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Iowa relishes kingmaker role
03/01/2008 22:07 - (SA)
Des Moines, Iowa - As the world turned on Thursday to this unpretentious farm state for signs of who might be the next US president, it struggled to follow one of the most bizarre processes on the electoral map.
Local political activists were set to gather after nightfall at some 1 800 precincts, in school cafeterias, church meeting halls and hotel ballrooms, to pick their favourite Republican or Democrat presidential candidate.
"Now, you decide," a banner headline in the Des Moines register told Iowans, on a cloudless but frigid day, with stiff icy winds making temperatures of minus 7 C feel like minus 15 C.
Iowa's Republican caucus is easy to understand, amounting to an in-person, secret-ballot poll of presidential wannabees.
But the process for Democrats is complex and fluid.
Democrat Barack Obama, at a Methodist church in Indianola, called the exercise "simple ... easy (and) exciting," but it is arguably anything but.
Iowans can turn up at a caucus intending to support candidate A, and end up, after an hour of discussion and debate, picking candidate B.
In full view of their peers, with no ballots in sight, activists literally vote with their feet for their 2008 champion - gathering in corners of venues designated for each candidate.
And Democratic candidates, especially long-shots, face real indignity: if they don't reach a certain threshold - usually 15% of a meeting's turnout - they are declared not viable.
Second choice
Their supporters are then asked to join the backers of another candidate - meaning a candidate who is the second choice of large numbers of voters may eventually overcome a more popular rival.
Democratic leaders urge Iowans to have a second choice in mind just in case, and candidates themselves forge strange alliances.
Long-shot candidate Dennis Kucinich has told his supporters to back Obama as their second choice, due to their shared staunch opposition to the Iraq war.
The arcane caucuses process serves to portion out delegates to county conventions, which pick state convention delegates, who finally vote on which Iowans go to national party conventions to rubber stamp White House nominees.
In 2004, Democratic Senator John Kerry pulled off a surprise win in Iowa over favourite Howard Dean, and went on to win the nomination - only to lose to President George W Bush in the general election.
Only 124 000 people attended those Democratic caucuses, giving ammunition to those from other states who say the small mid-western outpost has too much sway over the choice of US presidents.
'Daunting process'
But with the 2008 race the most open in generations, a record turnout, especially among Democrats, is expected this time around - even if it still represents just a fraction of the state's three million people.
For first timers, the process can appear daunting.
So the University of Iowa holds special sessions to explain how caucuses work to its students.
"We'll probably spend 10 minutes on the Republicans rules and 50 on the Democrats'," explained Atul Nakhasi, leader of the school's Democrats.
Iowa's Republican and Democratic caucuses begin at 19:00 (0100 GMT on Friday.)
- AFP
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