A Grassroots View of the Iowa Democratic Caucus (Blog)

This whole season of politics has been a non-event where I live. It’s true, regardless of how people are registered to vote. There are too many other things to do in life than to think about politics a year before the presidential election. There is some political action: a special election in nearby State Senate District 18 on November 8, some local races in town and the Republicans need to pick a presidential nominee, but politically, not much else is going on.

The Iowa Democratic and Republican caucus dates are set for January 3, 2012. While Republicans have a competitive primary race and are expected to turn out solid numbers, on the Democratic side, the race is essentially uncontested, with Barack Obama the presumptive nominee. Because of this, Democratic turnout is expected to be extremely light, and county parties are expected to consolidate precincts into geographical clusters to save money and build unity.

To give an idea of expectations, we had about 250 people attend our 2008 precinct caucus and expect less than a dozen this January. Contrary to the image Iowa caucus promoters present, people who attend their caucus want to vote and get the heck out of there as quickly as possible. Caucus goers may sign a nominating petition while they wait, and be patient about the arcane procedural rules of the party, but during the past two election cycles, people did not even want to discuss the platform or do anything but vote. In 2012, we can expect more of the same behavior.

The last time Democrats had a presumptive nominee at the caucuses was in 2000 with Al Gore. Like many of my neighbors, I did not caucus that year. I did follow the election closely and when the vote counting in Florida was stopped by the Supreme Court, and Gore conceded his loss, I felt we had to do better in the coming years.

This feeling intensified as the United States invaded Iraq in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. By the time Senator John Kerry lost the 2004 election, most Democrats, many Independents, and some Republicans, were ready to take our country back. We did in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Perhaps our most significant accomplishment of the last 20 years was to stop the reckless behavior of Republicans in Washington in 2007. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

Going into 2012, many of us are confident we will hold the line by re-electing Barack Obama and increasing the number of Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate. Don’t look to the Iowa caucuses as a bellwether as the election is too far away. Too, don’t be listening to the folks in the punditocracy much either.

Obama for America has had staff on the ground in Iowa population centers, but party regulars are realistic about the Democratic caucus. We’ll work to get people to caucus, but in the scope of things, as long as we ratify the idea that Barack Obama be re-nominated, that will be accomplishment enough for January 3. There is little evidence that any other preference group will gain traction among Iowa Democrats.

Taking nothing for granted, we expect to work hard to elect Democrats in 2012. We have lives to live now and for most of us, politics reflects a small part of what we do each day. For the moment, we will enjoy the brilliant fall weather, return to our work on Monday and get ready for next year’s contests when they get closer.