So That's How We Elect a President

I just spent the past 25 minutes watching live video feed on the Washington Post website of one of the Democratic caucuses in Iowa. All I have to say is weird.

As I understand it, the Iowa caucus works in the following way:
Those interested in supporting a candidate show up at a designated caucus location by 7 p.m. sharp on polling day. Campaign personnel do all they can to get supporters to the caucuses including providing transportation, babysitting, etc. Other personnel are at the site, and their job is to gather as many people as they can to their corner (literally as each candidate is assigned a physical area in which supporters are to group). At a specified time, all caucus-goers have to be in the designated area of their candidate. They are then counted. Candidates who don't receive support from at least 15% of the total number of people in attendance are eliminated in contention. (The 15% is for a precinct that has 4 or more delegates. The % changes if the precinct has less delegates, but the one I was watching had 8 delegates, so we're going to work with that number.) Once a candidate is eliminated, the group is disbanded and the supporters of the candidates still in contention try to recruit the supporters now without a candidate into their camps. (They can also try to recruit from camps that are still in contention.) This process continues until all groups meet minimum requirements. At that point, the delegates are doled out using the following formula:

(number of supporters in the group MULTIPLIED BY the number of delegates)
DIVIDED BY
(total number of caucus participants)

The overall winner is then determined by the percentage of delegates that goes to each candidate.

Apparently, just filling out a ballot and dropping it in a box just isn't fun/easy/interesting (?) enough.

So, what does it look like in real life you ask?

The closest thing I can come up with is a high school pep rally that pits all the different class years against each other. Each group is huddled close together, and a few of the most high-spirited people are leading cheers promoting their group. The "cool kids" are just chatting, out on the edge of whatever group they've claimed, too cool for the cheers or to really pay much attention to what's going on around them. And the "teachers" (aka caucus workers) are banging on the table, shouting into megaphones, and just generally trying desperately to get everyone's attention, but failing miserably.

It's absolutely fascinating. I had no idea that that what's democracy looked like.

Oh, and did I mention the methods for counting people? It's nothing scientific, no dropping something that can't be duplicated in a box, or swiping of a card in some form of computer. No, this is Iowa folks, and there's no need for anything as fancy-pancy as that. Instead, one group used the good ol' "sound off" technique, where one person yelled out 1, then the next person yelled out 2, and so on and so forth. Another group used a technique that involved everyone raising their hand and then lowering their hand as the chosen counter pointed at them and said a number. What kept members of group 1, who were not lined up in any organized manner but were rather arranged in a big amoeba-like blob, from counting themselves again by yelling out a second number I have no idea. And what kept members of group 2--also a messy mass of humanity--from putting their hand right back up and being counted again beats me. I guess that they must know the total number of people present and the numbers from all the groups added together can't exceed that, but it just seems a little bit backwards to me.

At the same time, I'm completely tempted to move to Iowa during an election year so that I can join in the fun that is caucusing.

(In case you were wondering, the precinct I was watching broke down as follows: 3 delegates Obama, 2 delegates Clinton, 2 delegates Edwards, 1 delegate Richardson. )