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[karynnj]

16. I disagree that caucuses are undemocratic

In feel, they might actually reach back to things like town meetings. There is something rather impressive in people coming out and talking to their neighbors, trying to move them to their candidate of choice.

In 2004, I noticed that CSPAN was covering two locations through the night of the Iowa primary. Out of curiosity, I watched - thinking I would be bored within 10 minutes and turn to something else. I watched the entire thing. It was fascinating. One of the places they monitored was a location in a large, graceful, home -- where groups moved to different rooms. The other was in a public school.

It struck me that these people were neighbors. They knew each others families. The discussions maybe because of that were polite and based on what they at least thought were facts. The other thing that struck me was how many people reference conversations they had with one or more of the candidates. This - more than whether it was a primary or caucus - is important. It is what allows someone - with less party and media support - to appeal directly to the electorate and sometimes pull off a surprise win.

Now, there ARE things that would make caucuses more democratic. One might be to allow proxies for the first vote for people with real reasons they can not appear in person. (Work schedule, illness, etc).

In 2008, the problem Hillary had was not that they were "undemocratic", but that her campaign team blew off organizing most of them - and she lost. This was a flaw in her campaign - not the process.