I want a caucus in my state!

[creativelcro]

This seems like an awesome process to me. I'd love to go to one and discuss/debate...

[JI7]

1. so do i

but i live in california so probably wont happen. but the thought of it is exciting. not just voting, but debating it with others.

[HereSince1628]

2. Continuing budget crises may bring them everywhere.

Pukes are actually in favor of this.

Tom DeLay and AssCroft are working out the details for choosing neighborhood captains, er I mean, precinct leaders, one for every 20 of us registered patriots. And they will make sure that the vote tallies are always _correct_.

[bobbieinok]

3. I prefer caucus to primary

I heard in school (40s,50s, 60s) .... 'caucus bad - primary good'

I think originally every state had caucuses and only the 'in' party 'bosses' attended. That was maybe the origin of the 'smoke-filled backrooms'.

Nobody really had much of a clue as to how candidates were picked.

So lots of good govt people thought primaries would open up the process to many more people.

Now after 72-88 in IA caucuses and then back to OK - I want my caucus back.

[Hippo_Tron]

12. "Smoke filled room" analogy...

I think back then it might've been that only rich people came to the caucuses.

[sandnsea]

4. Me too!!

I watched the training session on C-Span and this is what we need to do in every state. That way we always come together and have the opportunity to get to know each other, express our concerns, participate in setting the platform and take part in the political process either locally or nationally. It's exactly what we need to move this country forward and create community again.

[creativelcro]

5. Does anybody know the procedure to get a caucus to one's state?

Who initiates the process ? Who decides in the end ?... Wondering if Kennedy or Kerry would like that idea...

[Lobo_13]

6. Trust me, you don't.

It sounds alot more fun than it actually is. Under normal circumstances, this would be a snorefest.

[LTR]

7. Caucuses sound pretty confusing

There are some good points to them, but I think a primary is the most accurate way to vote.

I lived in Minnesota, where there was a caucus system for presidential elections. I never took part in one, but I did vote in gubernatorial primaries. A caucus is asking quite a bit from the average working voter.

[creativelcro]

9. if the average working voters cannot find a few hrs for this

they can go to hell :D. Sorry, I know, ideally, the average working voter would just have to click on the remote to vote, between baseball games and a few beers... But we don't live in an ideal world :evilgrin:.

[sandnsea]

10. The news makes it that way

I watched the whole C-Span teaching session. Man, I need a new hobby...

It's not confusing at all. Everybody shows up, new voters register, a little paperwork is done. At some point shortly thereafter, everybody aligns. They must finish in a half hour but if they do it quickly, they can count supporters. They have their calculations and they see if there's enough of a percentage for each candidate. They realign and have 15 minutes to a half hour to do that. Final count. Do the calculations, phone it in.

Then they have local business where they'll talk about the State platform, organizing for November, etc. Anybody can leave at any point in time.

This is such a no big deal thing that I don't know why they're saying it drags on for hours and all the rest. You go, stand with your candidate, chat with your neighbors for an hour or so and then go home if you want to. Or stay to talk about state stuff. No big deal. Sounds like a fun time! But then, I watch teaching sessions on C-Span...

[BootinUp]

8. Never been to one, but

I see them as less desirable as the size grows. How many people get to speak their piece if the size of a caucus gets over 100 people? What will the average size be?

The good thing about the caucus is that it narrows the field and results in some unity at the end.

[BootinUp]

13. Apparrently average Iowa caucus is expected to be 60 people

Thats 120,000 in 1,993 caucuses.

[Hippo_Tron]

11. The problem is getting people to show up...

The caucus seems like a great democratic process except for the fact that not all people can or are willing to give up a monday night when they have to work the next day. It's much more practical to ask people to take five minutes to vote than it is to ask them to spend hours at a caucus. But on the other hand this does sound like a very fun process.

[creativelcro]

16. Then do it on Saturday night...

I cannot believe how spoiled and whiny everybody has become... It's the election of our freaking president!... If people are not willing to spend a few hrs on it then it is fine if they don't vote at all...

[ArmchairActivist]

14. Quick caucus story...

I went to my first and only party caucus during the 1988 primary. I was 22 years old and didn't really know quite what to expect.

The meeting was held in the gymnasium of the elementary school that I had gone to. When I found the table housing my precinct, lo and behold, the people sitting there were all folks from my neighborhood, people I had grown up knowing, trick-or-treated at their houses, threw dirt-clods at their kids, etc.

The numbers are a little hazy, but as I recall we had just enough people in our meeting to justify sending two delegates to the county convention. (Something like: 1-12 attendees gets you one delegate, and we had 13.)

Pretty much everybody at the table was going for Dukakis except my dad who was for John Glenn ('The only one who could beat Bush', he said. Funny, now that I think about it, a comparison could be made to one of our candidates today.) and me, a starry-eyed liberal Jesse Jackson supporter.

Anyways, we talked about stuff for a while, and then it came time to pick the delegates. One person was pretty much into the Democratic party scene and very much wanted to go as a Dukakis delegate. I was curious, young and unemployed and wanted to go for Jackson, but as you couldn't elect a delegate with just one vote, I had to get somebody to switch over.

Well it turned out that the party loyalist person changed her vote to Jackson, so that I would have the opportunity to go to the county convention and support my candidate.

It was a very, very cool experience, a kind of democracy in action at the extremely local level, yet with national ramifications.

-AA

P.S. My experience at the county convention was something else altogether, and somewhat emblematic of the way this party is run, and the way the 'machine' treats 'outside' candidates and philosophy. But that's a story for another thread.

[Jerseycoa]

15. Me, too!

I've been yearning to be an Iowan for two weeks now.

[Ediacara]

17. in 2000

I lived in Washington where they had a non-binding caucus and then a binding primary a week later.

The caucus was much more enjoyable and is the real feel of grass roots in my opinion.

Now Washington has dumped its primary for a binding caucus (YAY!), but I am in Montana which, with New Jersey, has the last primary in the nation in something like JUNE.

I want a caucus, and I want it now (or at least in February)!