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&nbs= p; = 2008 IOWA PRECINCT = CAUCUS INFORMATION

&nbs= p; TO BE HELD THURSDAY,= JAN. 3, 2008

CANDIDATES
CONTACT US
CONTRIBUTE<= /b>
= EVENTS<= /a>
<= b>HOME
VOTER INFO<= /b>
MAPS
PICTURES
PLATFORMS
VOLUNTEER

Presidential candida= tes during visits to Clinto= n County=

(Click on a picture = for the candidate’s web site.)

A v= irtual debate --the MASHUP with Charlie Rose, Bill Maher, and the candidates=

FIND OUT ABOUT THE P= URPOSE OF THESE CAUCUSES AND ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THEM.=

A M= essage from Clinton County Democratic Party Chair, Jean Pardee

A DISCLAIMER: IN THE PAGE BELOW AND IN THE LINKS FROM THIS PAGE YOU WILL FIND MY DESCRIPTION OF THE CAUCUS RULES AND DETAILS, BUT NOT AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE RULES THEMSELVES. I AM TAKING A L= OT OF TROUBLE TO GET IT ALL RIGHT, BUT SOMETIMES THEY MAKE THAT DIFFICULT. IF THERE IS ANY ERROR IN WHAT I = HAVE WRITTEN, THEN THE OFFICIAL RULES AS DEVELOPED BY THE IOWA DEMOCRATIC PARTY WILL APPLY. OK, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

IOWA= VOTES

Comprehensive

Caucus Info

CAUCUS INFO At the website of the Des Moines Register

&nbs= p; &nbs= p; WHERE IS MY CAUCUS??

&nbs= p; LIST OF CAUCUS SITES IN CLINTON COUNTY=

Precinct or Township &nbs= p; Caucus Site

Bloomfield (Delmar)		= Delwood Community School
Brookfield		Lt. Nation Catholic Church Hall
Camanche 1		= Camanche High School
Camanche 2		= Camanche High School
Camanche Twp.		= Camanche High School
Center		= Northeast High School
Clinton 1-1		Clinton Historical Musum
Clinton 1-2		Bluff Elementary
Clinton 2-1		Jefferson Elementary
Clinton 2-2		Clinton High School Commons<= /o:p>
Clinton 3-1		= Whittier School Gym
Clinton 3-2		Whittier School Commons
Clinton 4-1		= Eagle Heights Elementary
Clinton 4-2		= Clinton County Administration Buld.<= /p>
Deep Creek (Goose Lake)		= Northeast High School
DeWitt Twp.=		= Central High School
DeWitt 1		= Central High School
DeWitt 2		= Central High School
Eden (Low Moor)=		= Camanche High School
Elk River (= Andover)		= Northeast High School
Grant		Lt. Nation Catholic Church Hall
Hampshire		= Northeast High School
Liberty (Toronto)		Lt. Nation Catholic Church Hall
Olive (Calam= us)		Calamus Elementary
Orange (Grand Mound)		= Grand Mound Community Center<= /b>
Sharon (Lost Nation)		Lt. Nation Catholic Church Hall
Spring Rock (Wheatland)		Calamus-Wheatland HS Commons
Washington		= Charlotte Community Center=
Waterford (Charlotte)		= Charlotte Community Center=
Welton		= Delwood Community School

WH= AT PRECINCT OR TOWNSHIP TO I LIVE IN??=

YO= U CAN PROBABLY FIND THIS BY LOOKING AT OUR MAPS OF THE C= OUNTY.

Yo= u can also find this at the IA SEC. of STATE web site= :

FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE

(N= OTE –The polling place is not necessarily the caucus site, but this will tell you your precinct. So = will the link below)

AM I REGISTERED TO VOTE?

OT= HER CONVENTIONS

Clinton Cou= nty Convention

Ma= r. 15, 2008

Clinton Com= munity College

1<= sup>st District Convention

Ap= ril 26, 2008

IA= State Convention

Ju= ne 14, 2008

(A= ll on Saturday)

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AM I ELI= GIBLE TO ATTEND THE CAUCUS?

Anyone who is registered as a Democrat in the precinct in which the caucus is held can attend as a voting participant of = the Democratic caucus. Also, if you are not yet old enough to register to vote, but if you will be 18 by the date of the general election, November 4, 2008, then you can attend as a voting participant of the caucus. Simp= ly show up at the caucus site at 6:30 PM (or a little before) on Jan. 3, 2008.=

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You can register to vote or change your registration at the caucus site when you arrive. For example, you might have to change your registration to Democrat. Also, if any of your information that affects your voting status has changed since you last registered, then you need to register again. This type of information could include changes in your address, your name, and so forth.

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If you= are more than six months away from your 18^th birthday but will be 18= by Election Day, you can still fill out the voter registration form and participate in the caucus. Ho= wever, you will have to hold on to the form for a while before turning it in.=

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REGISTER= ING TO VOTE IN ADVANCE

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Althou= gh you can register to vote at the caucus, that process could consume a lot of time when many people are trying to sign in to the caucus. So it would be helpful if you would fill out the voter registration form in advance. = A form for voter registration can be downloaded from the county auditor's off= ice HERE. = You could also visit the county auditor to obtain one. Usually these forms are returned to= the county auditor. At this late date, however, it would be better to bring the registration form to the caucus all filled out. It is now too late for the auditor to process it in advance, so= you would need to fill out another one at the caucus anyway.<= /b>

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Questions about registration are best directed to the county auditor, so here is the approp= riate contact information.

=
You can also check your registration status here, at the Iowa Secretary of State web site. It is best to cross chec= k it at this precinct finder. There is much more voting information here.

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VISITORS TO= THE CAUCUS

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Anyone= who is not eligible to vote in the caucus can attend as a non-voting guest. = If you do this, you might be asked to sit in a separate area in order to make = sure that the vote count is clear.

WHAT TIME SHOULD I BE THERE???

WHEN DOES IT START???

6:3= 0 PM

This is the time when the registration is scheduled to open, so you should plan to arrive at 6:30 PM to register for = the caucus. In fact, it would be = a good idea to arrive a few minutes before that, because in some cases the registration tables could open a little early, and there will probably be a= lot of people to take care of.

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The ca= ucus might be called to order as early as 6:30 PM, but the rules specify that it should not be called to order until registration is complete. If it is called to order before 7:= 00 PM, business before that time will be limited to certain preliminary items such= as voting on leaders for the evening.

7:00 PM

By the caucus rules, this is the deadline for registering.   It w= ill be enough to be in line by 7:00 PM; you will still be able to register and participate. But no one can get in line for registration after 7:00 P= M.

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The bu= siness of counting up support for presidential candidates cannot start before 7:00= PM, by the rules of the caucus.   But, as mentioned above, the caucus will not be called to order until registrati= on is complete. So it is likely = that this business will start later than 7:00 PM.

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If you= find that you have some time to wait, there will be some things to occupy this time. Such as:

SIGNING NOMINATING PETITIONS

People running for local or state office, as well as congressional and US senate candidates, have to obtain a certain number of names on a nominating petition.   The exact number is determined by a complicated formula. Copies of these petitions for Democratic candidates will be displayed so that caucus participants can sign them.   If there is more than one candidate for the same office, you can sign them all, if you wish. Or you can pick and choose which ones to sign. The candid= ates depend on these caucuses for signatures, so it would be nice to help them o= ut.

MESSAGES FROM OFFICIALS

There will be a number of these messages in the form of letters. To s= ave time, they will probably not be read out loud, but they will be on display = so that you can browse through them.

TALKING POLITICS WITH OTHER CAUCUS PARTICIPANTS

This is the most fun of all.

WHAT SHOULD I DO AFTER THE CAUCUS STARTS?

PICKIN= G YOUR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

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Of cou= rse, this is the part that gets all the attention. As long as you know who you are supporting, just get into that group and stay there. This group is called the “pr= esidential preference group”. Stay= ing in it will make sure that you get counted.&nb= sp; The leaders of the various groups will make it obvious which group is which. Most likely, the diffe= rent presidential groups will sit together from the beginning, but if they don’t the leaders of the caucus will make it obvious when to gather together.

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THAT S= OUNDS TOO EASY

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Well, = there can be complications. The main possible complication is that your group might not be viable. You need to have at least 15% of t= he caucus participants in your group in order for it to be viable. Members of any group that is not v= iable will need to realign until all groups meet the minimum 15% requirement. They can join viable groups, talk enough extra people into their group to make it viable, merge with ano= ther non-viable group, or pretty much whatever works. That process involves negotiating, bargaining, promising, cajoling, and other such fun and amusing elements of grassroots participatory democracy at its finest.

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OK, ALL REMAINING GROUPS EVENTUALLY ARE VIABLE, THEN WHAT?

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They g= et counted again, for the final count, which will be merged with all the other caucuses to find out how each presidential candidate did on caucus night. Then each group will be able to el= ect a certain number of delegates to the county convention. Each caucus will have a certain to= tal number of county delegates, based on a complicated formula. Your group will get to elect a num= ber proportional to the number of people it has in it. There are some specific rounding r= ules already established since you cannot elect a half a person as a delegate. Your group will proceed to elect i= ts delegates, who will represent your presidential candidate at the county convention. You can run for c= ounty delegate yourself, if you wish. Also, anyone can sign up as an alternate to= the county convention.

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DETAIL= S, DETAILS

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There = are some special rules about viability for caucuses that do not elect very many county delegates. If you want the details, here they are.

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Also, = some detailed rules have been established for calculating how many county delega= tes each presidential preference group gets to elect. If you are interested in the mathematical detail, here is a summ= ary.

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SO……COUNTY CONVENTION?<= /b> WHAT ELSE?<= o:p>

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A proc= ess similar to the caucuses takes place at the county convention, except with more speeches. We live in the Iowa First Congressional District (represented in <= st1:State w:st=3D"on">Washington by = Rep. Bruce Braley – here are the Iowa congressional districts), and the next step is the district convention.= The county convention elects deleg= ates who will attend both the district and state conventions.<= /b>

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The di= strict and state conventions both elect delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

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IF I WERE IN CHARGE OF THE STATE/COUNTRY, I WOUL= D….

(SUBMITTING PLATFORM ITEMS)

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Any participant in the caucus can submit one or more items (that is, planks) for the Clinton County Democratic Platform. That is our statement of what we s= tand for, how we want things to be, how our party, state, and country should beh= ave. Here are links to some of our r= ecent platforms. The caucus mig= ht discuss and vote on each one, or it might accept them without discussion – each caucus can decide how to handle this. To be honest, a caucus might reject something, too. If you really want to get some attention, get some friends together from different precincts and submit the same items in several caucuses.

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HOW TO SUBMIT A PLATFORM PLANK

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Just m= ake sure you bring it in written form. There may be some forms there, but there is no need to use them. It needs to be written down, thoug= h, because the planks coming out of each caucus will go to the county platform committee, which will then organize them into a platform. The caucus leaders will designate a place to submit your planks.

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WHAT H= APPENS TO THE PLANKS FROM THE CAUCUS?

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They g= o to the county platform committee, which will organize them into a proposed platform. That is submitted t= o the county convention, which will vote on the platform after (probably) amendin= g it to some extent. The result be= comes the official Clinton County Democratic Platform for the next two years.

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A dist= rict platform committee will take all of the county platforms and merge them int= o a district platform to be voted on at the district convention. Then a state platform committee wi= ll repeat the process by merging the district platforms into a state platform.= That will be voted on at the state convention.

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But, remember, that whole process starts with you at your caucus.

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WHO GE= TS TO BE ON THIS PLATFORM COMMITTEE?

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They a= re also elected at the caucuses. Each caucus gets to elect one member and one alternate to the county platform committee. Normally, the memb= ers of the district platform committee are nominated from among the county platform committee members and elected by the county convention. The state platform committee is el= ected by a similar process at the district convention.

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ANY OTHER COMMITTEES?<= /span>

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The ca= ucus will also elect members of the county central committee. It will also elect two members to a= committee, called the “committee on committees” to arrange and manage the county convention.

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WHAT I= S THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE?

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In gen= eral, it manages the affairs of the Clinton County Democratic Party. Here is a list of the current members. If you w= ould like to see what it is and what it does, here it= is in great detail in the party’s constituti= on and bylaws.

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CAN I = BE ON THE COUNTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE?

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Sure, = if you get elected by your caucus. E= ach one gets to elect three central committee members and two alternates. If you are interested, get someone= to nominate you and someone else to second it. Then see what happens.<= /span>

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WHEN AND WHERE ARE ALL OF THESE OTHER MEETINGS?<= o:p>

County Platform Committee: = (1^st meeting) Sat., Jan. 12, 2008, 10:00AM, at the county Democratic headquarter= s, 224 22^nd Place,= Clinton (MAP).<= /span>

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Commit= tee on Committees: (1^st m= eeting) Sat., Jan. 12, 2008, 10:00AM, at the county Democratic headquarters, 224 22^nd Place,= Clinton (MAP).<= /span>

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Central Committee: (1^st meeting with new members) Tue., Feb. 19, 2008, 7= :30 PM, at the county Democratic headquarters, 224 22^nd Place, = Clinton (MAP).

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Clinton County= Democratic Convention:&n= bsp; Sat., March 15, 2008. time TBA, at Clinton Community College, 1000 Lincoln Blvd, Clinton<= /st1:City>.

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Iowa F= irst District Democratic Convention: Sat., April 26, 2008, time and place TBA.

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Iowa State<= /b> Democratic Convention:&n= bsp; Sat., June 14, 2008, time and place TBA.

ISN’T ALL THIS A LOT OF TROUBLE?

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Well, = look at it this way. This is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> That word “people” -- that refers to you and me. So if w= e want to be the government, then we have to do something about it occasionally.

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Or may= be it would be easier just to get an emperor…………….<= o:p>

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