Word: caucus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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While Mike Huckabee is surging in both polls and fund-raising, he is far behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in terms of organization--a key factor in Iowa, where 1,781 caucuses determine the winner. Each campaign must recruit voters in every caucus to stand up and make their candidate's case. That kind of outreach can take a long time...
Given the similarity of their positions and that presidential campaigns inevitably turn on character, it seems likely that this Iowa caucus will be decided personally, viscerally, for reasons that the voters themselves can't always explain. In Algona, Iowa, I spoke with Chris and Martin Peterson, two former Republicans turned off by the Bush Administration, who seemed stumped by their own preferences this year. Chris was thinking about voting for Obama. "I just like him," she said. Her husband Martin was leaning toward Bill Richardson, citing the New Mexico Governor's humorous ads. This may dismay wonks, who want voters...
Journalists talk about the importance of the "ground game" in Iowa, which is shorthand for an organization's ability to schlep voters to the polls on caucus night. Journalists make scholarly pronouncements about which candidates have the best ground game, but here's a secret: journalists have no idea. In Algona, I spoke to Bill Farnham, a stockbroker, who praised the local Obama organizer, a young man named Nate Hundt, for really ingratiating himself with the community. But Clinton may have the dynamite organizer in Pella; Edwards, in Greenfield. Ground games are unknowable...
...Obama is also doing his best to appeal across party lines. He has been reaching out to Republican and independent voters who can change their registration at caucus sites by simply signing a letter of intent. Said Miller: "He is probably the only candidate that could really do that [bridge the party gap]. It's important to him, he knows it's central to what he wants to accomplish." The hostess of the Ames house party, Andi Smith, was a former independent who twice voted for President Bush. She switched her registration to support Obama and claims...
...trial but are nevertheless combative. "This verdict demonstrates that the president will not receive a free and fair trial. The court can do what it likes, but Peruvians will be the final jurors and they will vindicate him," said Rep. Carlos Raffo, a member of a pro-Fujimori congressional caucus. Fujimori's opponents, however, see the ex-president's courtroom behavior as evidence that he is still desperately trying to regain power...