UK: Iowa caucuses

The Economist

The Iowa caucuses explained
That time again

Jan 2nd 2012, 11:54 by E.M. | CEDAR FALLS, IOWA

ON JANUARY 3rd, a small cadre of Republicans in Iowa will begin the process of selecting their party’s nominee for president. At 7pm the party will hold “caucuses” in 1,774 precincts around the state. Representatives of each candidate will speak before those attending mark their choice on a ballot. After a convoluted series of regional and statewide meetings, the candidates will be awarded “delegates” roughly in proportion to their share of the vote. The delegates, in turn, attend the national convention in August at which the party’s presidential nominee is formally selected.

Iowa will send just 28 delegates to the convention, out of a nationwide total of 2,286. But because it is the first state to vote, its influence is out of all proportion to its size. Candidates who do well in the caucuses gain momentum that can propel their campaigns forward; those that do badly often find themselves starved of media attention, donations and volunteers. The results from Iowa, along with those from New Hampshire and South Carolina, the next two states to vote, usually winnow the field, leaving the rest of the country with just two or three options.

Unlike in the Democratic caucuses, there is no opportunity to switch candidates after an initial tally, and no obligation to reveal your choice. But unlike in a primary, everyone votes at the same time, which makes the whole process more public, and allows supporters of one candidate or another to exert a little more pressure on their friends, neighbours and fellow parishioners. And doubtless, too, the speeches can have an effect as well.

The turnout for the caucuses is low. Some 119,000 people showed up in 2008 to pick Mike Huckabee over Mitt Romney; just 88,000 were present to elevate George W. Bush over John McCain and a host of other candidates in 2000. That is just a small fraction of the state’s 645,000 registered Republicans, let alone its 3m residents. The caucus-goers tend to be older, whiter, and more religious than most Republicans—and Republicans themselves are older, whiter and more religious than the nation as a whole.

That can lead to strong showings for candidates like Mr Huckabee, who was a former Baptist minister. It also tends to diminish the prospects of more moderate, centrist candidates, such as Mr Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts. And the low turnout and the public element of the voting can favour candidates with dedicated ranks of volunteers, such as Ron Paul, a libertarian from Texas.


http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/01/iowa-caucuses-explained