Florida Volunteer Witnesses Iowa Caucus

By Clarke P. Dahlgren

What is a Caucus? A term well described if you are in Iowa, but in Florida it may be less understood. I had a chance to broaden my understanding as a result of being in Iowa and invited to participate, with the AARP Iowa Divided We Fail team, in the many activities taking place in Des Moines.

I attended many of the campaign functions, even though there were blizzard conditions outside, and the attendance was still standing room only. I was able to attend the Campaign Managers event at Drake, an event for Obama in Urbandale, the Edwards event in West Des Moines, a Dodd event in Des Moines, and another Obama event in Des Moines. Each event was different with something new and interesting in the saga of the Iowa caucus.

It was a most enjoyable, interesting and fun time where I learned a great deal about the Iowa caucus.

The dictionary describes caucus as a noun where local members of a political party meet to nominate candidates. In Iowa however, it is also used as a verb where citizens will say "Are you going to caucus?"

In Iowa each party establishes there own precincts, in the case of the Democratic Party, that is 1784. At 6:30pm they go to the Caucus, sign in, and then gather at the designated locations of the various candidates. At 7:00 pm they count the number of registered voters at each candidate's location. If any candidate does not receive 15% of voter support, that candidate is excluded, and his supporters have the option of joining one of the other groups, where the candidate has received at least 15% of voter support.

At this point, the Democrats start to engage in a bit of palaver and some lobbying for their candidate. The Republicans don't do much of this and generally accept the results as they develop. This explains why the results of the Republican Caucus may be known well ahead of when the results are known from the Democratic Caucus. This process also explains why, prior to the caucus, there is the never ending discussion of where will candidate "x's" votes go if a candidate drops out prior to the caucus, or where will the votes go if that candidate does not get enough support in the caucus.

Thursday was the long awaited day and I almost wish I were still in Iowa. However, upon reflection, the two weeks of cold, snow, and ice was probably enough to satisfy my yearnings of my more youthful time in Nebraska and Iowa.

I would hypothesize that the weather has little to do with the turnout, as Iowans take the caucusing process very seriously. Does Iowa really make any difference? Of the roughly three millions citizens in Iowa, less than 5 percent actually caucus. Those Iowans believe it does matter, and they will brave wind, snow and blizzard conditions to prove it.

Clarke Dahlgren is the Divided We Fail District Coordinator for Congressional District 14 of Ft. Myers, Florida, and the 2005 winner of the Andrus Award for Community Service.