Things to know about delegates at stake in Iowa caucuses

This article first appeared on The Conversation.

On top of that, Clinton is running against an opponent who has said that Americans “are sick and exhausted of hearing about your damn emails!” Trump is followed by U.S. Sens. It will not, however, be decisive because the Democratic party establishment has numerous same concerns about Sanders as the GOP has about Trump. Caucuses are created to choose electoral delegates in the state. The caucuses are run by the parties, not state or county elections officials.

While primaries basically function like any other election-secret ballots, voting booths and the like-caucuses have a much more “direct democracy” feel to them.

Once everyone is registered, the caucuses can begin.

Clinton has repeatedly framed Sanders’ Medicare-for-all proposal as overly idealistic and impossible to pull off. She clings to this issue because, while the distinction between Republican and Democratic priorities may be clear, the distinction between Clinton’s proposals and Sanders’ is far more blurry.

“It is critically important in the caucuses that you respect that these caucuses are about relationships and you build those relationships with your organizers and your volunteers overtime”, Paul said. This year, the Democrats also are allowing “tele-caucusing” via satellite for military voters, students and other Iowans living overseas who can not attend the events in person. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, greets supporters during a visit to his Iowa campaign headquarters on June 13. As a result of this self-winnowing, many polls wind up with a sample of “likely caucus-goers” of around 600 respondents. There, local party precinct captains – and perhaps in some cases the candidates themselves – will be allowed to make brief speeches to persuade voters over to their side.

Iowa is the first state to vote for candidates in presidential primaries.

Winning debates and being ahead in polls is certainly helpful, keeping candidates in the media spotlight and generating momentum.

Bill Clinton’s 10-minute introduction marked his most extensive remarks while sharing an Iowa stage with his wife this election cycle.

The volunteer contingent – about 35 in total – will reach out to voters in Sioux City in northwestern Iowa, according to Nita Lynch, a 73-year-old Sanders supporter from Denver. Clinton, meanwhile, is making similar efforts, but as Jill Abramson wrote in The Guardian, her problem is that she is not quite able to excite millennial women in the same way that President Barack Obama once did.

“What do we say about what is going on in America today, when a young man in the prime of his life just wants to get a college education?” he asked as the crowd clapped and nodded in agreement, clearly tapping into a point of interest.

So who are this year’s front-runners?

The GOP process is the simpler one. They’re also doing a Web advertising campaign for their “Go Home for Bernie” initiative. Their only competitor, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, is a distant third. “Alan Keyes did well on the Republican side”.

So let’s not imply that Sanders is some whacky angry white guy appealing to the same knee-jerk instincts that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are mining. After months of imperfect polling, it comes as the first real test of campaigns and of candidates’ guile and steel. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

Both candidates are blanketing the state in the closing days of the first-in-the-nation caucus – that’s obvious. And with a melee of candidates wrestling with an awkward and unpredictable process, February 1 should be an exciting night.