One of the official websites for the Iowa caucuses describes this bastion of American presidential politics as a "shining example of democracy in action in America." The website's description makes the caucuses sound like a come-to-Jesus meeting for Democracy's true believers.
The site says that participation ...
... requires more than simply going to a voting place and casting a ballot. On caucus night, Iowans gather in high school cafeterias, living rooms and auditoria across Iowa. They divide into groups. Ordinary citizens make speeches on behalf of the various candidates; their neighbors listen. The whole process can take several hours.
Sounds inviting ... so why did less than 2 percent of the state's population, or about 61,000 Iowans turn out for the caucuses in 2000?
There are a multitude of reasons for this pathetic participation. The caucuses happen on a Monday night, people who work or go to school at night are out of luck. No children are allowed unless the precinct has child care (most do not). The caucuses normally last at least two hours, a significant time commitment in the year 2004. Then there's the famous Iowa winter weather to watch out for.
There's no such thing as a secret ballot for those who don't want their neighbors and bosses to know their politics. The voting is done by a show of hands or sign-up sheet. Speaking of voting, for about 75 percent of the precincts, a candidate needs a minimum of 15 percent of the vote in the first half hour to make the break. Otherwise, a second choice must be made. The other 25 percent of the precincts require 30 percent of the vote for a candidate to stay alive. So participants get to vote, but they may end up going home feeling like they kissed the wrong date.
Why all the fuss over this odd political event that yields less than 1 percent of the total number of delegates at the national party convention? The answer: Credibility. A win, or even solid showing in Iowa sends the message that a candidate has the organization to motivate a political base, albeit a micro base, to forfeit their Monday evening, schlep through the Iowa elements and hire a babysitter in order to cast a vote for all to see.
It's easy to see why the caucuses have been criticized as a tool of special interests. In the past, the party machines and special-interest groups were said to have been the only ones with the horsepower to get people to participate. Howard Dean – now running as if his life depended on each Iowan vote – even once criticized the caucuses as representing one example of what is wrong with American politics.
Howard Dean hasn't changed his tune on the Iowa caucuses, he's tried to change the caucuses. It's no secret that Howard Dean is not the anointed choice of the so-called Democratic Party machine. He wanted to run against Gore in 2000 and the party effectively told him to go back to Vermont and milk cows. Instead, he met a few of the unemployed and milked a website.
DeanforAmerica.org enabled this country doctor-turned-governor to pin the tail of the old Democrat Donkey to the floor and raise three times the amount of money of any other candidate. Dean's money wasn't raised in the Bush-Cheney standard currency note (the 2,000 dollar bill), but less than a "C-note" at a time. Can you spell "grass roots"? Remember, in politics and in life, money is oxygen and the $40-plus million raised so far gives Doctor Dean some breathing room.
While the Iowa caucuses are hardly a decent – let alone "shining" – example of democracy, Iowa represents the first in a very long series of litmus tests as to whether Dean has changed the landscape of American politics in the 21st century. It'll be an emotional setback for the Deaniacs if he losses on Monday night, but with plenty of money in the bank, they'll live to fight another day.