Iowa Caucus Primer

Ever wonder how the Iowa caucuses actually work? Well, the video below explains it nicely. Warning: The video is put out by the John Edwards campaign and, even if one is pro-Edwards, it's bias is rather over the top. If one supports another candidate, the Edwards slant is positively annoying, I'd guess. Also, it's pretty hokey and corny in presentation. The example precinct captains, "Joe," and "Jane" are both white, but Iowa is 95% white, so that's fairly accurate. But Jane is considerably younger than most precinct captains--a not so subtle attempt by the Edwards folks to get more younger voters to caucus and to go with their candidate. At any rate, the process is accurately portrayed. It demands a very active citizenry and works best with a very engaged and rather small population--and would never work with the larger states. But this is why candidates spend so much time in Iowa: voters there watch the news, not gameshows, are up on the issues in detail, and because radio and TV stations don't have much reach, are used to "retail-not-wholesale" campaigns in which small groups of people get to meet LOTS of candidates in person and talk with them. No other state in the union requires such individual effort as "first in the nation Iowa."