Wednesday, January 23, 2008

How does a caucus work?

Blaine County Democrats host presidential caucus Tuesday, Feb. 5


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

In 2004, about 300 people turned out for the Democratic Party?s Blaine County caucus. Blaine County Democrats are bracing for better turnout yet on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

As part of the logistical maze that is the process of designating a Democratic presidential candidate, Idaho Democrats will convene in town halls across the state early next month to select delegates to send to the party's state convention in June.

In Blaine County, a caucus will be held at the Community Campus in Hailey at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5, the same day Democrats will meet throughout the state.

Eleven delegate seats and up to 11 alternate seats will be up for grabs in Blaine County, and for the first time ever the Democratic county caucuses in the state of Idaho will be held on Super Tuesday.

Moving the date ahead to Tuesday, Feb. 5, puts Idaho in line with other Western states—Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado—to create a new "Super Duper" Tuesday for the Rockies. At stake are the allegiances of 23 delegates from Idaho, 18 of whom will be decided by average voters. The Democratic State Convention will be held June 12 to June 14 at Taco Bell Arena in Boise.

The Republican primary will be held Tuesday, May 27.

"But it's important to vote with your body first at the caucus," said Joey Bristol, an Idaho field director for the Obama for America campaign.

As an early state, Idaho will help determine which candidates have enough supporters to be considered for the general election.

"This is an assertive political move by us and many of our neighbors that will raise the importance of Western states in the presidential process," said outgoing Idaho Democratic Party Chair Richard Stallings in a news release.

The caucus process is not straightforward, but it is a cornerstone of Democratic politics.

"Unlike the Republican Party's closed primary, the Democratic Party caucus is open to anyone who believes in open government and intends to vote for a Democratic candidate this presidential election," said Christopher Simms, co-chair of the Blaine County Democrats.

Simms said Idaho Democrats' move to Super Tuesday should give people incentive to get involved in the caucus process.

"This is the first year that Idaho is joining 23 other states, for a total of 24 states, for Super Tuesday," he said. "So more than 50 percent of the delegates to the national convention will be selected on that Tuesday."

The gist of the caucus process is this: At the county level, citizens select delegates. At the state level, delegates select more delegates. At the national level, delegates finally choose a Democratic presidential candidate.

Blaine County's 11 delegates will be among 382 Democratic delegates from Idaho's 44 counties, and at the state convention, they will assist in drafting the party's platform and repeat the process of selecting delegates to send to the party's national convention Aug. 25 to Aug. 28 in Denver, Colo.

And that's really only the tip of the iceberg.

To better understand how the primary and caucus processes work, one must first look ahead to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Much like the Electoral College, in which vote-mandated "electors" ultimately select the U.S. president, the power at the national convention lies with the delegates, who choose the party's nominee.

Each Democratic state party is allocated a number of delegates based on a formula that takes into account the state's electoral votes and the state's support for Democratic presidential candidates in the last three elections.

Each convention delegate casts one vote for a Democratic candidate. The first candidate to receive a majority of the convention floor's votes becomes the party's nominee.

But the process of choosing Democratic delegates who will go to Denver is circuitous.

The actual votes cast by citizens at the county levels and by delegates at the state levels determine the allegiance of district-level delegates based on vote tallies in each of a state's congressional districts. Based on guidelines set by the national party, each state splits delegates evenly among men and women. In Idaho, three men and three women will be selected from each of the state's two congressional districts.

This is the key difference between Democrats and Republicans. The GOP favors "winner-take-all" elections while Democratic primaries and caucuses are proportional. Multiple Democratic candidates can earn a share of a state and district's delegate pool, based on how they finished in each primary or caucus.

But even then, the proportionally allotted district-level delegates only make up roughly half of a state's contingent to the party's national convention.

The remaining delegates are pledged, at-large delegates and party leaders, called super-delegates, as well as elected officials and unpledged add-on delegates and super-delegates, called PLEOs.

Generally, each state's district-level delegates will select at-large delegates to the party's national convention, as well as some super-delegates.

Both at-large picks and delegate-selected super-delegates must openly commit to one candidate before this vote, and their names are subject to candidate review. Given the clear-cut allegiances of district-level delegates, the statewide vote roughly determines the allegiances, and thus the identities of pledged, at-large and super-delegate delegates.

However, the process makes it difficult to simply correlate the statewide vote to delegate totals for each candidate. Voter tallies in each congressional district create races within the race, and how those shake out ultimately determines the at-large and pledged super-delegate delegates.

And that doesn't cover all the states' delegates. Every state has a set of wild cards—unpledged delegates chosen to attend and vote at the national convention but not obliged to support a particular candidate. Unpledged candidates make up roughly 20 percent of all convention delegates.

Further complicating the process, candidates may drop out of the race before the convention or even before all of the pledged, at-large delegates are chosen. In those cases, the state party and the withdrawn candidate may have some influence on how those delegates vote on the convention ballot.

As a result, a candidate wraps up the nomination beforehand only if he or she garners the allegiance of a healthy majority of pledged delegates—enough to outweigh a potential revolt by unpledged delegates.

Back at the local level, the process on Feb. 5 will involve separating citizens based on which presidential candidate they support. Citizens will sign in when they show up at the caucus. The catch in the local caucus is that a candidate must receive at least 15 percent of the total votes cast. If caucus participants voting for a particular candidate amass fewer than 15 percent of the total votes cast, they are given the option to vote for another candidate.

In 2000, 68 local residents participated in the Blaine County Caucus, and 1,857 Idahoans participated in counties throughout Idaho. In 2004, about 300 local residents participated in the Blaine County Caucus, and statewide turnout was closer to 5,000. And the Blaine County Democrats are expecting even better turnout this year.

"I think the Democratic Party's candidate is going to be selected that day," Simms said.

Democratic Caucus

What: Democratic presidential nomination caucus.

When: Tuesday, Feb. 5, 7 p.m.

Where: Community Campus, Hailey.

Why: Like life, you have to show up.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.