# The Iowa caucuses: a note from the real world. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 30, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648 "2016-01-30T13:03:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/1 "2016-01-30T13:03:25Z")
The BBC have a [pre-caucus report](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-35433572) from Iowa. Money quote: “Everything’s divisive in Washington.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/2 "2016-01-30T13:39:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Filmed and edited by Franz Strasser. Round up the usual suspects! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/3 "2016-01-30T14:07:03Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Money quote: “Everything’s divisive in Washington.” Truly insightful. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/4 "2016-01-30T14:19:28Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Truly insightful. The sarcasm is warranted, and Lord knows people have been saying that with a fair degree of truth for a long time, but it’s worth remembering that this didn’t used to be true anywhere near to the extent that it is now. For instance, one party of Congress wouldn’t used to hold up Executive branch and lower court appointments wholesale. That only started to happen during Obama’s Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/5 "2016-01-30T14:51:42Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The sarcasm is warranted, and Lord knows people have been saying that with a fair degree of truth for a long time, but it’s worth remembering that this didn’t used to be true anywhere near to the extent that it is now. > > For instance, one party of Congress wouldn’t used to hold up Executive branch and lower court appointments wholesale. That only started to happen during Obama’s Presidency. I don’t think the sarcasm’s warranted. The _whole_ quote is along the lines of everything is divisive in Washington, but here it is not. That is actually pretty insightful. New research has shown a tremendous divide in what that the populace cares about vs. what politicians talk about and what is reported on most frequently in the news. It’s easy to mock people when you distort the meaning of what they say. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/6 "2016-01-30T17:52:09Z")
The Iowa caucuses explained in two minutes with Lego: > **[How The Iowa Caucus Works, In 2 Minutes (Starring Legos)](https://www.vermontpublic.org/vpr-news/2016-01-27/how-the-iowa-caucus-works-in-2-minutes-starring-legos)** > > When we asked our audience (that's you) for questions about the Iowa caucuses, a lot of people were curious about the unorthodox process of caucusing.How… ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/7 "2016-01-31T16:59:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The Iowa caucuses explained in two minutes with Lego: > [How The Iowa Caucus Works, In 2 Minutes (Starring Legos) | Vermont Public](http://www.tinyurl.com/jnqzvt3) It has a couple of mistakes. First, “undecided” is treated like a candidate - that is, if at least 15% of a caucus’s participants commit to “undecided”, then they don’t split up and go to other groups. IIRC, “Undecided” won the 1976 Iowa caucus. Second, the link to the page that shows the “convoluted math” used in determining delegates leaves out the fact that it shows how each precinct sends delegates to a county convention. The county conventions work pretty much the same was as the precinct caucuses, to elect delegates to both a congressional district convention (which votes in late April to determine the district’s 6-8 national convention delegates) and the state convention (which votes in mid-June to determine the state’s remaining 15 pledged delegates). ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/8 "2016-01-31T19:55:28Z")
_ **Every** _ state should have caucuses. On _ **the same day** _ as Iowa. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/9 "2016-02-01T02:13:02Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The Iowa caucuses explained in two minutes with Lego: > [How The Iowa Caucus Works, In 2 Minutes (Starring Legos) | Vermont Public](http://www.tinyurl.com/jnqzvt3) Piper Cub was fascinated! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/10 "2016-02-01T02:16:43Z")
And Mrs Cub says that now she understands why Big lost the caucus on “The Good Wife.” ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/11 "2016-02-01T02:19:17Z")
Here’s something else to “discuss”: how is the “winner” of Iowa on the Democratic side going to be determined? [CNN.com](http://CNN.com) has a story about the effect the O’Malley supporters could have; reportedly, there’s even an app the Clinton supporters can access where, if they enter the number of county delegates that caucus selects and how many people support each candidate, they can find out how many Clinton supporters can switch to O’Malley for the sole purpose of taking a county delegate away from Sanders. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/12 "2016-02-01T02:23:23Z")
[QUOTE=Me] And Mrs Cub says that now she understands why Big lost the caucus on “The Good Wife.” [/QUOTE] That should be Mrs Piper ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/13 "2016-02-01T02:30:59Z")
I had no idea Iowa is so close to Saskatchewan. They’re practically Minnesotans, according to Wiki! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/14 "2016-02-01T15:33:36Z")
Question: When are we going to see results tonight? I assume it will be different for each party because of their different procedures. But I don’t want to tune in until the numbers start to trickle in. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/15 "2016-02-01T15:51:54Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Question: When are we going to see results tonight? I assume it will be different for each party because of their different procedures. But I don’t want to tune in until the numbers start to trickle in. The last caucus “poll” closes at 9pm CST (they start at 7pm). Republican results might come sooner, because they do anonymous paper ballots. None of the viability/reshuffle actions of the Democratic caucus. Both parties are using a new app made by [Microsoft](http://thehill.com/policy/technology/267586-microsoft-on-the-hot-seat-in-iowa) to report results. FWIW, If you Google “iowa caucus results”, it looks they will have results posted. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/16 "2016-02-01T15:55:22Z")
Thanks- this will let me get my Supergirl fix before looking for results. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-iowa-caucuses-a-note-from-the-real-world/744648/17 "2016-02-01T16:27:32Z")
The Des Moines Register might even be a better source than the AP results that Google will use. [DesMoinesRegister.com/CaucusResults](http://DesMoinesRegister.com/CaucusResults).