Iowa Caucus

So here's a post for all who may be wondering why every time you turn on the news you here something about that lovely, middle of nowhere state Iowa. Well the answer is… the Iowa Caucus. For those of you who still have no idea as to what I am talking about, let me explain.

A caucus is most generally defined as a meeting of members of a political party or a political movement. Basically it's the way Iowa chooses to vote for its presidential nominee.

The Iowa caucus has been the first electoral event (caucus or primary) for nominating the presidential candidate since 1972. Getting to be the first state in the nation to vote doesn't just give Iowa bragging rights, it makes Iowa a powerhouse state for Presidential nominee campaigning. Each presidential candidate, on average, can spend anywhere from $1,674, 000 to $5,022,000 just to ensure a finish within the top half of the Iowa Caucuses. Iowa 's vote has always played a major role in influencing the way the rest of America votes, this year however; Iowa has caught everyone completely off guard.

*Here is an example of a National poll from October 10, 2007 (CNN):

DEMOCRATS................ REPUBLICANS...............

Clinton 47%....................Giuliani 27%
Obama 21%....................Thompson 17%
Edwards 12% .................Romney 14%
Richardson 3% ...............McCain 13%
Kucinich 2%....................Huckabee 6%
Biden 1%........................Paul 2%
Chris Dodd 1%................Hunter 1%


*Now here are the Iowa Caucus polls from December 9 , 2007(CNN):

DEMOCRATS……..…... REPBULICANS……....

Obama 33%.................Huckabee 31%
Clinton 24%................. Romney 22%
Edwards 24%...............Giuliani 9%
Richardson 9%............ Thompson 9%
Biden 3%.....................Paul 7%
Chris Dodd 1%............ McCain 7%
Kucinich 1%................ Hunter 1%



So basically Iowa voters went against the rest of the nation and chose Obama (D) and Huckabee (R) instead of Clinton (D) and Giuliani (R) as their candidates of choice.


Now here is another national poll, from December 12, 2007 , after Iowa 's polls had been released(CNN):

DEMOCRATS................ REPUBLICANS...............

Clinton 40%................... Giuliani 24
Obama 30%.................... Huckabee 22%
Edwards 12%.................. Romney 16%
Richardson 4%................ McCain 13%
Biden 4%....................... Thompson 10%
Kucinich 2%................... Paul 6%
Chris Dodd 2%............... Hunter 2%


Iowa favored Huckabee on the Republican side and as a result he skyrocketed 16% in national polls. And even though Iowa's favorite democrat (Obama) hasn't managed to surpass Clinton in national polls, he has managed to tighten the gap to only 10%. These polls are a great example of the "band wagon effect" that Iowa has over the rest of the nation, and hopefully should explain why Iowa plays such a huge roll in the Presidential nominee elections.


*these polls are about two weeks old, and some numbers have changed. http://www.pollingreport.com/2008.htm this site updates about every 2 to 3 weeks with new polls and the latest date they have is December 18th,

*Also please remember that all polls come with about a 4% margin of error