For those who are complaining about caucuses now, well join the crowd

[dsc]

I have, since 2003, complained about this idiotic method of choosing our President. Ironically, the two parties sort of do a flip side of each other in Iowa. The GOP does the straight vote count similar to a primary while we are overly deferential to geography which is what the GOP uses to justify their gerrymandering. The simple fact is we should have primaries and not caucuses determining who our nominee is. People should be able to vote absentee as needed, the person with the most votes should win, and that should be that. Unlike some people who are discovering these problems today because their candidate lost, I have been saying this consistently for years and still say it now even as it might have helped my candidate win. Caucuses are bad ideas.

[beachbum bob]

1. caucuses been around forever and its no "new" thing

just losing candidate supporters seem to complain about it...

[Lucky Luciano]

2. The op is a Hillary supporter. nt

[beachbum bob]

14. didn't matter who the op supports

caucuses have been around forever...

[dsc]

25. so was marriage discrimination and sodomy laws

that didn't make those right.

[dsc]

3. again, I have complained since 2003

they are utterly undemocratic. Just the fact that military personal serving in the field can't participate is reason enough to get rid of them.

[boston bean]

4. I think caucuses suck. They are undemocratic.

A vote should be a vote and delegates awarded by percentage of overall votes.

No special math, no two hour window for voting, no only able bodied persons participating.. in the middle of fucking winter.

It sucks any way you look at it, imho.

But we got to go with what we got, and I've disliked them as well for years! Hillary won the caucus!

[boston bean]

6. she won the caucus with the rules in play at the time. Live with it.

[boston bean]

8. consider it whatever you want. But facts are facts. Hillary won.

[boston bean]

13. No Pat, Hillary was the real winner. Want to know why? Because she actually won.

[boston bean]

16. Well at least you have realized she won.

[boston bean]

18. She won.

[leftynyc]

9. So what?

Hillary lost the NV caucus in 2004 even thought she got the most votes. Bernie got less delegates this time because he lost a coin toss. Suck it up and move on. Don't like the rules? Move to IA and work to get them changed. Or whine. Whatever.

[leftynyc]

20. That you see less

delegates as a win is entirely your problem. If it were the other way around and Bernie got more delegates, I doubt you wouldn't be laughing at the Hillary supporters claiming a win.

[HereSince1628]

10. I have no problem with a state constructing a system based on representation

rather than direct vote. It's the states choice. It's a bit different, but different isn't wrong.

The US is a republic...by which I mean a government by representatives rather than direct democracy. Yes, advanced in technology from 1789 till now make it more and more possible to be directly democratic, but do we really want a 100 million mostly uninformed, and worse misinformed, citizens voting on everything?

Even Congress chose to defer control of some things because they lack expertise. That's the fundamental reason their are regulatory agencies manned by people with expert knowledge that make rules, rather than laws. The EPA is undemocratic, the Bureau of Land Management is undemocratic... who is drifting toward joining the Bundy posse?

Representative government can be quirky, and it can be criticized as imperfect, but it's not all bad.

One of the long-standing good features of the IA caucus has been the two-stage voting, eliminating the 'unviable' and holding a second round. Being able to cast votes for 1st and 2nd choice is a popular alternative to the common voting structure. The IA caucus lets us see how that works.

[MineralMan]

22. Personally, I also prefer primaries to caucuses.

Still, since I live in a caucus state, I've learned to participate effectively in the caucus system.

[joshcryer]

23. I crapped on the caucuses in 2008, and was called a Clinton shill.

But it's just logic that they're undemocratic. You can only go to them at a certain time, they're closed after a certain time, the 'votes' have a strong sense of peer pressure, and of course the rules are convoluted bullshit.

[cyberswede]

24. Caucuses don't "pick our president"

Caucuses select delegates to go to the county convention (which then selects delegates to state, which in turn selects delegates to national). The media decided in the 1970s to make a big deal about the numbers. Thank Jimmy Carter.

Caucuses are intended for party building, electing precinct representatives, etc.

[firebrand80]

26. That's kinda the point

It goes back to the days when the ticket was chosen by party bosses in the smoky back rooms

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. The thing is, states choose their own ways of doing primaries/caucuses.

The way to "fix" the process has to be done on a state-by-state basis. If you live in a caucus state and don't like caucuses, you somehow have to get your legislature to do something about it, maybe by contacting the representative from your district and try to get the ball rolling. It will be difficult because state party officials (probably in both parties) generally like the way things are done and are reluctant to change them. All the complaining in the world won't get rid of caucuses on a national level - nor will federal legislation, because the federal government has no control over state election procedures.

[NCTraveler]

28. I have talked about my disliking of the process for a long time.

Some here who agreed with me at one point don't agree at all today. Really messed up.