Iowa blizzard watch for Monday night (caucus night) through Tuesday night

wunderground.com ^ | Jan. 31, 2016

[COBOL2Java]

Could it favor Trump because of the bond with each other of standing in long lines and attending rallies together?

That's a good point; hadn't thought of that. Like you said, will be an interesting night to be sure.

[grania]

picking the lesser of two evils is a logical and valid voting method

There is no such thing as "lesser evil". I'll vote for the "greater good".

[EternalVigilance]

Well, that’s not quite the way it works. There are no polls to close.

Folks are asked to show up by 6:30. The festivities begin at 7:00.

Local precinct officials are elected.

There is the straw poll, which is the presidential vote.

Platform planks are debated and voted on.

Delegates to the county conventions, the folks with the chance to go on through the process, are elected.

With small crowds it doesn’t take that long.

With big crowds it can be a real circus.

I was on the Republican State Central Committee during the ‘96 Caucus, and I vividly remember the Buchanan supporters coming out of the woodwork. It was nuts for awhile, especially in certain caucus locations.

[xzins]

When does IT close?

[EternalVigilance]

When they’re done.

Then the results are phoned in to a central location for later reporting to the world.

If you’re lucky, the Republican Party of Iowa might even give you accurate results. Maybe.

[Flick Lives]

Weather Watch = look out window
Severe Weather Watch = put on glasses, step out on porch

[silverleaf]

Can democrats crossover here or is this registered gop only ?

[DuncanWaring]

The lesser of two evils is evil.

[bert]

registered GOP but per the Tump ad, you can register Republican on site

[EternalVigilance]

Anyone can re-register if they want to at the caucus location.

[xzins]

I will forever remain an advocate of a picture ID, a voter registration roll, a paper ballot, and a purple thumb.

[Flick Lives]

Steve Deace is saying if the turnout predicted in the polls happens, they simply won't have the infrastructure to handle it. I wonder if that could slow people finishing and getting home before the storm.

AccuWeather for Des Moines says 1" of snow by Midnight Monday. Majority of snow from storm falls after 3AM Tuesday.

[EternalVigilance]

Me too.

But this is not a real election. It’s a straw poll.

Few seem to realize this.

[xzins]

Some states have a caucus, and then later they have a primary, too. Is that the case with Iowa?

[bert]

now then....... a straw poll

I think I heard on the news that the Republican party either stripped the delegates from Santorum or appropriated many of the votes to Ron Paul.

That is, at the convention there were many Iowa votes cast for Paul

Can the party allocate the delegates differently from the straw poll?

[PapaBear3625]

It will be very interesting to see the results. I would love Bernie Sanders to trounce Hillary, but the articles I’ve read say that’s unlikely because his supporters are concentrated in districts with college campuses.

I would think a blizzard would be a plus for Bernie. His supporters are clustered in high-density college campuses, where they most likely have the caucus location there on campus, in walking distance.

[silverleaf]

Well that is speshul!
Maybe this will grab those folks who say they are “d” because it is not cool or pc to say you are “ r”

[EternalVigilance]

Where I live in NW Iowa, wunderground has us up to a 56% chance of snow by 7:00 pm, when the meetings start.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Lohrville%2C+IA

[EternalVigilance]

Can the party allocate the delegates differently from the straw poll?

In the past they did. The straw poll was completely non-binding.

What their rules are this year I don't know. You'll have to find someone still involved in that party to ask.

[EternalVigilance]

Some states have a caucus, and then later they have a primary, too. Is that the case with Iowa?

Not for the presidential contest. There is a party primary for other offices.