How The Iowa Caucus Works, In 2 Minutes (Starring Legos)

In a June 2015 post explaining their involvement the Redmond company states, “we are honored to support the 2016 Iowa caucus via a new, mobile-enabled, cloud-based platform that will facilitate accuracy and efficiency of the reporting process”. While telephone surveys with live interviewers are still the gold standard, since the last presidential election, the number of interactive voice response [IVR] polls – the so-called “robopolls” – has doubled, which is also true of Internet surveys.

The Iowa caucuses – the first voting opportunity of the 2016 election – are on Monday, Feb. 1, and they’re important for a couple of key reasons.

Both Republican real estate developer Donald Trump and Sanders dream of such a showing on Monday night. Ted Cruz of Texas is hoping for a large turnout from evangelical voters to help him surge past Trump. “Iowa is nothing like a primary”, said Villanova professor Matt Kerbel.

The countdown to the caucus continues as precincts all across Iowa get ready for voters. This attempt at pinpointing voters is critical to getting accurate results. He barnstormed Iowa, talking to as many people as he could.

“So I would say Trump and Clinton have the most to lose because they are expected to win”, Wilkerson said. But there is no threshold for winning them. Others just go with a candidate’s name on a scrap of paper. And so its been a really invigorating experience to meet people who are so much more experienced than we are and even journalists that are more experienced than we are that really do want to talk to us.

The parties calculate their caucus winners in two different ways. “And as a result, the outcome hinges more on depth of support than breadth”.

Since the 1970’s, when Iowa moved front and center to be first in the nation, the caucuses have helped thin the herd.

In the past, numerous 168 members of the Republican National Committee (three for each state and USA territory) were free agents who could support the candidate of their choice.

Rooney: As a Democrat who is very concerned about holding on to the White House, I am interested in who will be the “establishment” candidate to emerge in the Republican Party. Since, Iowa has grown into the election season’s jumping-off point, one where GOP and Democratic candidates alike test the waters for a presidential run. It’s standard for the Iowa caucuses.

Wanless says 70 percent of Democrats who win Iowa, win the nomination. They’re also doing a Web advertising campaign for their “Go Home for Bernie” initiative. Iowa has a stronger rural and evangelical Christian influence than, say, New York. Super Tuesday, with 11 states voting, is on March 1 and then five more contests will be held on March 15.

Washington (CNN)No one said democracy should be easy. Caucus polling is notoriously tough, though, and all that is certain is the race is close.

Voters like the ones Arizona congressman Morris Udall met in a New Hampshire barbershop during his unsuccessful 1976 bid for the presidency.

“I know I can find the audience you tell me to find”, he said.

First up, independent investigative journalist Arun Gupta, who has been in Burns, Oregon over the past week covering the “Patriot Movement” standoff for Raw Story, joins us with the latest. “We were all just laughing about that this morning!”