An Apartment Divided: The Iowa Caucuses
In seven days, the Iowa Caucuses will finally take place. The pressure is on for the candidates, and the entire nation will be focusing on the greatest state in the country. Caucusing is important, and in this piece we are going to tell you why Iowa matters and where/how to caucus on February 1st. Haley will discuss how the Republicans caucus, and I will discuss how the Democrats caucus. For caucus-goers, you can register the day of, but to caucus for a Democrat, you must register as a Democrat and to caucus for a Republican you must register as a Republican. No worries, you can always register back to an Independent/Other party whenever.
National media is saying Iowa doesn’t deserve to be the deciding factor in choosing the next President. First of all, as Iowans, we don’t view this job as actually picking out the nominee for president, but more as weeding out the field for the rest of the county. Leave it to Iowans to do the handwork for the rest of the states. We may not be the top in population or as diverse as other states, but we are homogenous in economic areas such as average pay, per capita income, and median household income. We are a swing state with both a rural and urban population. We take this job seriously. Iowans are educated, passionate, thoughtful, and stubborn. We value hard work and can see through the BS when politicians are talking — it can take a lot to win an Iowan’s respect and vote. Lastly, those who say Iowa is irrelevant should look at President Obama’s 2008 campaign. A relatively unknown first-term Senator wins Iowa and defeats an extremely well-known former Senator and First Lady, launching him to the White House. Irrelevant? Hardly. The Iowa Caucuses and Iowa voters are definitely forces you can’t ignore.
Haley:
If you’re particularly entertained by cartoon caucus-goers, today’s your lucky day. Here’s a video to explain the Republican Caucus process.
For more information about participating in this year’s Republican caucus click here. For your caucus location click here. Finally, if you haven’t decided who to vote for yet and are looking for a one-stop-shop for policy information, check out our previous post about the Republican candidates here.
Ryan:
Democrats caucus differently than Republicans, and I believe the Iowa Democrat Party has a great video on how this process works.
Still not sure who to caucus for? Please read our previous blog where we covered the Democratic Candidates and where they stand on the issues by clicking here. For anymore information on the caucus or to register to vote please click here.
Behind the scenes…
Unfortunately, because we currently are captives of Washington, DC, we won’t be caucusing this year. Still, we can’t stress how important it is to go out and cast your vote, whether you are a Republican or Democrat! If there has ever been a time this year when you’ve been annoyed and frustrated with something you’ve heard from a candidate, or you’ve found yourself nodding along to a campaign ad on TV, or even if you just want to see what the fuss is all about, now’s the time! Grab your friends and help prove we deserve to be first in the nation and prove Iowa matters by turning out to caucus.
