FOX_SMU_Fallon's Blog

The caucus is over, Huckabee and Obama are the declared winners for Iowa.  This was by far the most bizarre and fascinating process to watch.  I had the opportunity to go to Valley High School in Des Moines to watch a Republican caucus.  

The Republicans all filed in one by one, some registering to vote right then and there.  After they signed in they sat in bleachers all together.  The crowd was huge and there were record braking numbers.  I talked to voters as they filed in and some of them, although residents of Iowa for some time, were attending their first or second caucus.  The same reasons occurred again and again for the sudden interest, more candidates and more causes.

Before the voting began, each candidate had a representative in the audience to let everyone know what the candidate's issues are and why they should vote for them.


Although we are in a an era dominated by immediate results through technology, there were no computers used to tabulate anything.  The caucus goers simply wrote down their vote on a post it note and put it in rubbermaid plastic bins.  After their vote, their hands were marked so that they could be distinguished from those who hadn't voted yet.  They also had to move to the opposite side of the gym after voting.

Less than half of the original crowd stuck around  after to hear the final tabulations, which were counted by a group of about six people.  The post it notes were counted several times before the final announcement was made that Romney came in first with 170 votes, followed by Huckabee with 105 votes and McCain with 88 votes.

Even though I don't get why there wasn't an electronic or pre-made ballot approach, I do get that  these details are what make the Iowa caucus interesting and something that only makes sense when you see it happen right in front of you.

In politics classes the concept always confused me, but now that I have seen a live caucus I get what I would like to call "organized chaos."  Seeing a part of history happen right in front of me in a high school gym was just plain cool.  I'll be working on putting together some footage Rachael and I gathered at the caucus so you can see what I saw and hopefully it will make the caucus experience clear to you too.