With all the talk about Presidential Campaigns, debates, etc. these days, I thought the world could stand yet another story about how the caucus process works in Iowa.
Other folks can fill you in on how the larger precincts work. What I am going to write about here is how my little precinct works – in a town too small to have a retail business (unless you count the post office).
I usually arrive about 15 minutes before registration is to start. I can turn on the lights, get the posters hung on the walls, get my lists and literature together, etc.
One thing to remember is that the precinct caucuses are held in all even numbered years and the caucus rules are the same regardless of whether it is a presidential year or not. We have yet to see the official agenda and rules, but they haven’t changed for many years, and a change risks alienating the presidential campaigns, who would naturally charge that any changes were an attempt to influence the outcome.
At the advertised time, folks start trickling in and we sign them up. Generally, we have 6 to 8 in attendance. In 1988, I think we had 12 and that was the biggest I have attended in Center Junction. Now back when I lived in Ames, that was another story. We had some big crowds there, sometimes over a hundred.
After registration, we convene. The temporary chair (me), asks if anyone wants to be caucus chair. Usually no one wants it, so I end up <strike>being drafted</strike> volunteering. We draft someone else to be secretary.
After the election of the permanent chair and secretary, the next order of business is to decide whether to split into preference groups. You see, our caucus will elect 3 delegates to the county convention, and we can elect them at large, or we can decide to divide into preference groups, do the arcane math and rounding, realignment if necessary, and then have each preference group elect delegates and alternates.
The funny thing about preference groups is this: in the non-presidential years, hardly anyone ever wants to divide. We just elect our delegates at large. But in Presidential years, most folks want to divide. Just remember that the rules are the same whether or not there is a presidential nominating contest going on that year.
You might ask, what preference groups would you form in non-presidential years? Well, in 2006, some precincts formed gubernatorial preference groups because one of the candidates for governor was pursuing a strategy of trying to stack the state convention in case the nomination in the three way race went to the convention. It didn’t, and he did not have enough delegates at the convention anyway. But that is one type of preference group that could be formed.
Also keep in mind that no rule limits the formation of a group based on any particular preference. The groups do not have to divide based on presidential preference, or in opposition to each other. In 1976, even though it is commonly said that Jimmy Carter won the Caucuses, in actuality, “Uncommitted” preference groups elected more delegates than Carter preference groups. If 15% of a precinct caucus wanted to form a “nuke the whales” preference group, or a “we like rhubarb pie” preference group, that is allowed under the rules. If enough members of an extended family wanted to be sure some of their family were delegates, they could form a family preference group. The caveat is, they could not keep others from joining their group and voting on which caucus attendees would be delegates to the county convention. This would also apply, say, if someone wanted to organize the caucuses to elect delegates in favor of ending Dubya’s ill fated occupation in Iraq. They would just need to form the preference groups and elect their delegates.
But in my little precinct, I imagine we will form presidential preference groups as we have every Presidential year except 1996.
So after we vote to break into preference groups, we will take a count, do the preliminary math, and start the clock on the realignment period. During that time, we move on to considering any platform resolutions anyone wants to bring up. Usually there are two or three the Farm Bureau is trying to get passed and maybe a couple of others. An envelope will be circulated to collect donations to help pay for all the party’s expenses putting on these caucuses. Letters from candidates and elected officials will be available (we never read them out loud, though I hear that some precincts do that). There will be nomination petitions to sign, too.
We usually have time to elect our two precinct committee people to serve on the Jones County Democratic Central Committee, draft our members of the County Convention committees, and generally talk about the weather, too.
Then the clock runs out on the realignment period.
By this time, the math has been figured out and nothing has changed. Once in awhile, we have a non-viable group who all go to another group to help out on their totals. Sometimes the non-viable group just doesn’t realign, and that throws the math way off. (Actually, there are processes in the rules to deal with that.)
Then we will argue over who will be elected to be delegates to the convention because none of their group wants to go to the county convention and listen to a bunch of speeches all day when they could be home doing something on a Saturday. Alternates are even harder to find.
The groups’ delegate(s) selected, we reconvene as a caucus and ratify the slate, ratify the business of the caucus, and adjourn.
It’s not a bad way to spend a winter evening, and sometimes you get to meet some of the new neighbors.
Hmmm…
“Ending Dubya’s ill-fated occupation in Iraq” preference group has a nice ring to it, but I hate to be a single-issue caucus chair.
