I searched the search engine, but I don’t think this question has been asked. What is a caucus, and how is it different than an election? (Or, am I misunderstanding the function of a caucus altogether?)
I think I stepped on a caucus once in the Arizona desert… (Groucho would-have-said)
If I remember my American Government class correctly. . . A caucus is basically a meeting of party members. At the meeting, supporters of each candidate group together, then the officers “count heads” for each candidate’s total.
Two things make a caucus different. First, it’s an open count, rather than a secret ballot. Secondly, party members have the opportunity to change their support. If they’re for Candidate C, and they see that Candidate A has the most support, they’re free to join forces with the supporters of Candidate B to block. In some caucuses, there’s a lot of negotiating going on right up until the last second.
This is the way that a caucus is supposed to work (SFAIK, the notorious caucuses of Iowa don’t work this way, but it probably better to get an actual Iowan to weigh in on that point):
A caucus is any voluntary grouping of people (although usually one that intends to support a candidate for political office) where the whole group decides to be bound by the decision of the majority. Thus, I may form (or join) a caucus to support a candidate for, let us say, state senator. I have previously (in and out of season) expressed by belief that Suzy Sixpaque is the cat’s pajamas in that respect, and will certainly urge her case before the caucus, but if the caucus decides instead to endorse Joe Blough, then I have pledged myself to act as if I were the most fanatical of Blough partisans.
What if I can’t stand the though of not having Sixpaque run (or am particularly adverse to the thought of Blough running)? Either I don’t join that caucus, or I tell them, “I can’t accept Blough running/Sixpaque not running”, and, if the rest of the caucus refuses me, walk out. What if the rest of the caucus thinks that I won’t support their decision? They tell me that I have the choice of leaving vertically or horizontally. What if I break my word, and continue to demand Sixpaque’s presence on the ballot after the caucus endorses Blough? Then I’m worthless scum, and everyone knows it (the tendency is to try and save face by making some pompous announcement that principals are more important than keeping my word; the proverb about staying bought comes to mind, however).
It is often said that “anything is possible”. In fact, very few things are possible, and most of them have already happened.
The Iowa caucuses are run differently by the various parties. The Democratic caucuses still ‘divide the house’ in the old fashioned way: by having the members separate into visible groups (all for Joe stand by the door, all for Harry stand by the stage) which are then counted.
Not sure if it beats dropping pottery shards into a pot… 