Put Some Raucous In Your Caucus -- A Primer For Caucus Literacy

We hear the word over and over in a presidential election year. We understand the funny sounding term has something to do with winning a nomination for a political party, but if you are like me, just what in the hell a “caucus” involves remains about as clear as quantum physics.

I constantly hear about the importance of the upcoming Iowa caucus and accept the verification of the talking heads who tout its gravity without question. I admit I am unsure of my own “caucus” understanding. I and, I believe, many others, are confused.

Confused, that is, until now. In this post, I will explore the reality of these political meetings. Here is my version of the Dummy's Guide to understanding a “caucus.”

“Iowa has long been heralded as a bulwark against the money and media that dominate the modern presidential race. Its caucus requires voters in every precinct to actually gather in a room, at one time, and listen to neighbors pitch their chosen candidates, before they are allowed to vote.”

– Ari Melber

What Is a Caucus?

The term “caucus” apparently comes from an Algonquin word meaning "gathering of tribal chiefs. (The actual Algonquian word “caucauasu” means "counselor, elder, adviser" in the dialect of Virginia.)

Further word history in the Encyclopedia Britannica reveals: The word “caucus” originated in Boston in the early part of the 18th century, when it was used as the name of a political or drinking club, the Caucus or Caucus Club. John Pickering (1816) wrote the word was a shortened and corrupted form of the phrase “caulker’s meetings” (Caulkers were men who worked in the shipyards, water-proofing the hulls of ships).

The main crux of the caucus system is indeed a series of meetings. Today, the word is defined as “a meeting at which local members of a political party register their preference among candidates running for office or select delegates to attend a convention.”

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Let me assure you, the system of caucusing is anything but straightforward.

The convoluted caucus system dates back to 1796, when American political parties emerged. Most states eventually replaced this system because, as political parties became more centralized and sophisticated in the early twentieth century, party leaders or "bosses" were perceived as exerting too much control over choosing a nominee.

Presidential election primaries and caucuses are two very different methods of accomplishing the same basic thing – both are a means for each political party to let voters nationwide select their party's presidential nominee. More specifically, primaries and caucuses are means of selecting delegates (representatives of party members in each state) to send to the party's national convention.

Caucuses, like the upcoming one in Iowa, are party meetings by precinct, district, or county, where registered party members gather to discuss the candidates and to

select delegates to the next round of party conventions. Caucuses have been called a “meeting of neighbors.” Precinct caucuses are the lowest level of party organization and activity, and happen at the local voting precinct level. A typical meeting might be made up of a few dozen or a few hundred activists who live in the immediate area.

At the end of the meetings, an election is held whereby delegates to a county or state convention who pledge to support the majority candidate are selected. Delegates selected at a caucus might go on to a county or state convention before attending the national convention in the summer.

Any voter registered with a party can participate in a caucus. The process can take hours, as voters will gather at a venue to hear out supporters of various candidates, debate issues, and ultimately come to a conclusion about which person will make the best presidential nominee.

When voters arrive at the caucus venues, which can be anywhere from a high school gymnasium to a restaurant, supporters of certain candidates will break off into groups, including groups for undecided voters. Then voters, who are typically activists and very politically engaged, will plead their case to everyone about why their preferred candidate is the best choice.

In Iowa’s case, caucuses not only allow activists and voters to make a case for their preferred candidate, but also to talk about issues that could be incorporated into the state party platform, said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor with Drake University in Iowa.

Caucusing requires passion and a strong connection to a particular candidate, in contrast to the simple and private act of marking a ballot in a primary. Goldford says …

“(The Iowa caucuses) make candidates and potential candidates talk to voters as real, live, individual human beings. Candidates meet with voters in a more personal way, he added, rather than using them as 'campaign props.'”

Especially in early caucus states, a relatively small group of people wields a lot of power to influence average voters around the country.

Iowa has the most famous caucus, but nine states as well as three United States territories conduct caucuses in lieu of a primary election. Caucuses also vary by party as well. As an example, Kentucky has a Democratic primary but Republican caucuses. In addition, several states have switched to primaries for 2020, like Minnesota and Colorado.

A Brief History

There is no provision for the role of political parties in the United States Constitution, since the Founding Fathers did not originally intend for American politics to be partisan. In Federalist Papers No. 9 and No. 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively, wrote specifically about the dangers of domestic political factions.

Starting with the 1796 election, Congressional party or a state legislature party caucus selected the party's presidential candidates. Before 1820, Democratic-Republican members of Congress would nominate a single candidate from their party. That system collapsed in 1824, and since 1832 the preferred mechanism for nomination has been a national convention.

(James S. Chase. Emergence of the Presidential

Nominating Convention, 1789–1832. 1973)

Caucuses have had a role in the nominating process going back to the early nineteenth century. In the early days, however, party caucuses were meetings of party leaders closed to the general public.

Even after the advent of the modern political convention in the 1830s, caucuses used to be “pretty much limited to people who were members of party organizations, insiders who were usually the only ones who even knew about them,” says Alan I. Abramowitz, political science professor at Emory University.

But democratizing pressures reemerged after World War II, aided by developments in communications technology. The advent of television provided a medium through which people could now see and hear the political campaigns in their own living rooms. Candidates could use television exposure to demonstrate their charismatic popularity and potential electability.

Since 1972, the Iowa Caucus has been the first – and many argue most important – electoral test on the road to each party’s presidential nomination. It's the first opportunity for the rest of the country to see how much support candidates have. Also, Iowa caucuses have historically done the job of winnowing out large presidential fields

Caucuses are held in more than 2000 precincts across the state of Iowa to choose more than 1,500 delegates to 99 county conventions. Iowa eventually awards 49 delegates to the national convention, of which 41 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the caucuses

It all started with the 1968 Democratic Convention.

The Vietnam War was in its 14th year, both Martin Luther King, Jr. and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy were assassinated that spring and President Lyndon B. Johnson had withdrawn from the race in March, deciding against seeking another term. That April, Hubert Humphrey – Johnson’s vice president-- jumped into the race. Humphrey’s public support of Johnson, specifically regarding the Vietnam War, upset many anti-war protestors.

While Democratic political leaders filed into the National Convention hall, protestors brutally clashed with police right outside its doors, with television broadcasting the political divide to the nation. Hubert Humphrey would go on to win the Democratic nomination (over George McGovern and Eugene McCarthy) despite not winning a single primary, highlighting for many the disparity between public opinion and the political process.

(Brynn Holland. “Why Is Iowa the First State to Vote?”

History. January 6, 2020.)

Eager to repair the damage from the 1968 primary campaign, Democratic party leaders formed the McGovern-Fraser Commission to improve the nomination process so voters would have a direct say as to who would be their nominee for president, ensuring that party leaders would no longer work behind closed doors to manipulate the process. State party leaders had to give 30 days notice before hosting primaries or caucuses, encouraging full participation.

Part of that meant spreading the presidential nominating schedule out in each state. Because Iowa has one of the more complex processes – precinct caucuses, county conventions, district conventions, followed by a state convention – it had to start really early. (The Democratic Party held Iowa caucuses first in the nation in 1972; the GOP followed suit in 1976.)

“And once a peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter rode an Iowa caucus win all the way to the White House, Iowa suddenly became a thing.”

– Sam Sanders, correspondent and host of “It's Been a Minute
with Sam Sanders” at NPR

Ever since then, Iowa has remained a crucial proving ground for nearly every presidential candidate.

The Iowa Caucuses bring a sense of excitement to the state. And something more – “Caucus is a major boon to the state of Iowa,” Karen Kedrowski, director of Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics said. “During the presidential cycle, the amount of party activity creates great jobs, attracts a wealth of out-of-state talent who invest in the state. It becomes this defining feature in the state.”

Actual Processes In Iowa

I'll leave it to a better political pundit than I to explain all of the procedures of “delegate selections” and “proportional allocations” and “chains of attendance at the congressional district state convention.”

In fact, Democrats have a complex system – one of the most complex pieces of the entire presidential election. Suffice it to say there are rules that involve “percentages of all the caucus participants.” And, there are “discussions of support” and “percentage cut-offs” – stats like “25% viability” and “one-sixth participation.”

This language arts major's head is spinning in caucus confusion. All I know is it eventually comes down to a formula something like the following:

“Number of people in the group * number of delegates)/ number of caucus participants.”

Jack Reardon, an organizer with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (2020) said of the Iowa caucuses …

“We’re not interested in candidates’ stump speeches. We’ve heard enough of those. Those speeches get a lot of media coverage, but it’s not reflective of how a majority of people across this state, across this country, are feeling about politics. People aren’t interested in a particular candidate. They’re interested in something that can change their lives.”