January 14, 2008
STL Goes to Washington: Viability & the Second-Choice
In an effort to show my support for uniting the people no matter what side of the aisle, I will say this: Republicans sure know how to make a clear and simple caucus process! I am going to briefly discuss the Democrats’ caucusing process and more specifically, the viability threshold and the second-choice candidate.
At a democratic caucus, a candidate’s supporters must make up at least 15% of that precinct’s caucus-goers. If the candidate does not meet that 15% threshold, he/she is considered not viable. Supporters can then either attempt to attract more supporters in order for the candidate to become viable, they can leave, or they can join another group – choosing their second-choice candidate.
Republicans do not have this rule in their caucuses. Everyone chooses by secret ballot and there is just one round of voting.
With the opportunity for supporters of a non-viable candidate to then choose a second-choice candidate to support, the caucus becomes a strategy for those in the lead. Most will agree that a candidate’s biggest supporter at a caucus is the precinct captain and that it is in the candidate’s best interest to arm the captain with a strategy for winning over the second-choice votes.
As an example, for the Iowa caucus, Clinton’s camp gave local precinct captains cards that outlined arguments targeted to supporters of each of the candidates who might be eliminated. They advised captains to “put yourself in their shoes” and imagine what it would feel like to have your first-choice eliminated from the caucus. Then they were to pitch a positive message.
Obama’s campaign provided its local precinct captains with lists of likely caucus-goers who had named Obama as a 2nd choice candidate. They were to then make a face-to-face pitch for their vote as second-choice.
In the case of the democratic caucus, being nice and being positive is a strategy that can win the votes of those who must realign, and it has served well for many candidates over the years.
There it is in a nutshell: the craziness of the democratic caucus, what it means to be a viable candidate, and how candidates can win the votes of those whose candidate was eliminated.
~ DC
January 9, 2008
STL Goes to Washington: The primary process
Now that primary season is well under way, we’re kicking off a series called “Save the Lobsters Goes to Washington” where along with the political commentary we’ve been dabbling in, we’ll take a closer look at some of the practices and institutions of our electoral process. A catch-up of sorts for all those things you’ve forgotten from civics class. We believe that the good voter is the informed voter.
As I was discussing the results of last night’s New Hampshire primary with my sister, we realized how little we actually know about the primary election process. What’s the difference between a caucus and a primary? Who are the delegates and how are they chosen? What’s a superdelegate? First, we have to remember that elections are facilitated by the individual states, and therefore, different states have different rules about how presidential candidates are selected.
Caucus vs. Primary
A caucus can be thought of as a big group meeting for members of the same political party. Issues and candidates are openly discussed and debated, after which attendees express their choice of candidate. In Iowa, caucus-goers stand in the corner of the room which represents their candidate. Other caucuses allow attendees to choose by secret ballot.
In contrast, a primary is similar to the general election where voters simply cast a ballot for the candidate they support. Primaries may be open, (where voters can vote for either a Republican OR a Democratic candidate) closed, (where voters can vote for a candidate only from the party they’re registered as), or blanket (where voters can vote for a candidate from each party).
Delegate This!
Delegates are people chosen to represent their state at the party’s national convention. In most Democratic primaries, candidates win a percentage of that state’s delegates based on the percentage of votes they won from the voters. In Republican primaries, delegates are usually awarded on the “Winner Take All” principal, where the winner of the primary receives all of that state’s delegates, no matter what percentage of votes they garnered.
Superdelegates are usually party officials or members that act as delegates during the national convention, but do NOT have to support the candidate that won their state’s primary. Superdelegates from Iowa do not have to support Obama and superdelegates from New Hampshire do not have to support Clinton. Regular delegates far outnumber superdelegates.
I’m often puzzled by our electoral system, so hopefully we can continue to shed light on the murkier parts of our democratic process. Anyone else is welcome to contribute whatever insight or knowledge you might have! Also, if you have any topics or questions you’ve always wondered about, let us know and we’ll try to address them.
For my research, I consulted this article from BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7049207.stm
and this one from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/02/delegate.explainer/index.html
Happy Polling!
~LA
Save The Lobsters! 