anyone else really disappointed by the process from Iowa?

[morgan2]

Tonight I watched most of the broadcast on c-span 1 of the Iowa caucus. After a few hours to digest what happened I came away with a few predictable but distrubing conclusions. The first was that people's expectations for candidates performances drastically affected how things went down in the caucus. Specifically when they initially split up into groups, the Edwards/Kucinich/Dean/Gephart camps were very similar in numbers. I think Edwards had 33, Dean 29, Gephart 30 and Kucinich somewhere in the high 20s. Everyone came over to the Kucinich camp immediately looking for them to jump ship. They just assumed they'd be the ones to give in. The people in the Kucinich camp were very willing to do this. Most had already given in to the expectations for themselves based upon polling and media. I can't say things would have happened differently if the polls were accurate(which to me would seem impossible with all the new caucusers this year) and if the media coverage was at all balanced, but I think its clear that these things did affect the caucus process. In my opinion people were way too easily cowed into the expectations presented by the media prior to the election.

[goodhue]

1. Remember it was just one caucus

I was disapointed only that DK did not get a delegate, which he could of had his supporters been more astute. They were played by Edwards and Dean supporters. But that's the way it goes. Walking subcaucuses require people to think on their feet and know when and when not to realign. Some DK folks did give it up to early. They did get to 33 at some point but some large portion had already gone to help Edwards get second delegate. Then Dean folks succesfully talked DK organizer into their camp promising he would be a delegate to county. Meanwhile Edwards folks considered giving some extra delegates back to DK but thought better of it. That left it to bearded guy to realize that the Gep folks were stranded and that if the DK folks would simply reconvene they would likely get delegate with minimal pickups. But it was too late, the counting was done.

[genius]

2. The problem was the 15% minimum. Dennis could have had almost

15% statewide and it wouldn't have counted. It's a weird process in that state. I think it was because of the direction of Kucinich campaign that the Kucinich people came over to the Edwards camp. Figure that Edwards win was a win for both in Iowa. In New Hampshire, there won't be a minimum.

[mohc]

7. NH has a 15% minimum too

Although we would know if DK got 14% of the vote in NH, if he does he gets no delegates. Candidates must break the 15% mark before being awarded any delegates, so basically anyone not reaching that point will not get any positive coverage coming out of NH. When Lieberman winds up not breaking 15% next week, it will be time for him to bow out and we will be left with a 4 man race on Feb. 4th.

[bearfartinthewoods]

10. the purpose is to winnow the field

it's tough and i'm not sure hw i feel about it. if the DK people had held firm, i think he might have got a delegate. the Edwards guy sent him one as soon as he was sure they had hit the 15% but by that time DK had lost six or seven. it might have turned out differently but we will never know.

[demdave]

3. Your numbers don't make sense.

If they are accurate, even close, Kucinich would have crossed the 15% line and had no reason to disband. I think Kucinich supporters are more media savy then you give them credit for. They are a tough idealistic bunch that don't easily cow.

[mikehiggins]

4. My heart bled for the Gephardt girl

I've been in that kind of situation myself, trying to sway delegates to come over to a candidate, and seeing that there was no hope. Its not the worst feeling in the world but in grassroots politics, its pretty close.

You know that if they would only really listen to you for a minute...

[flaminbats]

5. I enjoyed it...although the candidates I prefer did the worst!

The viability thing is something that should be on voters minds, but not at the expense of every other issue. The caucuses are much like IRV. They allow you to support any candidate, while enabling you to have second or third options if your first guy doesn't make the cut. Most states are too urban and too densely populated to hold these kind of caucuses. But at least we could provide them with a similar alternative by using IRV in the Democratic primaries.

[milkyway]

6. Count me as one, and not because I'm a Dean supporter...

The Iowa caucuses have their place, but they have been way overblown in importance by the media. The 15% rule is a major problem. Also, we're always hearing how politically savvy Iowans are. They have been inundated with news about the campaign for a year now, yet about 2% show up. I'm o.k. with that, but of those that do show up, a lot are still undecided! I can't for the life of me figure that out. After hearing all of the candidates a million times, they still can't make up their mind, so they show up and wander around looking for a group to join? It all seems bizarre to me.

[Wapsie B]

8. It's a very convoluted way of doing things.

My preference would be to go in, do the usual party business like elect delegates and whatnot. Then have a secret ballot for whoever the caucus-goers like and be done with it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. These preliminaries are the reason I don't get involved

politically too early. I don't live in Iowa, so why bother? Think of all the energy the Dean supporters put into this run and think about how disappointed and angry they are at the process.

We're suppose to be unified against Bush, and instead, there are more wedges being created than in a cheesecake factory.

[terryg11]

11. the Kucinich supporters you talk of don't make sense

they had enough to snd a delegate so why disband?

I was in the K crowd at my caucus but we only had 4 out of 71 people but we still made the others work for it. IF we would have had 11 people though, thn forget it, we would have stuck it out. THe other groups would have gone nuts trying to get us to help them get another delegate but I don't think we would have budged

[HFishbine]

12. Edwards support

was clearly large enough that his supporters could have made Kucinich viable. I guess the "deal" was a one-way street.