
1. Opinion_polling_for_the_Republican_Party_%28United_States%29_presidential_primaries%2C_2008#Iowa
Since 1972, the 'Iowa caucus' has been the first major electoral event of the nominating process for President of the United States. It has served as an early indication of which candidate for President of the United States might win the nomination of his or her political party at that party's national convention.
| Contents |
| History |
| Process |
| Republican Party process |
| Democratic Party process |
| 2004 Democratic process |
| 2008 process |
| Past winners |
| Democrats |
| Republicans |
| See also |
| External links |
| Notes |
History
The Iowa caucus is commonly recognized as the first step in the United States Presidential nomination process for both the Democrats and the Republicans. 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. Democratic operative Norma S. Matthews, state co-chair of the George McGovern campaign, helped engineer the early January start for Iowa. McGovern finished second to Edmund Muskie in the first early Hawkeye state caucus, but the momentum was palatable for an ultimate Democratic nomination in 1972 for McGovern in Miami.
In 1976 an uncommitted slate received the most support, followed by Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, who, while coming in a distant second, won the most votes of any actual candidate. With no dominant 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 to win his party's nomination and eventually the Presidency. Since then, Presidential candidates have increased their focus on winning the Iowa caucus.
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, but ultimately failed to win the nomination.
While they have been a financial boon to the state, 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 third in Iowa. In elections without a sitting President or Vice President, the Iowa winner only goes on to the nomination about half the time.
The nadir of the caucuses was in 1992, when Iowa Senator Tom Harkin ran for the Democratic nomination. None of the other Democratic candidates chose to compete in Iowa, which minimized its importance in the nomination process. President Bush was unopposed on the Republican side, and the media completely ignored the state.
While the Democrats have tried to preserve the position of Iowa and New Hampshire in their nominating 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 Louisiana victory of Pat Buchanan over Sen. Phil Gramm had a significant impact on the results in Iowa.
The caucuses are an important factor in determining who remains in the race and who drops out. In the months leading up to the 2004 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 decision 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 Edmund Muskie in 1972. (For further information on the 2004 Iowa caucus, see 2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses.)
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 neighbors". Rather than going to polls and casting ballots, Iowans gather at a set location in each of Iowa's approximately 1,800 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 caucuses 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 important to their local organizations.
The Iowa caucus does not result directly in national delegates for each candidate, like the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary. Instead, caucus-goers elect delegates to county conventions, who elect delegates to district and state conventions where 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.
Republican Party process
Chart summarizing all polling data in Iowa to date. When polling began in earnest in early 2007, Giuliani (burgundy) and McCain (light blue) were far and away the favorites. Since then, McCain's support has dropped to about 8%, and Giuliani's support has dropped to about 12%. Romney (yellow) has emerged as the favorite currently averaging about 30% of the vote. Although not yet a declared candidate, Thompson (purple) shows support that has surpassed Giuliani and McCain, i.e. about 15%.[1]
For the Republicans, the Iowa caucus follows (and should not be confused with) the Iowa Straw Poll in August of the preceding year. In the history of the Iowa Straw Poll, except in 1987, the winner of the Iowa Straw Poll has gone on to win the Iowa caucus.
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.
Democratic Party process
The process used by the Democrats is more complicated. Each precinct divides its delegate seats among the candidates in proportion to caucusgoers' 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 that many caucus participants in that precinct. 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 you.
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.
2004 Democratic process
Main articles: Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2004
In 2004, the meetings ran from 6:30 p.m. until approximately 8:00 p.m. 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 could and did 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 to support at the county, district, and state level.
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 that were chosen through the caucus system, 29 were chosen at the district level. Ten delegates were at-large delegates, and six were "party leader and elected official" (PLEO) delegates; these were assigned at the state convention. There were also 11 other delegates, eight of whom were appointed from local Democratic National Committee members - two were PLEO delegates and one was elected at the state Democratic convention. The group of 45 delegates were pledged to a candidate; the group of 11 are unassigned.
2008 process
Main articles: Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008, Iowa Republican caucuses, 2008
Past winners
'Bolded' candidates eventually won their party's nomination. Candidates with an asterisk (
★ ) subsequently won the presidency.
Democrats
★ 2004 - 'John Kerry' (38%) defeated John Edwards (32%), Howard Dean (18%), Richard Gephardt (11%) and Dennis Kucinich (1%)
★ 2000 - 'Al Gore' (63%) defeated Bill Bradley (37%)
★ 1996 - 'Bill Clinton'
★ (unopposed)
★ 1992 - Tom Harkin (76%) defeated Paul Tsongas (4%), 'Bill Clinton'
★ (3%), Bob Kerrey (2%) and Jerry Brown (2%)
★ 1988 - Dick Gephardt (31%) defeated Paul Simon (27%), 'Michael Dukakis' (22%) and Bruce Babbitt (6%)
★ 1984 - 'Walter Mondale' (49%) defeated Gary Hart (17%), George McGovern (10%), Alan Cranston (7%), John Glenn (4%), Rueben Askew (3%) and Jesse Jackson (2%)
★ 1980 - 'Jimmy Carter' (59%) defeated Ted Kennedy (31%)
★ 1976 - "Uncommitted" (37%) defeated 'Jimmy Carter'
★ (28%) Birch Bayh (13%), Fred R. Harris (10%), Morris Udall (6%), Sargent Shriver (3%) and Henry M. Jackson (1%)
★ 1972 - Edmund Muskie (36%) defeated 'George McGovern' (23%), Hubert Humphrey (2%), Eugene McCarthy (1%), Shirley Chisholm (1%) and Henry M. Jackson (1%)
Republicans
★ 2004- 'George W. Bush'
★ (unopposed)
★ 2000- 'George W. Bush'
★ (41%) defeated Steve Forbes (30%), Alan Keyes (14%), Gary Bauer (9%), John McCain (5%) and Orrin Hatch (1%)
★ 1996- 'Bob Dole' (26%) defeated Pat Buchanan (23%), Lamar Alexander (18%), Steve Forbes (10%), Phil Gramm (9%), Alan Keyes (7%), Richard Lugar (4%) and Morry Taylor (1%)
★ 1992- 'George H. W. Bush' (unopposed)
★ 1988- Bob Dole (37%) defeated Pat Robertson (25%), 'George H. W. Bush'
★ (19%), Jack Kemp (11%) and Pete DuPont (7%)
★ 1984- 'Ronald Reagan'
★ (unopposed)
★ 1980- George H. W. Bush (32%) defeated 'Ronald Reagan'
★ (30%), Howard Baker (15%), John Connally (9%), Phil Crane (7%), John B. Anderson (4%) and Bob Dole (2%)
★ 1976- 'Gerald Ford' defeated Ronald Reagan
See also
★ Ames Straw Poll
★ New Hampshire primary
★ United States presidential primary
★ Iowa caucus class
External links
★ http://desmoinesregister.com/caucus (2008 cycle)
★ http://desmoinesregister.com/extras/politics/caucus2004/index.html (David Yepsen)
★ http://www.gazetteonline.com/iowacaucus/basics/caucushistory.aspx
★ http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/states/IA/index.html
★ http://www.IowaCaucusClass.com
Notes
1. Opinion_polling_for_the_Republican_Party_%28United_States%29_presidential_primaries%2C_2008#Iowa
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psst.. try this: add to faves
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