AN IOWA CAUCUS PRIMER

by Bob Walsh

The otherwise almost insignificant Iowa Caucuses will happen today. It is significant primarily because it is first. There are 99 counties in Iowa. There are 1,600 caucus locations (plus possibly others out of state and even out of the country) who will decide on 41 of the 57 delegates that Iowa will send to the National Convention in mid-July.

The caucuses require the physical presence of the participants for a couple of hours. It is not for the faint of heart in Iowa in mid-winter so they tend to attract party activists. All the folks get together, mill around, listen, talk, get drunk or stoned and make their initial decision.

At the appointed time they stop mingling and start moving. Bernie's people stand over in that corner. Biden's people stand over in that corner. At some point somebody says OK, That's It. Then they count noses. If you do not get at least 15% you are out of luck, at first. Let's say you support Bernie and he gets more than 15%. That's it for you. You can't shift from that position. (That's a new rule for this year.) Let's say you support Amy Klobuchar and you have only 12%. Once all the noses are counted you are told that you didn't make the cut and you then have the opportunity to jump to another candidate. Or you can sit it out. Whatever floats your boat.

Marginal candidates (like maybe Mayor Pete or Amy or even Pocahontas) could very well get zilch at some locations because they missed the cut and do well in other locations.

After 15 minutes have passed from the first tally a second tally is taken. That is it. No third vote is allowed. It's done. This time around, in the interest of transparency, the raw vote numbers will be released as well as the delegate tally. That was NOT the case previously.

Also new this year is out of state voting. It is possible (though it may not actually happen) for people who live elsewhere but who have maintained their voting eligibility to caucus. This was done so as not to cut military members out of the system, though it could also include university students and even ex-pats if there are enough fugitives from Iowa in any one place to make it work.

Like any good political mishmash it is completely possible that you will have more than one person declare themselves to be the winner for various reasons. If you get the most votes, you win. If you get the most delegates, you win. If you don't get completely eliminated, you win. If nobody tipped a cow on top of you, you win. If you didn't catch the clap, you win. Whatever is important to your peeps.