It's Back to Iowa, for Round 2

[unapatriciated]

WASHINGTON — Not so fast, Pennsylvania. The next stop in the Democratic presidential race is ... Iowa.

Yes, Iowa.

Weeks before Pennsylvania holds its primary on April 22, states such as Iowa, Texas and Nevada will conduct the next round of voting in the multistep process of choosing delegates to the national convention this summer. Iowa, which first voted on Jan. 3, holds county conventions this weekend in familiar locales the candidates remember well, like Des Moines.

Welcome to the arcane world of the presidential caucus, where one day of voting is rarely enough to lock up national delegates and sometimes two rounds doesn't cut it, either. The party's system has both campaigns working to keep, and perhaps gain, delegates who have already been claimed in the early voting states.

http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/politics/2008/03/12/Democrats.Once.More/


I have had enough will someone declare a TKO please.

[MaineDem]

1. The press never gets it right

The same thing happens in Maine. Try as the Party does to explain to the press that the caucus is only the FIRST step they allocate delegates based on those votes. The caucuses only elect delegates to the next step in the process.

The final count is taken at a convention (in our case, the state convention.) National delegate allocation is based on the vote taken at the convention. Some candidates may gain or lose national delegates depending on the number of their delegates who actually attend the state convention and take a ballot for their candidate.

If the press would take the time to actually read the selection plans or talk to the party staffs they'd have half a clue when they're reporting.