Elections » Tools » 2008 Caucus Primer
A regional caucus primer
“What about us? When does Washington or Idaho get a say in selecting the candidates for president in 2008?”
The answer is, your time is gonna come. Soon.
Caucuses – which are meetings of party members to discuss issues and select delegates – are not well understood. Their supporters praise them as the epitome of grass-roots democracy. Their detractors call them confusing and elitist.
To determine when or how to participate in your state and party's selection process, begin by choosing a state:
Washington
All voters in Washington have a chance to participate in the start of the presidential selection process Feb 9. through the caucus system. Washington voters will also have an opportunity to cast a ballot in a presidential preference primary on Feb. 19.
Democrats
Democrats will choose all of the delegates awarded to their presidential candidates with a process that starts in the precinct caucuses, but continues through the county and state conventions. They will ignore the results of the Feb. 19 presidential primary.
Caucuses will be held on Feb. 9, a Saturday, which may seem unusual to longtime party members who remember caucuses taking place on a Tuesday evening. But the state party moved its caucuses to Saturday in 2004 and had a bigger turnout than ever before, so party officials decided to stick with a good thing. They will start the meetings at 1 p.m., at central locations in each county or legislative district. Party officials are still lining up those caucus sites, we’ll have them for you as soon as we have them. To participate, you need not be a registered voter, but you must be a resident of the precinct for the caucus you are attending. You also must be prepared to say that for the purposes of the meeting, you consider yourself a Democrat. (If you say you're a Republican, a Libertarian or member of any other party, or an independent, you can't participate, but you can watch. Republicans should note, however, that that they'd be missing the GOP caucus by watching the Democratic caucus.)
There will be a discussion of issues for at least a half hour before participants are asked to show their support for a particular presidential candidate. Those issues can be fairly wide-ranging, from the War in Iraq or the national debt to the conditions of the local roads or schools. Some people come with resolutions they want the caucus to support.
No earlier than 1:30 p.m., the caucus leader will ask participants whom they support for president. In some caucuses, people raise their hands, in others, they divide into groups in different parts of the room. To be entitled to delegates, a presidential candidate must have a minimum of support – known as a threshold – of 15 percent of the participants at that precinct’s caucus. Participants supporting a candidate who does not have that minimum support level in that precinct can then support a second choice, which could give that second candidate more delegates.
Yes, the rules are a bit complicated. They’ll be explained at the beginning of the meeting, and if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. Want to read more before you go? Click here.
After the support for presidential candidates is determined, delegates and alternates to the legislative district caucus and county convention – both in April – are elected based on the proportional representation of that precinct. Delegates are selected at those meetings for the congressional district caucus in May and the state convention in June, so remember, if you want to support a presidential candidate, the precinct caucus is the beginning, not the end of the process.
Republicans
Republican precinct caucuses will be held on Feb. 9, a Saturday, which is a first for the state GOP. In the past, the party has always held its caucuses on a Tuesday evening, even in 2004 when the state Democrats held their caucuses on a Saturday. But the Democrats’ success with large turnout in 2004, coupled with concerns that members of the other party could cause mischief by attending the GOP caucuses if they were held on a different day, prompted the change.
Republicans will award 49 percent, or 18, of the state’s non-automatic presidential delegates through the caucus system. The other 51 percent, or 19 delegates, will be awarded based on the results of the Feb. 19 presidential primary, which sets up a possibility that one candidate could win the caucuses and another could win the primary. Want more information on the delegate breakdown?
Washington has 40 delegates to the National Republican Convention this year, but three – the state chairman, the state national committeeman and the state national committeewoman – are automatic delegates.
The remaining 37 delegates will be selected this way:
• 10 will be selected from the state at large, awarded to presidential candidates based on the results of the Feb. 19 primary.
• 3 will be selected from each of the state’s nine congressional districts. Of those, one delegate from each district will be awarded to the candidate with the most presidential primary votes in that congressional district. The remaining two delegates from each district will be elected by by delegates from the congressional district during the party’s state convention in May. At that point, they will likely be pledged to the party’s nominee, who is expected to be known by then. They might be supporters of that candidate who worked their way through the caucus and convention process, but the key would be winning a majority of the district caucus.
Precinct caucuses will start at 1 p.m. at central locations in each county or legislative district. Party officials are still lining up those caucus sites, we’ll have them for you as soon as we have them. To participate, you need not be a registered voter, but you must be a resident of the precinct for the caucus you are attending. You also must be prepared to say that for the purposes of the meeting, you consider yourself a Republican. (If you say you’re a Democrat, a Libertarian or member of any other party, or an independent, you can’t participate.)
Precinct caucus participants will have a chance to discuss issues and candidates before they vote on delegates to the county convention. There will not be any straw polls or other votes to test the strength of each presidential candidate, but support for a particular candidate is often a key to a participant winning a delegate seat if the caucus is well-attended and the seats are hotly contested. But other things, such as a stand on issues important to the other caucus participants or a history of party activity, can also be factors in winning a delegate seat.
The caucus participants can’t start the vote for delegates before 1:30 p.m., and must start before 2:30 p.m.
“They have to sell themselves,” State GOP Chairman Luke Esser said.
There will be a discussion of issues for at least a half hour before participants are asked to show their support for a particular presidential candidate. Those issues can be fairly wide-ranging, from the War in Iraq or the national debt to the conditions of the local roads or schools. Some people come with resolutions they want the caucus to support.
Idaho
Democrats in Idaho will hold their caucuses, or group meetings, earlier than ever before, at a time when the nomination is still up for grabs.
Most counties will have a single meeting. Ada County, which is divided between the state’s two congressional districts, will have a separate caucus for each district.
Locations of North Idaho caucuses:
Caucuses will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 5 starting at 7 p.m. To participate, you must be a resident of the county for the caucus you are attending, and be prepared to say you are a Democrat (Idaho does not register voters by party.)
The county caucuses have two main functions, to determine the statewide support for presidential candidates, and to select delegates from each county to the state Democratic convention in June. Participants at the county caucus are asked to express a preference for a candidate. They can also say they are undecided. To receive delegates from that county to the state convention, a candidate (or the undecided block) must have the support of at least 15 percent of the participants showing up that night in that particular county. If the candidate you support doesn't meet that 15 percent level, known as a threshold, you can "re-caucus" — that is, join another candidate's group. That can boost the strength of your second choice, and make them eligible for more delegates to the state convention. Under Idaho rules, it's possible for participants to re-caucus multiple times until all remaining candidate groups or the undecided block has at least 15 percent.
Once all the re-caucusing is complete, county officials will take a tally of the participants supporting each candidate and send those numbers to state party headquarters in Boise. It is that final tally that will determine the distribution of the state's 23 delegates to the national convention. Again, a candidate must have at least 15 percent of the total to qualify for a delegate to the national convention.
The national convention delegates are selected at the state convention in June. By that time, the nominee is usually known, so national delegates generally go pledged to the nominee, even if they supported someone else at the county caucus.
Yes, it’s complicated. But the rules will be explained in greater detail at the caucus meeting on Feb. 5.
Idaho Republicans have a presidential primary on May 27 as part of their statewide primary. Democratic presidential candidates will also be on the Democratic primary ballot, but those results will not have any effect on the selection of delegates who pick the nominee (and the nominee will likely be selected at that point.)