Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — On Thursday, registered voters in Iowa will assemble to select delegates to county conventions. Unlike the primary ballot vote used in Ohio in which the vote is secret, Iowans gather together in a caucus, a political meeting at the local precinct level, and publicly declare their preferences.

According to the Iowa Caucus Web site, the word caucus is a North American Indian word, possibly of Algonquin origin, which referred to a gathering of the ruling tribal chiefs. The modern definition describes caucuses as a process of political party members gathering to make policy decisions and to select candidates. Iowa caucuses are held every two years.

Some form of caucus has existed since the early 1800s, even before Iowa became a state in 1846. The framers of the Iowa constitution chose caucuses rather than a primary to nominate candidates and suggest policy, preferring the grassroots democracy-in-action approach.

Carrie Giddins, of the Iowa Democratic Party, said via e-mail that the caucus goes beyond the county level. The local Iowa caucus is the first step in nominating presidential and vice presidential candidates for office.

“While we are electing delegates to the county conventions,” she wrote, “it is a state caucus. In March we will hold our county conventions, and in June our state convention. Thursday is just the beginning of the process, but it is the only [Iowa] caucus.”

The county convention delegates then select delegates to the district, state and national conventions, and the Democratic and Republican national conventions then select their parties’ nominees for president and vice president.

Iowa’s caucuses are important because they are the first to be held in the nation during each presidential election cycle. New Hampshire, Alaska and Hawaii are among the other states that hold caucuses. The media attention this year seems to indicate that the Iowa caucuses are more important than ever, as they are the candidates’ first opportunity to gauge their level of approval or popularity among voters. Iowa, according to Giddins, gives candidates an even playing field, as what matters there is time spent in the state — not money spent on TV and radio ads.

“Shaking an Iowan’s hand and answering their questions is what Iowans want to see in the candidates,” said Giddins.

Any voter who is a registered Republican or Democrat, will be 18 years old by the November election date and can prove residency in Iowa, can participate in the caucus of their party.

Presidential preference on the Republican side is done with a straw vote of those attending the caucus. This vote, according to the caucus Web site, is sometimes done by a show of hands or by attendees dividing into groups according to candidate. In precincts that elect only one delegate, the delegate is chosen by majority vote; it must be a paper ballot.

Besides selecting candidates, according to Iowa Republican Party spokeswoman Mary Tiffany, the neighborly caucus meetings are a grassroots way for people to be more involved in party policy. She said individuals at the caucuses can take part in passing resolutions to propose planks to the party’s platform, and have more of a direct say in the party’s agenda. To have input, and a voice in selecting candidates, however, the voter must be in attendance at the caucus; there are no absentee ballots as in Ohio.

Democratic candidates must receive at least 15 percent of the votes in a particular precinct to move on to the county convention, according to the caucus Web site. If a candidate receives less than 15 percent of the votes, supporters of nonviable candidates have the option to join a viable candidate group, join another nonviable candidate group to become viable, join other groups to form an uncommitted group or choose to go nowhere and not be counted. Nonviable groups have up to 30 minutes to realign. If they fail to do so, they can ask for more time, which is voted on by the caucus as a whole. If the caucus refuses, realignment is done and delegates are awarded.

A third political party may hold a convention to nominate one candidate for president and one for vice president as well.

“The caucus is an opportunity to help build the party in Iowa,” said Giddins. “With six active campaigns here engaging Democrats around the state to caucus on Thursday night, we are creating an active Democratic base. That is proven by the voter registration numbers. In January 2004 we had 533,000 registered Democrats and this year we have 638,000. The caucus of 2004 and strong victories for Democrats in Iowa in 2006 helped up the numbers.”

The results of this caucus activity on Democratic and Republican sides are not binding on the elected delegates, but the Iowa caucus Web site said the delegates usually feel obligated to follow the wishes expressed by the caucus-goers. Both Giddins and Tiffany believe the initial caucus results provide a good barometer of the composition of Iowa’s national delegation.

The Iowa Caucus Web site explained how Iowa got the “first in nation” status. In the early 1970s, the Iowa Democratic Party made several reforms to its delegate selection process. These reforms included requiring a minimum of 30 days between the precinct caucuses and the county, and also between the county, district and state conventions, and publicizing the events to allow more people to take part. When the 1972 Democratic State Convention was set for May 20, the new rules dictated that the precinct caucus would be Jan. 24, thereby making it the first statewide test for presidential candidates in the nation. In 1976, recognizing the increased exposure, the Republican Party of Iowa moved its caucus to the same date as the Democrats. The candidates and national media have observed the Iowa caucuses as the “First in the Nation” ever since.

Why should Iowa be allowed to go first in staging presidential nominating events? Caucus Iowa gave the following explanation.

“Iowa is a ‘small state’ whose presidential preferences would quickly be overshadowed, as would those of other small states, by larger states if their nominating contests occurred later; and, we continue to evolve a very purposeful and educated process that requires candidates to step out from behind the microphone and actually meet us face to face. In turn, we gather on caucus night in every precinct and debate each other in our living rooms and school gymnasiums, offering up the pros and cons of each candidate and making a truly informed decision about whom we support. This is not to say that every state should vote as we do — it’s simply to say that we are representative of the country at large, that we take the opportunity seriously to learn about candidates in-depth, and that larger states would take over the vetting process if there was not a buffer allowing small states to go first with their nominating events.”