Democrats Move Closer to Dumping Iowa Caucuses

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Caucuses are inherently undemocratic. I saw how the Obama campaign trained people to maximize delegates back in 2008 when Texas had the Texas two step. Iowa's caucuses in particular are bad. Iowa does not represent the base of the Democratic Party. I hope that we get rid of the Iowa caucus

Link to tweet

“President Biden is not a big fan. Former Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez is openly opposed. And elsewhere in the Democratic inner sanctum, disdain for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus has been rising for years,” the Washington Post reports.

“Now the day of reckoning for Iowa Democrats is fast approaching, as the national party starts to create a new calendar for the 2024 presidential nomination that could remove Iowa from its privileged position for the first time since 1972, when candidates started flocking to the state for an early jump on the race to the White House.”

“The caucuses’ reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state’s electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party’s inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party.”

[Tetrachloride]

1. Change in 1. Who's on first 2. what method of countin 3. to rephrase:

Who do you trust to count ? 4. sending candidates that will lead Team Blue.

Set an example for the country that Iowa will do way way better.

Note: iowa rubs off on a lot of neighboring states.

[jimfields33]

2. Candidates can still go to iowa and get their funnel cakes

And do hand shaking. I think this is good to have it be a primary.

[question everything]

3. We need regional primaries rotating their order.

Yes, I know, it is in NH Constitution to be the first, so what? It will have its primaries on Thanksgiving?

And if candidates do not spend so much time there?

[brooklynite]

13. Yes, it WILL have its Primary on Thanksgiving!

Go back and read up on the 2008 Presidential Election. NH was prepared to move their PrimAry to 2007.

[ShazamIam]

4. The kochs took over Iowa politics, I would bet my bippies they infiltrated the Iowa Democratic

caucuses in both 2016 and 2020. They had to take over Iowa, it was too influential in candidate outcomes.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/07/06/koch-brothers-group-targets-iowa/12268661/

[SharonClark]

6. The Koch Bros did NOT take over the Iowa Democratic Caucuses ever.

They do, however, own the Iowa GQP, Big Ag, and the evilgelicals.

[ShazamIam]

9. You don't think the level of confusion was deliberate? It had not happened in prior years. But I am

fine with disagreeing. One clue is the amount of media coverage calling the Democratic disorganized and corrupt, with the vote counting or have you forgotten how much news noise was made about the 2020 caucuses in particular.

[UTUSN]

5. K& big R#5 for - caucuses are *CRAP*! - destroy the Secret Ballot, discourage voting.

The goody two shoes version of "participatory" town hall is actually elitist: Why should anybody have to go to a group and either defend one's choice or have the choice public knowledge - in front of neighbors, perhaps co-workers or bosses, or whatever "community" powers that be?

Introverts be damned in that setting!

[tritsofme]

7. Excellent. Caucuses should be banned as a method of selecting delegates.

Democratic voters deserve a primary with a secret ballot.

[Hortensis]

8. Almost no one participates, and they're both too easy for a local cabal

to control and for members of unrepresentative fringe factions, not even necessarily pro- or predominantly Democratic, to swarm and game.

[brooklynite]

10. Doesn't matter what the Democratic Party chooses to do.

Democrats can choose to end their “stand in a living room and publicly announce your choice” caucus model, but they CANNOT change to a Primary, because the State Government will not authorize one. There will be a Caucus, just in another format.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. And the delegates from that caucus will not be seated at the National Convention

[brooklynite]

12. Why?

Is the DNC going to deny a choice to Iowa Democrats because Iowa Republicans wouldn’t authorize a Primary?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. That is how the party rules work

At one point Michigan's and Florida's delegation were seated but their votes did not count n 2008 for breaking party rules.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

If Iowa does not eliminate the caucus the party can deal with it.

Link to tweet

We were expecting some floor fights in 2016 on the platform and credentials and I had fun reading the party rules and the rules in several states.

[brooklynite]

15. That was a question of WHEN their Primary was held.

Again, should we allow Republicans to deny a voice to Democrats?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. Re read the material

The DNC can require a primary for delegates. Iowa does have primaries in the real world. these regularly scheduled primaries are later than the caucus but are still available for the selection of delegates in the real world https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/electioninfo/primary/index.html

Filing Periods
The filing periods for the June 7, 2022, Primary Election are:

State and Federal Offices: February 28 – March 18, 2022 (5:00 p.m.)
County Offices: March 7 – March 25, 2022 (5:00 p.m.)
Federal and State candidate lists will be available and updated throughout the filing period.

Contact your county auditor for information on county candidates.

[brooklynite]

18. Re read the material

“Federal Office”by definition of the State of Iowa is House and Senate seats. The State of Iowa WILL NOT schedule a Presidential vote during their Primary.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. You are wrong

The-residential primary can be held at the same primary for other offices. That is what is done I other states. The DNC can exclude the Iowa delegates if the state violates DNC rules.

[brooklynite]

21. Yes it CAN be held, but it won't be.

You’re ignoring the fact that the Republican legislature and the Republican Governor won’t add a Presidential Primary. They like the first in the nation caucus structure.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

22. Iowa had a full primary for all federal candidates on June 7 of 2020

You are again wrong. Here is some history that I thought was fairly common knowledge. Iowa has primaries that occur later in the year and so will not be first. The only reason why Iowa has a caucus is to compete with New Hampshire and try to be first in the Nation. If Iowa tried to have the first primary then New Hampshire would move its primary up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_presidential_primary

New Hampshire state law[6] stipulates that the presidential primary shall be on the second Tuesday in March (the date when town meetings and non-partisan municipal elections are traditionally held), but that the Secretary of State must, if necessary, change the date to ensure that the New Hampshire primary will take place at least seven days before any "similar election" in any other state. The Iowa caucuses are not considered to be a similar election. In recent election cycles, the New Hampshire primary has taken place the week after the Iowa caucus.

Iowa has set primaries already and it would be easy to add the POTUS these primaries these regularly scheduled primaries are later than the caucus but are still available for the selection of delegates in the real world https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/electioninfo/primary/index.html

Filing Periods
The filing periods for the June 7, 2022, Primary Election are:

State and Federal Offices: February 28 – March 18, 2022 (5:00 p.m.)
County Offices: March 7 – March 25, 2022 (5:00 p.m.)
Federal and State candidate lists will be available and updated throughout the filing period.

Contact your county auditor for information on county candidates.

I note that Washington State had undemocratic caucuses in 2016 but chanded to a real primary in 2020 https://www.king5.com/article/news/politics/washington-democrats-will-replace-caucus-with-presidential-primary-results-in-2020/281-91c6fd0c-3177-4daf-a5a2-358faa37b39d

The Washington state Democratic Party announced Sunday it will use the state's 2020 presidential primary to allocate delegates to candidates instead of the precinct caucuses it has used in previous years.....

The Washington state Democratic Party announced Sunday it will use the state's 2020 presidential primary to allocate delegates to candidates instead of the precinct caucuses it has used in previous years.

The DNC has started the process of eliminating undemocratic caucuses. https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-iowa-ia-state-wire-nh-state-wire-e888a8c7620d5ed51110f9b8838f52b1

Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez said Monday that this year’s handful of presidential caucuses should be the last the party ever holds.

“I think by 2024 we ought to have everyone being a primary state,” Perez told The Associated Press in an interview on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention.

The chairman didn’t specifically name Iowa, which for decades has led off the nominating calendar, but his position could represent a seismic shift in the party’s traditions, and it underscores the pressure on the caucus structure that has intensified since Iowa’s count dragged out for days to open the 2020 nominating fight eventually won by Joe Biden.

See also https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/18/politics/2020-dnc-rules-caucuses-over/index.html

Before the Democratic National Convention's official program even began on Monday night, a major change in the way the party selects its nominee was floated -- a proposal that would end the caucus process, perhaps forever.

"I think by 2024 we ought to have everyone being a primary state," Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez told The Associated Press, adding: "I want everyone to participate, and having a state-run primary is the best way to accomplish that."
(Quick primer: A primary is where you go into a polling place, cast your vote and leave. A caucus involves gathering in a room, grouping yourselves by preferred candidate and then trying to woo people backing other candidates to your side. It's a much longer process.)

While Perez's comments mark the most public acknowledgment of the likely death of caucuses in picking future Democratic presidential nominees, the writing has been on the wall since early February. February 3, to be exact.

I have seen the DNC in action. In 2008 Texas used the Texas two step where a portion of the delegates were selected in the primary and a portion selected in caucuses. The Obama campaign lost the primary but got more delegates in Texas due to the caucus portion. The DNC abolished the Texas two step for the 2016 cycle.

Again you are wrong and it is fairly common knowledge that caucuses will be gone for 2024. I have met Joe twice and expect Joe to run in 2014 and so all of this meaningless just like it was in 2012.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

23. There was a Democratic Primary on June 7, 2020 for federal candidates

The parties control the rules for primaries and the party can add any races that it wants to a primary That is how primaries work in the real world. The states sets a date and pays for the primary but the state party gets to decide which races are included and the rules for the primary.

I have had fun reading the DNC rules and select state party rules. I have been on the rules committee for the Texas party a couple of times and there is nothing more fun that spending four hours in a meeting or zoom call with thirty or forty lawyers.

[brooklynite]

24. "Any races it wants"

The point is that the Iowa Government doesn’t want to. It clear why this is so difficult to understand.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

25. That is how primaries work in the real world

Try reading the DNC rules and the applicable state rules. You are totally WRONG in your claims

[brooklynite]

26. The Iowa Primary did not include a Presidential Primary in 2020 (or any previous year)

Therefore a change in the rules would be necessary. The Democratic Party can ask for one. The Republican Government officials will say no,

[LetMyPeopleVote]

28. That is because of the political game played to be first in the nation

There is absolutely nothing stopping the Iowa Democratic Party from adding these races to the primary if they do not mind not being first. Iowa is using a caucus to keep New Hampshire from jumping ahead

The DNC is going to step in and I really do not care if no delegates from Iowa are seated

[LetMyPeopleVote]

29. Dems could dethrone Iowa

Iowa and New Hampshire are not guaranteed being the first contests. These two states do not represent the demographics of the party.

Link to tweet

Democratic Party leaders are considering overhauling the 2024 presidential primary calendar, a transformation that would include ousting Iowa and New Hampshire from their cherished perches as the first states to vote.

Senior party leaders and Democratic National Committee members are privately exploring the idea of pushing South Carolina and Nevada to the front of the primary election schedule, as well as the possibility of multiple states holding the first nominating contest on the same day.....

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to have those two states to set the tone. It’s really a false premise that if you do well in Iowa and New Hampshire you’re going to do well across the country. That was proven wrong with Joe Biden,” Reid said in an interview. “There’s no diversity in Iowa. There’s certainly no diversity in New Hampshire.”.....

Within the DNC, Democrats have talked about various approaches, including multiple states going first on the same day — such as Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina all voting together on a single date. Regional primaries are another option where, for instance, Iowa and another Midwestern state could vote at the same time.

“Many of us believe that the first four could be consolidated, and still provide a small-state focus,” said Larry Cohen, a longtime DNC member who was vice chair of the party’s post-2016 Unity Reform Commission. He also called for “further calendar consolidation so that states like New York and New Jersey actually mean something."

I trust Harry Reid, Jim Clyburn and Jaimie Harrison to work this out

[KentuckyWoman]

17. I wish it could be Georgia, but can't

If I remember, Georgia law allows anyone to vote either party primary. If that is do, then it will not work well.

[Hekate]

20. KnR

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. Democrats edge toward dumping Iowa's caucuses as the first presidential vote

These caucuses are unrepresentative an exclude people. I ended up running my local caucus in the 2008 caucus portion of the Texas two step. Hillary won the primary but President Obama ended up with more Texas delegates due to the caucus portion. Most caucus goers were at my caucus 6 PM until 9 PM and I did not go home until after 11 PM. Most people cannot take off that much time to participate in a caucus

Link to tweet

The caucuses’ reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state’s electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party’s inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party....

“It is not suited to normal people, people that actually have daily lives,” South Carolina State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a former chairman of that state’s Democratic Party and a longtime Biden ally, said of the caucuses. He described the laborious process of participating, over multiple hours, in person, on a weeknight, as far more restrictive than the requirements of a new voter law in Texas that Democrats universally oppose.,,,,

Leaders in Nevada, with the support of former Senate majority leader Harry M. Reid (D), recently changed state law to transition from a caucus to a primary and schedule the date on the first Tuesday in February in a bid to increase the state’s importance. Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), a longtime Biden ally, has like Reid been critical of the demographics of New Hampshire and Iowa. Ninety-one percent of Democratic caucus goers in Iowa were White in 2020, according to entry polls.

Among the possible solutions is a party ban on allowing convention delegates to be nominated in any early caucuses in the 2024 cycle. Perez has advocated allowing multiple states, possibly including South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire, to vote on the same day, forcing campaigns to split their early campaign resources more broadly in the early parts of their campaign.

I have a feeling that Harry Reid, Jim Clyburn and Jamie Harrison will end up winning this issue