I got to participate in the Iowa caucuses in 2000. I thought it was great. You don’t merely vote, you also have the opportunity to persuade or be persuaded, so for the candidates, numbers of tentative supporters are not everything. One needs stalwart supporters and, if possible, persuasive ones not afraid to talk in crowds.
One argument that pulls much weight, it appeared to me, was electability. Alone in a voting both, one might be more likely to “vote one’s conscience.” In a caucus, there’s a group dynamic, a group pressure, to be pragmatic and “go along.”
In the caucus I attended, folks who seemed to me to be operatives pleaded for fellow caucus-goers not to get bogged-down voting for someone who couldn’t win in the general elections and made sure that everyone knew that GWB was the only candidate with a real shot. They acted as if they were very annoyed that anyone could disagree after 8 years of Clinton.
GWB won, of course, and Forbes came in second, but Alan Keyes was a surprising third statewide, and came in second at the caucus I attended. (McCain didn’t actively campain in Iowa, and the results showed it.)
