I'm not much into politics, but I'd like to know.. in layman's terms, what are caucuses? What effect do they have on the election? Better yet, who won?
There has only been one Caucus so far. Iowa. Tomorrow Wyoming will begin it's caucus process. And then the next one before Super Tuesday (IIRC) is Nevada. A Caucus is a system of electing delegates, who then elect other higher level delegates. This process can be 2 or 3 tiers high. The final state delegate selections are sent to the RNC or DNC (Republican National Convention, Democratic National Convention) as voters in the Presidential nomination process. Delegates are party members who volunteer to represent a candidate in a chapter, precinct or county. So people will vote for say the Obama delegate, vs. the Clinton, Edwards etc. delegates. The winning delegate goes on to the next level to vote amongst delegates for a small group of delegates, and so on and so forth. A primary is different, in that delegates are usually awarded absolutely (like in NH), or based on share of the vote. In NH, the GOP winner gets ALL of the delegates, in some other states, the winner might only get a share based on their percentage of the vote. The Dems and Republicans use different processes in different states, and there are lots of exceptions in the 50 states. By no means use my post as definitive. Find out a particular state you are interested in, and you can research that state's process for the party you follow. In Iowa, The Dems finished Obama Edwards Clinton Richardson Biden The Republicans finished Huckabee Romney Thompson McCain Paul Giuliani Hunter
ah, that's helpful. My father keeps going on how he's a national delegate for Obama and caucuses... I get lost.
noone can ever answer this question lol. well not necessarily this one, but the delegate question.. idk if it's just me but i've never really understood it. every time i try to figure it out, whoever is telling it will usually say, "but i'm not really sure that's just what i think".. the whole process of precincts to counties to state isn't even the beginning of it and NO two people will ever give the same answer on it.. how bizarre.
Ok, so your dad is a national delegate. That's pretty cool. http://indems.3cdn.net/1efd23d4bb4d8dce3d_tam6bp2v2.htm .