So, What's a Caucus?

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

So, What's a Caucus?
Democrats Try to Spur Iowa Turnout
By CHRISTOPHER COOPER
December 8, 2007; Page A4

Des Moines, Iowa

(snip)

In the sprint to the first-in-the-nation caucus on Jan. 3, the three top Democratic candidates, running in close to a dead heat, are marshaling armies of surrogates to help get out the vote and boost participation in a Byzantine process that has never attracted more than 6% of the electorate. The task is daunting. Frigid weather is a near certainty and college campuses will be closed for the winter holiday and the kickoff for the Orange Bowl featuring Kansas and Virginia Tech coincides with caucus time (registration begins at 6:30 p.m.; doors close at 7 sharp).

While the three front-runners -- Mr. Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards -- are all employing many staff members to get out the vote, the organizational edge may go to Mr. Obama. With 37 local offices and nearly 300 employees, he has assembled the largest ground staff the state has ever seen. Mrs. Clinton will try to counter the Oprah star power with a comprehensive plan for long-term care, and she plans to introduce it Saturday with her aging mother at her side, according to a person briefed on the plan. Dorothy Rodham, 88 years old, rarely appears on the campaign trail but her presence will send a signal that Mrs. Clinton, like millions of Americans, must face questions about caring for aging parents.

Organizationally, the Obama strategy was on view this week in Cedar Falls, where the candidate stood on a makeshift stage in a campus gymnasium and pleaded with 1,200 students at the University of Northern Iowa to give up a portion of their winter vacation and caucus for him. "Every four years, students say they're going to come out and caucus and they never do. I'm only going to win if all of you caucus," Mr. Obama said.

"How do we caucus?" a student shouted.

Fair question. One of the most important nominating contests is also one of the most complex. Voting in Iowa has proved a turnoff to college students in the past. Fewer than 5,000 eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 24 turned out in 2004, when a record 124,000 people caucused, the state Democratic Party says. To boost the numbers, Mr. Obama visited five Iowa college campuses this week to recruit young caucus-goers. The Obama campaign showed a video from pop star Usher, who urged students to caucus for Obama. "A lot of people want to know what a caucus is," he said on the video. He urged students to find out.

(snip)

Coaxing voters to caucuses is difficult. Unlike primary voting, caucusing can take hours, often starting with party business before any decisions. Democratic candidates are subject to a so-called viability rule; if they don't garner at least 15% of the votes in a precinct, their supporters must choose their second-favorite candidate. Mr. Edwards may enjoy an edge on caucus day because polls show that more of his supporters have been though the caucus process before. Pollsters judge these "chronic" voters as more reliable.

(snip)

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119708205285818067.html (subscription)

[Stop Cornyn]

1. It's a process by which we split open a bird and choose a nominee based on reading its entrails.

[question everything]

2. Close enough

I participate in an Iowa caucus in 1988. We finally tossed a coin to declare the winner.

[msongs]

3. it's where the dominant males and females bully weaker people into agreement -no secret ballots nt