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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham

Pretty strange.

From the article:

“Rural Iowa matters for another reason in the Democratic contest. In order to encourage candidates to campaign in farming areas, state Democrats have tilted the delegate allocation so that rural areas are disproportionately represented in the final results. This sometimes can lead to bizarre results. As Roger Simon of Politico.com notes, “the turnout in some precincts is so small that a single family—let’s say four people—can determine the winner. In other precincts, only one person will show up and win for his candidate by being the only person in the room.” In small-turnout caucus meetings, ties are resolved by a coin toss or drawing lots. In 2004, four precincts saw literally no one show up to vote in the Democratic caucus.

There are other anomalies on the Democratic side. Some precincts use a different threshold level than 15% for the viability of a candidate. “Residency” rules are incredibly elastic. No one checks identification, and anyone who claims to live in the precinct is allowed to vote. In other words, very little prevents the unscrupulous (such as out-of-state campaign workers who have “lived” in Iowa for a few weeks) from having a role in the process. Each caucus also elects a “permanent chair,” who can have an outsize role in the process. Ned Chiodo, who has been appointed temporary chair of his local caucus by the state Democratic Party, told Politico.com that a permanent chair “controls the flow of the meeting. You have influence. You may be able to pick up a vote or two here and there for your candidate.”

GOOD GRIEF!!

The way the democrats run this ridiculous caucus says alot about how they would run the country as well should they get elected!! I hope we all remember that when the dust finally settles and we have our nominee!

It will be time to licks our wounds from the primaries and pull together to defeat the dems!!


573 posted on 01/03/2008 4:36:53 PM PST by penelopesire
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To: penelopesire
“Rural Iowa matters for another reason in the Democratic contest. In order to encourage candidates to campaign in farming areas, state Democrats have tilted the delegate allocation so that rural areas are disproportionately represented in the final results. This sometimes can lead to bizarre results. As Roger Simon of Politico.com notes, “the turnout in some precincts is so small that a single family—let’s say four people—can determine the winner. In other precincts, only one person will show up and win for his candidate by being the only person in the room.” In small-turnout caucus meetings, ties are resolved by a coin toss or drawing lots. In 2004, four precincts saw literally no one show up to vote in the Democratic caucus. There are other anomalies on the Democratic side. Some precincts use a different threshold level than 15% for the viability of a candidate. “Residency” rules are incredibly elastic. No one checks identification, and anyone who claims to live in the precinct is allowed to vote. In other words, very little prevents the unscrupulous (such as out-of-state campaign workers who have “lived” in Iowa for a few weeks) from having a role in the process. Each caucus also elects a “permanent chair,” who can have an outsize role in the process. Ned Chiodo, who has been appointed temporary chair of his local caucus by the state Democratic Party, told Politico.com that a permanent chair “controls the flow of the meeting. You have influence. You may be able to pick up a vote or two here and there for your candidate.”

GOOD GRIEF!!

Really insane isn't it? Now go read their delegate rules! The Dems whole system is suppose to structured this way to "Be fair" but it is actually slanted so that the Party organization has undue influence in every step of the process. That why Hillary could do better then expected. She is the best organized.

585 posted on 01/03/2008 4:44:05 PM PST by MNJohnnie (Hillary Clinton has never done one thing right. She thinks that qualifies her to be President?)
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To: penelopesire
>The way the democrats run this ridiculous caucus says alot about how they would run the country as well should they get elected!!

Yes -- elections run by union goon squads.

775 posted on 01/03/2008 5:27:17 PM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Elections have consequences.)
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