I will stave off my New Year's exhaustion to bring you my plans for the 2012 Iowa Democratic Caucus.Though I have been alive for 5 presidential primary seasons, the 2008 season will be the first season that will really and truly have my attention. I did vote in the 2004 election, however at the time I was not enthralled with politics enough to invest a considerable amount of energy learning about the primary contests. That has since changed.
If you are not familiar with how the Iowa Democratic Caucus system works, please click here and watch this video before reading on (it is important to note, however, that while this video was produced by Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, I am not attempting to win support for him -- I simply searched for "Iowa Caucus 2008" and this video came up on top).
This system is fantastic. This system is phenomenal. I love this system, because it is simple and complex at the same time, and you have to want it bad.
Simple: Anyone can show up to caucus, and its easy to register.
Complex: Actually having to interact with other caucus-goers and try to convince them to support one candidate over another is something that we New Yorkers are not accustomed to. We are accustomed, by and large, to our private opinions and our secret ballots. The Iowa Democratic Caucus is not like that. The Iowa Democratic Caucus is advanced citizenship, which is rarely seen in these United States.
I want to go to the 2012 Iowa Democratic Caucus, if just to be a fly on the wall, and to be surrounded by citizens who want it bad, instead of the norm. Unless, of course, a Democrat wins the presidency in November -- then it would probably just be boring.
1 comment:
You can get a mild sense of the caucus
experience in some parts of New York
state. The party can choose to select
candidates for town offices (supervisor,
town council) in caucus. As you know, in
the City of Poughkeepsie, you have a party
primary, not a caucus. People living
outside a city can ask an elected town
official, party leader or party committee
person whether their party caucuses for
town office nominations.
Only voters enrolled in that party can
vote in that party's caucus, unlike the
caucuses where you choose your party on
caucus day. To vote in a party caucus or
party primary in New York, you have to
choose your party at least 30 days ahead
of time, even longer for most voters.
The caucus can choose anyone they want as the candidate. The caucus can ignore the candidate endorsed by the party
leadership. The caucus can even select
someone not a member of that party.
When nominations are not by caucus, a non-member needs permission of party
leaders or needs to win the primary as a
write-in candidate. Winning that write-in
primary is a rare event.
Nominations in caucus are from the floor.
It's entertaining when insurgent
nominations disrupt the flow of business
neatly scripted by party leaders.
Recriminations fly and you get to see how
people deal with the unpredictable.
Clearly, party members experience in
caucus much more of the democratic
process than when they flick a lever on
primary election day.
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