2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumIowa has NEVER elected a woman Governor or a Dem woman to Congress.
In its entire history, it had never elected ANY woman to the US Congress till GOP Joni Ernst was elected.
In its state government, only 27/100 members are women. Only 7/50 Senators are female.
And yet Iowa, and New Hampshire, the least diverse state in the country, are the two bellwethers for the election.
Iowans arent accustomed to women in positions of political power. Its amazing that Hillary is doing this well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_General_Assembly
http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-this-could-be-the-year-iowa-sends-its-first-woman-to-congress/
In its 168 years, Iowa has never elected a woman to Congress, or picked one as its governor.
For many residents who pride themselves on a progressive civil rights history that predates statehood, that political reality has become an exasperating distinction shared with only one other state Mississippi.
Its very irritating to be grouped with Mississippi, says Roxanne Conlin, a Democrat and former U.S. attorney who ran for governor in 1982, the first Iowa woman to do so, and for Senate in 2010. When I tell people, they just cant believe it.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)One needs only look at the demographics.
cascadiance
(19,537 posts)I do like the idea of a caucus state, where candidates can meet a lot more with the voters in advance of the caucus, and caucus voters meet together to discuss the election, and therefore frame it more when up until that point it hasn't been "framed" much yet.
Now perhaps to balance it out, have a high population state like California the same day as the Iowa caucuses (or another state using a caucus system), so that we can get a balance of different sets of and styles of voting to have something like a caucus system be more valuable than it would be if it were later in the election cycle when so many issues are a lot more discussed in other preceding state primaries.
I think caucuses also give the chance for people to interact with other campaigns (such as perhaps Bernie voters with O'Malley voters) so that they can see where their concerns and beliefs overlap and where they don't to learn early on whether alliances can be built at this stage when getting reps for diverse sets of voters that can't by themselves make a group for a delegate. I think the campaigns watching this process can learn a lot how the different candidates' bases may be more aligned or problematic in trying to align with in later campaigns if perhaps one of the candidates drops out like O'Malley.
dsc
(52,155 posts)for a couple of years. I still have had problems with our set up for several years.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)dsc
(52,155 posts)regardless of which candidate the current set up favors.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)dsc
(52,155 posts)their were fairly early in 2004, I think it was March. That is problematic.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Most Sanders supporters would support D.C. voting early in the process(along with NY and California, so Latino voters would have a meaningful role in the nomination process.
BTW, I wouldn't assume HRC will sweep D.C.. She has never fought all that hard for the issues voters there care about.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)So would any other DNC chair in any other nomination cycle.
But you keep making it sound like the D.C. caucus date is somehow Bernie's fault.
Nobody in the Sanders campaign had any say in the caucus scheduling...it was all locked in before Bernie even declared...and there's no reason to think that Bernie wants D.C.'s caucus to be too late to matter.
It's the centrist hack's doing...not the progressive insurgents.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)She didn't schedule the NH primary, or the Iowa caucus.
And please point to anywhere I said the schedule is Bernie's fault.
Go figure
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)catnhatnh
(8,976 posts)Iowa hasn't even caucused yet and ZING-under the bus....
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)Bernie has shown little movement there.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Or maybe, just maybe, it is just such a discussion of ideas. And Hillary is not doing so well in that respect, having few good ideas.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)just ideas, a woman would have been elected to high political office long ago. Instead, Iowa and Mississippi are the ONLY states that never had -- until 2014.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)pnwmom
(108,973 posts)no woman had ever been elected till 2014 -- and there still is only one -- proves that discrimination was involved.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)pnwmom
(108,973 posts)In Iowa's entire 170 year history, only a single woman has ever achieved a Federal office or the Governor's office.
Which is truly pathetic and not representative of our country's values.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)I was not accustomed to black men being in political power. Didn't affect my vote in 2012 though. See the difference?
You need to actually prove something for it to be proven.
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)pnwmom
(108,973 posts)are way off, then discrimination is involved.
I'm making the same presumption.
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)pnwmom
(108,973 posts)of women in high political office. That's what I'm saying.
And they don't do a great job representing the views of the rest of the country.
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)They know bullshit when they see it--or hear it.
sadoldgirl
(3,431 posts)It is funny how it always comes down to
HRC being a woman.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)That has nothing to do with the caucus race between Bernie and HRC. People aren't going to fan out for Bernie out of sexism...they'll fan out for him because he's more progressive and has more concern for ordinary working people.
If Bernie was Bernice and Hillary was Larry, everybody at the Iowa caucus would make exactly the same choices.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Or as bernie would say, "stop shouting"
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Oh, and the "stop shouting" smear has been thoroughly debunked. Keep up.
jfern
(5,204 posts)Senator Ernst has terrible politics, but she is a woman. And what's your excuse for NH? As of 2 years ago, all 5 of their governor, senators, and representatives were women. The IA and NH are too sexist to vote for Hillary argument is a sure sign Hillary is a pathetic losing campaign.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)and mentioned Joni Ernst in the body of the post.
Two years ago NH had an unusual number of women in high office. But over the decades of its history, not all that many.
But I didn't say NH was too sexist. I said that it had the highest percentage of whites in the country, and Hillary draws her strongest support from minority voters -- a key Democratic voting block.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Very very interesting.
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)Last summer they were close to being tied, and they are now, too.
JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)catnhatnh
(8,976 posts)West Virginia, Vermont, and Maine have higher % white population.
http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-majority-minority-populations-in-states.html
jfern
(5,204 posts)Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)pnwmom
(108,973 posts)JonLeibowitz
(6,282 posts)Bettie
(16,086 posts)Keep them from voting because they aren't big enough for your taste. Who cares what the flyover states think anyway.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)sadoldgirl
(3,431 posts)In other words, the new meme is:
If Bernie wins Iowa, it is only because these voters
are sexist and racist. Got it!
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)You understand that this is about Iowa not electing very many women to government, right? You understand that the demographics there do not represent the country right?
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)It's just as feminist to back Bernie(who as the most progressive candidate will automatically be better on all anti-oppression issues)or O'Malley as it would be to back HRC. Gender isn't more important than conviction and courage.
KingFlorez
(12,689 posts)That's not exactly a secret, that's just how voting demographics are.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Despite your offensive claim that people of color aren't educated enough to vote for Bernie(I still can't believe you posted that, btw) more and more voters of color are realizing that HRC has done nothing to earn their support and that Bernie is actually more electable than HRC.
The canard about Bernie not caring about racism has now been totally discredited, as well.
KingFlorez
(12,689 posts)If black voters don't support Bernie, that is exactly the argument I'm predicting will be used. Everyone who doesn't support Bernie ends up being attacked somehow and black voters will be no exception.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Pointing out that HRC has done nothing to deserve black support is not an attack on black voters. And more and more voters of colot are turning away from HRC.
Bernie has never given anyone any reason to think he doesn't care about racism. Ever. And I think a lot of voters of color are realizing that HRC's campaign was playing them.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)winter is coming
(11,785 posts)ucrdem
(15,512 posts)Not easily, but comfortably.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Supporting HRC in the presidential precinct caucuses wouldn't do anything to change the gender lag in the state's electoral history. She's not running for governor or senator.
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)Unless they vote for Hillary...
pnwmom
(108,973 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)There will be plenty of men caucusing there for HRC, and plenty of women caucusing for Bernie.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)A preemptive Hillary lost because Iowans are sexizts!!1! thread.
And under the bus goes Iowa!
Kentonio
(4,377 posts)leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Kentonio
(4,377 posts)Until the polls in Iowa closed up so much, we didn't hear a word about this stuff, yet suddenly it looks like Sanders may well win and there's a flurry of posts about how unrepresentative Iowa and NH are, and now apparently how sexist Iowa is.
It's not even subtle.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)You do understand that Iowa's demographics do not represent the country right?
Kentonio
(4,377 posts)leftofcool
(19,460 posts)People have been complaining about this for 25 years or more. Neither State represents the country, yet traditionally, they have had their primaries first. Why is that?
Kentonio
(4,377 posts)Which allows candidates who don't have major party backing to have a chance to really connect with voters and build some momentum. Obviously it would be better if they were more representative of the demographics of the nation, but they do serve an important purpose in the primary competition.