Iowa

So the day is almost here and newly minted political junkies like me and old time junkies like many of my friends finally will have something real to chew on. But, is it really all that significant – or really fair? I’ve been learning more about how this caucus is going to work. There are a couple of write ups here and here which do a good job of explaining the steps. At first this seems like an appealing process. Especially with the Democrats who enact the ‘viability’ option – meaning if you don’t meet the threshold of 15% of the votes, then you are not a viable candidate and now that voter may switch to one of the viable candidates.   Candidates with the most money are not necessarily at that big of an advantage here. It forces them to actually spend time in Iowa meeting people and listening to their concerns on the issues. Because they don’t just need you to come in and check off a box on a ballot. They need you to give them a great deal of your *time* tomorrow. Yep, up to two hours. So you really better like your guy/gal. And you better have a second choice in mind. Some of the ‘lower tier’ candidates in fact sometimes declare who they will have their supporters vote for in a second round (this year, Kucinich is pushing his supporters to Obama, in ’04 he pushed them to Edwards). So that second, or even third round can have quite an impact especially in a race this close to start. All very intriguing for those of us watching from afar.

However, then there are the downsides as detailed quite nicely here and here. Low voter turnout thanks to the ridiculous time commitment. Disenfranchisement of registered Iowa voters not in state on caucus day, with no option for absentee voting as you would have with a more traditional voting system. Seems like a very out dated method of launching the process & providing momentum to candidates, in a sparsely populated state. I agree with the Kos posting that this really should be changed, but I have no idea how. As some of the commenters in his diary point out – this is talked about every primary season, the flows are debated, but nothing ever changes. Cynicism seems to abound that this is all tied up in money and power – Iowa is not going to give up the exposure or the money that pours in during the months leading up to this.  Most likely true I am sure.

Ah, while writing this I became curious about the full primary calendar and numbers of delegates awarded at each stop. Here is a great guide for that. There is an option to view the Democratic and Republican calendars since they are a little different.  Seems like these early states are small potatoes anyway and the really Big Day will be in Feb. Looks like there are more states than just Iowa which use the caucus method too.

Well shoot, I learned a lot just writing this with the articles I found! Crossing off ‘learn something new every day’ from my list for today 🙂