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Caucus

What We'll Be Talking about in 2016

Jonathan BernsteinFeb 21, 2013
AP Photo/Mark Hirsch

Yes, pundits of all stripes are already starting to handicap the presidential fields for 2016. Yes, that’s a long time from now …  although we are under three years to the Iowa Caucuses, and probably just about two years from the first debates, so it’s not all that long. More to the point: as long as the candidates are running—and they are—there’s no reason to pretend the contest hasn’t started yet.

Bring On Less Democracy

Garrett EppsMay 10, 2012
(Flickr / afagen)

Is anybody else as depressed as I am about the next four years? 

No matter who wins, we face the prospect of bitterly divided government, savage partisanship in Congress, and increasing executive desperation. Even if Republicans win the Senate and retain the House, they will not have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate; even if Obama holds on to the White House, he will face filibusters in the Senate and outright defiance in the House. A Congress that cannot deal with the tiny student-debt problem in orderly fashion is unlikely to be able to tackle big problems at all.

There's No Such Thing as Non-Political Politics

Jamelle BouieMay 07, 2012
(Wikipedia)

Is Bob Kerry running to replace Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, or is he vying for emperor of the Beltway? Judging from his affection for non-political politics, my money is on the latter:

“I think there are 60 votes in the Senate to solve the budget challenge and to secure Medicare and Social Security,” Kerrey said Saturday.

“The Democratic and Republican caucuses are the problem.”

Those organized party caucuses stand in the way of bipartisan cooperation on difficult problems that continue to grow larger and become more urgent as the Congress remains paralyzed by partisan gridlock, Kerrey said.

No News For Santorum Out of Missouri

Patrick CaldwellMar 16, 2012
(Flickr/paparutzi)

The next jaunt on the wild Republican roller-coaster is this weekend. Missouri voters head to their local polling locations for the second time this cycle. They first expressed themselves back in early February in a nonbinding primary, a vote won by Rick Santorum but that has no bearing on the delegates that will be sent to Tampa this summer. Missourians vote once again tomorrow, this time in caucuses that will eventually, down the line, help select who is sent to the GOP convention, and by extension, whether the state votes for Santorum or Mitt Romney.

Can Caucuses Be Defended?

Scott LemieuxMar 07, 2012
Library of Congress

Super Tuesday, with its mix of primaries and caucuses, has led to some interesting discussions about the merits (or lack thereof) of the latter. Rick Hasen argues that Congress should ban caucuses outright. Jonathan Bernstein has a response defending caucuses. Is Bernstein's defense of caucuses—which he concedes are on some level exclusionary and unfair—convincing?

This Is Why You Can't Have Nice Things

Patrick CaldwellFeb 09, 2012
(Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

The class of commentators who celebrate politicians outside the two-party system might finally realize their dreams of a third-party candidacy in 2012. These agitators of a middle path—typically white, upper-middle-class elites terrified of the nation's debt but ill at ease with social conservatism—have tried their hand in past years at disrupting the normal political process. In 2008, a group called Unity '08 planned to run a bipartisan presidential ticket but fell apart before the election.

Miracle in Vegas

Harold MeyersonFeb 07, 2012
Flickr/Gage Skidmore

On Saturday night, as CNN’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Nevada caucuses was wilting from lack of anything to cover (candidates had yet to appear, vote totals were both low and unchanging, commentators had nothing to say), the network decided to air the one caucus still ongoing: the post-Shabbat Vegas caucus that the state GOP had set up to accommodate those observant Jewish Republicans who couldn’t turn out till the sun set.

The Representativeness of Iowa Caucusgoers

John SidesJan 03, 2012

I am here in Iowa with Lynn Vavreck. I’ll have more to report on our minor adventures later. But before the caucus takes place, it’s important to address a perennial concern: the unrepresentativeness of people who attend the caucus. This is a familiar refrain that typically involves claims about the high costs the caucus imposes on voters, the resulting low turnout, the domination by activists, etc.

Mommy, What's a Caucus?

Paul WaldmanJan 02, 2012

If you want to challenge your pedagogical skills, try explaining the Iowa caucuses to a child. "You see, Billy, in America, we get to choose our presidents, and every citizen gets to participate. So to start the process off, everyone who wants to be president spends months in the state of Iowa, personally meeting as many Iowans as they can. And then one Tuesday in January, those Iowans go to their local schools and community centers, hang around for an hour listening to boring speeches, then cast their votes. Then the media tell us that the candidates who didn't come in first or second are unworthy of any more attention from people in the other 49 states, so those candidates drop out of the race.

Bigfoot in Iowa

Patrick CaldwellJan 02, 2012

PELLA, IOWA—I closed out 2011 Saturday with a bit of good luck after stumbling upon a mythical creature: a undecided Republican caucus voter who had yet to be interviewed by one of the major news outlets. With 1,500 national and international reporters in the heartland for the Iowa caucuses, it's a coveted, rare find. In Marshalltown the previous night, I watched as The Washington Post's Jason Horowitz rushed to intercept The Atlantic's Molly Ball as she turned her tape recorder on a voter he had already selected for a profile. After a Mitt Romney event Thursday in Mason City, a reporter friend and I noted that we had both previously interviewed Beth, a high-school teacher from Clear Lake.

The People's Caucus

Josh EidelsonDec 31, 2011

This week Occupy activists in Iowa, who’ve been urging caucus-goers to vote for “Uncommitted” in Tuesday’s Republican and Democratic caucuses, cried fowl when the Iowa GOP signaled it would only count votes for declared presidential candidates this year. Tuesday night, Iowans launched a “People’s Caucus,” at which they discussed policy resolutions and then broke up into “dispreference groups” based on which candidates they were most eager to demonstrate against. Activists were arrested at campaign offices and at a Wells Fargo, which they had linked back to a Romney office via a cardboard “pipeline” representing the cash flow from the bank to the candidate.

Republican Diversity, Cont.

Jamelle BouieDec 02, 2010

Rep.-elect Tim Scott of South Carolina, the state's first black Republican since Reconstruction, has opted not to join the Congressional Black Caucus:

The CBC's Newest Member?

Jamelle BouieNov 17, 2010

The Hill reports that Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.) is planning to join the Congressional Black Caucus:

“There are two criteria to be a member of the Congressional Black Caucus — you must be black and you must be a member of Congress, and when I woke up this morning, I think I met both of those criteria,” West told The Hill on Tuesday. “So I will be joining.”