Alter: Slumber Party. The caucuses are key. That doesn't mean they aren't dull.

[rinsd]

The Iowa Democratic caucuses are a snooze---not the various campaigns for president but the caucuses themselves. I've attended several over the years as a reporter and invariably walk out before they're over. This year, the soporific nature of the process, which can take as long as two hours, will most harm Barack Obama, for reasons I'll explain.

You've read how the caucuses are undemocratic because they disenfranchise people who work at night--how they violate the principle of the secret ballot. But that's just the Democratic caucuses. The Republican caucuses, which date only to 1980, are a breeze. You show up at 7 p.m., you vote almost like in a primary, you go home. If you're on the night shift, it's usually easy enough to take part while on break.

The Democratic caucuses, by contrast, feel like the SATs, where a fussbudget caucus chair, enjoying his or her moment in the sun, explains a mind-numbing series of rules and insists that you obey them if you want your effort to count. The instructions for the caucus chairs run to 72 pages. If you're lucky, the chair won't read any more than 10 of them aloud.

The procedures are so stultifying I'm reluctant to list them here, but to give you a flavor, consider that before moving to various corners of the room with other supporters of the same candidate for the preliminary vote, you must sit through the vote on the permanent caucus chair (self-nominations welcome), official letters from more than a half-dozen Iowa politicians (most chairs are merciful enough to allow these to be distributed), and a lengthy explanation of the delegate-selection process that requires an advanced degree in mathematics to fully understand.

More at the link - http://www.newsweek.com/id/83154

Interesting look at the process and kudos to those who brave weather and boredom to participate!

[SavageDem]

1. I can only imagine!

I was reading the caucus rules and guidelines at the Iowa Caucus site earlier today, and it was enough to numb me. One can only hope for a caucus chair that is not so enamored of his/her position that s/he does not read through all the speeches and flimflam.

My brother will be at one in Cedar Rapids, so I look fwd to a first-hand accounting.