1.
Elections in Iowa
–
The number of elections in Iowa varies from year to year. Presidential elections are every four years. Since 1972, Iowa has been the first state to vote in presidential primaries, as with presidential elections, gubernatorial elections are held every four years - but are staggered such that they are held on general elections independently of the presidential election. Members of the Iowa Senate are elected every four years, with half of the Senate elected at general election. Additionally, elections for various government officials, judicial retention elections, the Iowa Caucus is an electoral event in which residents meet in precinct caucuses in all of Iowas 1,681 precincts and elect delegates to the corresponding county conventions. In Iowa, an election is held on Election Day during even-numbered years. Also included are judicial retention elections and proposed amendments to the Iowa Constitution, in Iowa, various local officials are elected at the general election. However, school and city elections are not held during a general election, regular school elections are held on the second Tuesday in September during odd-numbered years. Regular city elections are held on Election Day during odd-numbered years, in Iowa, special elections may be held throughout the year to fill various governmental vacancies or to vote on ballot initiatives. Special elections are held on Tuesdays and may not generally be held on the same day as a general or local election. Iowa election laws changed pages - an update with those pages changed since the last publication of the Iowa election laws, current as of October 2008
2.
Federal government of the United States
–
The Federal Government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a republic in North America, composed of 50 states, one district, Washington, D. C. and several territories. The federal government is composed of three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U. S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the courts, including the Supreme Court. The powers and duties of these branches are defined by acts of Congress. The full name of the republic is United States of America, no other name appears in the Constitution, and this is the name that appears on money, in treaties, and in legal cases to which it is a party. The terms Government of the United States of America or United States Government are often used in documents to represent the federal government as distinct from the states collectively. In casual conversation or writing, the term Federal Government is often used, the terms Federal and National in government agency or program names generally indicate affiliation with the federal government. Because the seat of government is in Washington, D. C, Washington is commonly used as a metonym for the federal government. The outline of the government of the United States is laid out in the Constitution, the government was formed in 1789, making the United States one of the worlds first, if not the first, modern national constitutional republics. The United States government is based on the principles of federalism and republicanism, some make the case for expansive federal powers while others argue for a more limited role for the central government in relation to individuals, the states or other recognized entities. For example, while the legislative has the power to create law, the President nominates judges to the nations highest judiciary authority, but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in its turn, has the power to invalidate as unconstitutional any law passed by the Congress and these and other examples are examined in more detail in the text below. The United States Congress is the branch of the federal government. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate, the House currently consists of 435 voting members, each of whom represents a congressional district. The number of each state has in the House is based on each states population as determined in the most recent United States Census. All 435 representatives serve a two-year term, each state receives a minimum of one representative in the House. There is no limit on the number of terms a representative may serve, in addition to the 435 voting members, there are six non-voting members, consisting of five delegates and one resident commissioner. In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, regardless of population, there are currently 100 senators, who each serve six-year terms
3.
United States presidential election
–
These electors then in turn cast direct votes, known as electoral votes, for President and Vice President. The candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes for President or Vice President is then elected to that office. The Electoral College and its procedure is established in the U. S, Constitution by Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2 and 4, and the Twelfth Amendment. C. Casts the same number of votes as the least-represented state. Also under Clause 2, the manner for choosing electors is determined by state legislature. Many state legislatures used to select their electors directly, but over all of them switched to using the popular vote to help determine electors. In modern times, faithless and unpledged electors have not affected the outcome of an election. The Electoral College electors then formally cast their votes on the first Monday after December 12 at their respective state capitals. Congress then certify the results in early January, and the term begins on Inauguration Day. These primary elections are held between January and June before the general election in November, while the nominating conventions are held in the summer. Article Two of the United States Constitution originally established the method of presidential elections and this was a result of a compromise between those constitutional framers who wanted the Congress to choose the president, and those who preferred a national popular vote. Each state is allocated a number of electors that is equal to the size of its delegation in both houses of Congress combined. With the ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution in 1961, however, U. S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College. Constitutionally, the manner for choosing electors is determined within each state by its legislature, during the first presidential election in 1789, only 6 of the 13 original states chose electors by any form of popular vote. Gradually throughout the years, the states began conducting popular elections to choose their slate of electors, resulting in the overall. Under the original system established by Article Two, electors could cast two votes to two different candidates for president, the candidate with the highest number of votes became the president, and the second-place candidate became the vice president. This presented a problem during the election of 1800 when Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes as Thomas Jefferson. In the end, Jefferson was chosen as the president because of Alexander Hamiltons influence in the House of Representatives and this added to the deep rivalry between Burr and Hamilton which resulted in their famous 1804 duel
4.
United States presidential election in Iowa, 1984
–
The 1984 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 6,1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election, Iowa voters chose 8 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the President and Vice President of the United States. Iowa was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, Reagan ran for a second time with former C. I. A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the Vice-Presidency. While the majority of counties turned out for Reagan, the politically volatile state of Iowa was a narrow victory for him. The relatively weak Republican trend for this election is highlighted with the loss of Des Moiness highly populated Polk County to Mondale, Iowa weighed in for this election as 5% more Democratic than the national average. He also criticized Reagan for his marginalization of the poor, stating that Reagan’s reelection campaign was “a happy talk campaign. A very significant political move during this election, the Democratic Party nominated Representative Geraldine Ferraro to run with Mondale as Vice-President, Ferraro is the first female candidate to receive such a nomination in United States history. She said in an interview at the 1984 Democratic National Convention that this opened a door which will never be closed again. By 1984, Reagan was very popular with voters across the nation as the President who saw them out of the stagflation of the early and middle 1970s. The economic success seen under Reagan was politically accomplished in two ways, the first was initiation of deep tax cuts for the wealthy, and the second was a wide-spectrum of tax cuts for crude oil production and refinement, namely, with the 1980 Windfall profits tax cuts. Collectively called Reaganomics, these policies were established through several pieces of legislation passed between 1980 and 1987. Reaganomics has been criticized by analysts as setting the stage for economic troubles in the United State after 2007. Virtually unopposed during the Republican primaries, Reagan ran on a campaign of furthering his economic policies, Reagan vowed to continue his war on drugs, passing sweeping legislation after the 1984 election in support of mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession. Reagan won the election in Iowa by a sound 8 point margin and this was most evident during the 1984 presidential election. No Republican candidate has received as strong of support in the American Midwest at large, Iowa would not be won again by the Republican Party in a presidential election until 2004. It is speculated that Mondale lost support with voters nearly immediately during the campaign, there he stated that he intended to increase taxes. To quote Mondale, By the end of my first term and it must be done, it must be done
5.
United States presidential election in Iowa, 1988
–
The 1988 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 8,1988, as part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, Iowa was won by Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts with 54. 71% of the popular vote over Republican Vice President George H. W. Bushs 44. 50%, a victory margin of 10. 22%. This made it one of 10 states to vote for Dukakis and this Democratic support was spread widely across the state, with Dukakis winning 75 of the states 99 counties. Beginning in 1988, Iowa has voted Democratic in six of the eight elections that have since occurred
6.
United States presidential election in Iowa, 1992
–
The 1992 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 3,1992, as part of the 1992 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, Iowa was won by Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas with 43. 29% of the popular vote over incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bushs 37. 27%, a victory margin of 6. 01%. Independent businessman Ross Perot finished in third with 18. 71% of the popular vote, Clinton ultimately won the national vote, defeating incumbent President Bush and Perot. In the 1992 Iowa Democratic caucuses, most candidates for the Democratic nomination did not campaign in Iowa because of the presence of Tom Harkin, a longtime Senator representing Iowa. Harkin was running for President in 1992 as a populist with labor union support who criticized George H. W. Bush for being out of touch with working class Americans, Harkin was an early favorite in a small field of five candidates. Harkin easily won the caucus with 76% of the vote, uncommited got second place with 11%, Senator Paul Tsongas came in third with 4%, and Governor Bill Clinton finished fourth with 2%. Because the race was not contested, these results had little effect on the primaries. Tom Harkin won every county by large margins, the delegate totals reflect their final distribution, not their projected allocation immediately following the caucus
7.
United States presidential election in Iowa, 2000
–
The 2000 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 7,2000 throughout all 50 states and D. C. which was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose 7 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, gores win in Iowa marked the fourth consecutive victory for Democrats in the Hawkeye State, though Iowa is often considered a swing state in American presidential elections. Iowa Democratic caucuses,2000 Iowa Republican caucuses,2000 Technically the voters of Iowa cast their ballots for electors, Iowa is allocated 7 electors because it has 5 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 7 electors, whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 7 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President, although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector. The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18,2000 to cast their votes for President, the Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols, the following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Al Gore and Joe Lieberman, Jeff Heland Angelyn King Paulee Lipsman Emil Pavich John OBrien Ernest Ricehill Evan Giesen David Tingwald
8.
United States presidential election in Iowa, 2004
–
The 2004 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 2,2004 throughout all 50 states and D. C. which was part of the 2004 United States presidential election. Voters chose 7 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, Iowa was won by incumbent President George W. Bush by a 0. 67% margin of victory, despite losing the state to Al Gore in 2000. Prior to the election, most news organizations considered this a swing state, the Democrats had won Iowa in the previous four presidential elections, though only narrowly in 2000. Gore had won the state by only 0, Iowa was one of just two states to vote for Gore in 2000 but flip to Bush in 2004, although both times won by razor-thin margins. Iowa Democratic caucuses,2004 There were 12 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election, here are their last predictions before election day. The last three polls averaged both candidates at 48%, with the last-second deciders the key to victory. The final Real Clear Politics average gave Bush leading with a margin of 0. 3%, with 47. 4% to Kerry at 47. 1%, the Kerry campaign visited the state 11 times to Bushs 10 times. Both campaigns spent between $400,000 to $600,000 each week in television advertising, although Kerry dominated the higher populated areas, Bush dominated the ultra rural areas, specifically winning all the counties in the far west part of the state. Bush also won 3 of the states 5 congressional districts, in just 2 counties did Bush obtain less than 40% of the vote. Bushs best performance in the state was in Sioux County, where he won with 86% of the vote, Bush won 3 of 5 congressional districts. Iowa voters cast their ballots for electors, representatives to the Electoral College, Iowa has 7 electors because it has 5 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 7 electors, whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 7 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President, although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector. The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 13,2004 to cast their votes for President, the Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia meet in their respective capitols, the following were the members of the Electoral College from Iowa. All were pledged to and voted for Bush and Cheney, julie Hosch Velma Huebner Don Racheter Marilyn Bose Don Kass Dorothy Schlitter Wanda Sears Canvass Summary, Official Results. Archived from the original on November 13,2007
9.
United States presidential election in Iowa, 2008
–
The 2008 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 4,2008 in Iowa, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 7 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, Iowa was won by the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, by a 9. 54% margin of victory. Obama took 53. 93% of the vote while his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona, prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. In 2004, Republican George W. Bush had very narrowly won Iowa in his re-election bid, a Midwestern state where agriculture plays a critical role in the daily lives of its citizens, Iowa is nevertheless an independent state. However, due to Obamas victory in the Iowa caucuses, Bushs unpopularity, and the troubling economy, the 2008 Iowa caucuses took place on January 3,2008. They are a primary, with the delegates to the state convention selected proportionally via a straw poll. The Iowa caucuses mark the formal start of the delegate selection process for the 2008 United States presidential election. It was the first election of the 2008 presidential election, also referred to as the First in the Nation Caucus, it was the first election of the primary season on both the Democratic and Republican sides. Of the eight major Democratic presidential candidates, then-U. S, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois received the most votes and was ultimately declared the winner of the Iowa Democratic Caucus of 2008, making him the first African American to win the caucus. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina came in place and then-U. S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York finished third, though Clinton received more delegates than Edwards, campaigning had begun as early as two years before the event. The Iowa Caucuses have historically been the first held in the United States, Iowa state law mandates that its caucus must be held at least eight days before any other meeting, caucus, or primary for the presidential nominating process. Therefore, the Iowa Caucuses have always traditionally the leading state in the nominating process. Not only did controversy brew between the candidates, but the caucuses themselves drew a large amount of media attention, the decisions of the Iowans often affect the rest of the campaign season. Barack Obamas victory in Iowa helped establish him as one of the Democratic frontrunners of 2008 and was a first step toward his eventual nomination, the caucuses followed the regular procedures of the Democratic Party process. Any voter who was a registered Democrat and a resident of Iowa was eligible to participate in the event, individuals could have chosen to register or change their party affiliation at the door. It was estimated that 60 percent of the caucusgoers would have attended the caucuses for the first time, all of the caucusgoers met in public buildings or schools in their respective precincts and divided themselves into groups, each group represented a candidate. To be viable, each preference group/candidate must have had at least 15 percent of the caucusgoers votes, in Iowa, there were 1,784 precincts for the caucuses
10.
United States presidential election in Iowa, 2012
–
The 2012 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 6,2012, as part of the 2012 general election in which all 50 states plus The District of Columbia participated. On election day, Barack Obama won Iowa with 51. 99% of the vote to Mitt Romneys 46. 18%, on January 3,2012, the Iowa Democratic Party held statewide caucuses to select delegates to the county conventions. Of the 8,152 county convention delegates that were elected by the caucuses,8,065 were for Obama and 87 were uncommitted, in the floor vote taken at the Democratic National Convention,62 Iowa state delegates voted for Obama. The other 3 of the states 65 allocated votes were not announced, the 2012 Iowa Republican caucuses took place on January 3,2012. Representative Ron Paul of Texas ran a third, receiving 26,036 votes. Trailing were former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Texas governor Rick Perry, Former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Jr. who skipped campaigning in Iowa to focus on the New Hampshire primary, received 739 votes. In total,121,501 votes were recorded, setting a record for Iowa Republican caucus turnout, however, this total was still far less than the all-time Iowa caucus record in the 2008 Democratic Iowa caucuses, in which 239,000 Democrats voted. The 121,501 votes represent 19.8 percent of active registered Republicans in the state, however, the vote totals of eight precincts were never counted, so the vote totals are not really known. It should be noted that the polling results at Republican caucus sites were unrelated to the delegate selection process in 2012. This would, in turn, determine the Iowa delegates who would attend the Republican National Convention in August,2012. This process rewarded campaign organizations that could not only get supporters to the caucus sites, as a result, Ron Paul was ultimately able to win 22 of the 28 delegates to the national convention and Mitt Romney won the other six. The 2011–2012 pre-caucus poll results for Iowa had highly volatile results, the 2012 caucuses also set a new record for political expenditures, with $12 million being spent, two-thirds of it from super PACs which dominated the campaigns by running highly negative attack ads. In the August 13 Ames Straw Poll, a straw poll held in Iowa Republican caucuses, Bachmann narrowly defeated Paul. Following his disappointing showing, Pawlenty dropped out of the race, several other joint candidates appearances took place during the caucus campaign outside Iowa. The day after her unsatisfactory sixth-place performance in Iowa, Bachmann announced she was dropping out of the presidential race, businessman Donald Trump, who also briefly flirted with the possibility of a bid for president, had sent several aides to Iowa, but ultimately decided against a bid. Former Governor Tim Pawlenty, and former Senator Rick Santorum also participated in the event, Santorum would also announce his own exploratory committee on April 13,2011, and made his first visit as a candidate on April 25,2011. The next day, Congressman Ron Paul announced his exploratory committee to run for president in Des Moines and he had visited the state several times before, including meeting with Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad a month earlier. A month later, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann made her first visit to Iowa as a candidate on June 26,2011, as the Ames Straw Poll approached in August 2011, visits and spending by the campaigns dramatically increased
11.
Iowa Democratic caucuses, 1976
–
During the 1976 Iowa Democratic caucuses, a little-known Southern Governor, Jimmy Carter, campaigned heavily and ended up capturing 27.7 percent of the vote, the highest among five candidates. Soon, an outpouring of media coverage on Carter emerged, Carter, the little-known Governor of Georgia started to campaign in the state. Carter mostly focused his campaign on blue collar workers and farmers in the state, the battle became increasingly tough for Carter, as he had little money and no media coverage, unlike the other candidates. Carter spent all the time he could in the state, uncommitted won 14,508 votes to Carters 10,764 votes. Birch Bayh, a Senator from Indiana got 5,148, udall dropped to 5th place with only 6%, behind Fred R. Harris of Oklahoma, leading to Harris coining the term winnowed in, referring to his surprisingly strong showing. After his upset win, the media swarmed to Carter and he now had the momentum to continue, and would, in fact, go on to win the nomination. At the time, the Iowa caucus attracted little media coverage, but after the 1976 election more people began to pay attention to future contests
12.
Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2000
–
In the United States, the 2000 Iowa Democratic caucuses were the first major test of the leading contenders for the Democratic Partys nomination as its candidate for the 2000 presidential election. Bill Bradley, former Senator from New Jersey Al Gore, incumbent Vice President of the United States from Tennessee Vice President Al Gore was seen as the frontrunner for the nomination, bill Bradley was seen as a non-threat. Al Gore campaigned in Des Moines, Iowa in May 1999, Bradley, knowing he was the outsider, campaigned tirelessly. Gore successfully painted Bradley as aloof and indifferent to the plight of farmers in rural America, the Vice President received the endorsement from the Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack and Senator Tom Harkin and had a tremendous lead over Senator Bradley. But a devastating loss for the Gore camp was when Bradley got the endorsement of the Des Moines Register, Bradley started to gain momentum and the race become closer. A week before the polls had it 40% to 49% in Gore’s favor. On January 23,2000, a day before the polls had Al Gore winning by 2 or 3 points. Al Gore won 93 of Iowas 99 counties, Gore even beat Bradley in the Des Moines area. This Caucus had low voter turnout, bill Bradley lost the rest of the primaries by large margins and Al Gore would eventually lose the general election to Governor of Texas George W. Bush. Iowa caucuses Iowa Republican caucuses,2000 Democratic Party presidential primaries,2000
13.
Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2004
–
The first to arrive were Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean, who began to make occasional speeches there and started to build an organization. In 2003, John Kerry, John Edwards, Carol Moseley Braun, Gephardt went into the campaign with high expectations. He was from a state, Missouri, had strong union backing. During 2003, however, Howard Dean began to grow in popularity across the country on a strong message that appealed to the party base. Gephardt continued to do well, but Kerry and Edwards both sank to single-digit levels of support, Kucinich and Moseley Braun were never considered strong contenders and polled poorly throughout the campaign. Three of the Democratic candidates sat out the caucuses, joe Lieberman and Al Sharpton did not believe they could get sufficient support in the state and concentrated their efforts on New Hampshire. Wesley Clark got into the race too late to be competitive in Iowa, on January 10, Howard Dean got a major boost when Iowas senior Senator Tom Harkin endorsed him. On January 15, Carol Moseley Braun withdrew from the race, during the last weeks of the campaign, however, the polls began to indicate a significant change in support. Dean and Gephardt had been hammering each other with negative advertisements, Edwards received a major boost when he was endorsed by Iowas largest newspaper. The deal was seen as a blow to the Gephardt campaign. The results were similar to that indicated by last-minute polling but were a surprise compared with weeks earlier. Source, Des Moines Register It was reported that 124,331 Iowans participated in the caucuses, the initial county caucuses assigned delegates for further caucuses with delegates not being bound to vote for the candidate. Actual delegates to the Democratic National Convention would be later,29 at the district caucuses on April 24,2004 and 16 at the state convention on June 12,2004. Besides these 45 delegates assigned through the system,10 other delegates are assigned by the state party. The successful candidate at the 2004 Democratic National Convention required approximately 2,160 delegates to win the nomination, the results showed a similar pattern across the state. Dean failed to win the support of the areas as he had hoped. The Iowa caucuses revived the once moribund campaign of Kerry, who proceeded to the New Hampshire primary as one of the front-runners, Edwards, who had been written off even more than Kerry, used the Iowa results and the later South Carolina primary to give him another boost. The results were a blow to Dean, who had for weeks been expected to win the caucuses and he planned afterward to move quickly to New Hampshire where he expected to do well and regain momentum
14.
Iowa Democratic caucuses, 2008
–
The 2008 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 4,2008 in Iowa, as part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 7 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, Iowa was won by the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, by a 9. 54% margin of victory. Obama took 53. 93% of the vote while his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona, prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. In 2004, Republican George W. Bush had very narrowly won Iowa in his re-election bid, a Midwestern state where agriculture plays a critical role in the daily lives of its citizens, Iowa is nevertheless an independent state. However, due to Obamas victory in the Iowa caucuses, Bushs unpopularity, and the troubling economy, the 2008 Iowa caucuses took place on January 3,2008. They are a primary, with the delegates to the state convention selected proportionally via a straw poll. The Iowa caucuses mark the formal start of the delegate selection process for the 2008 United States presidential election. It was the first election of the 2008 presidential election, also referred to as the First in the Nation Caucus, it was the first election of the primary season on both the Democratic and Republican sides. Of the eight major Democratic presidential candidates, then-U. S, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois received the most votes and was ultimately declared the winner of the Iowa Democratic Caucus of 2008, making him the first African American to win the caucus. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina came in place and then-U. S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York finished third, though Clinton received more delegates than Edwards, campaigning had begun as early as two years before the event. The Iowa Caucuses have historically been the first held in the United States, Iowa state law mandates that its caucus must be held at least eight days before any other meeting, caucus, or primary for the presidential nominating process. Therefore, the Iowa Caucuses have always traditionally the leading state in the nominating process. Not only did controversy brew between the candidates, but the caucuses themselves drew a large amount of media attention, the decisions of the Iowans often affect the rest of the campaign season. Barack Obamas victory in Iowa helped establish him as one of the Democratic frontrunners of 2008 and was a first step toward his eventual nomination, the caucuses followed the regular procedures of the Democratic Party process. Any voter who was a registered Democrat and a resident of Iowa was eligible to participate in the event, individuals could have chosen to register or change their party affiliation at the door. It was estimated that 60 percent of the caucusgoers would have attended the caucuses for the first time, all of the caucusgoers met in public buildings or schools in their respective precincts and divided themselves into groups, each group represented a candidate. To be viable, each preference group/candidate must have had at least 15 percent of the caucusgoers votes, in Iowa, there were 1,784 precincts for the caucuses
15.
Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2012
–
President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3,2012 after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2012 Democratic National Convention on September 5,2012, in Charlotte, the general expectation was that, with President Barack Obama having the advantage of incumbency and being the only viable candidate running, the race would be merely pro forma. Several of the candidates made efforts to raise visibility. Some Occupy movement activists made an attempt to take over the Iowa caucuses, with eight minor candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire, there was a debate at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on December 19,2011, in which seven candidates participated. Pro-life activist Randall Terry bought time on television in order to show graphic commercials denouncing abortion, three candidates – other than Obama – who had been on the ballot in New Hampshire were also on the ballot in Missouri. One such candidate, Randall Terry, attempted to air graphic TV commercials during Super Bowl XLIV, the Democratic National Committee also tried to stop the ads by claiming that Terry was not a legitimate Democratic candidate even though he was legally on the ballot. A state administrative judge upheld a subpoena, which was ignored by the President, in February 2012, the activists legal challenge was rejected by a Georgia state law judge and by the Secretary of State of Georgia, and Obama remained listed on the primary ballot. Shortly thereafter, attorney John Wolfe, Jr. won 42% of the vote in Arkansas after widespread speculation that Wolfe could possibly pull off an upset of the state. Randall Terry also attempted to contest the Kansas caucus, but was denied a spot on the ballot after the states Democratic Party determined that he didnt meet the requirements. Darcy Richardson suspended his bid for the nomination on April 28,2012 and he still appeared on the ballot in Texas and was an eligible write-in candidate in California after suspending his campaign. W. Bush was challenged by Pat Buchanan, Obama was on the ballot in all states, where he ran mostly unopposed. S. In addition, fixed numbers of delegates are allocated to Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U. S. Virgin Islands, States are awarded bonus pledged delegates if they schedule their primary or caucus later in the primary season. Those states with April dates are awarded a 10 percent increase, and starting on March 20, a 15 percent bonus is awarded when clusters of three or more neighboring states begin on the same day. Because of possible deaths, resignations, or the results of intervening or special elections, some delegates committed to candidates other than the President, have not been permitted to be elected in contested primaries, for administrative reasons. * - Unopposed # - Primary Canceled Notes Floridas legislature set the date for its primary on January 31, Randall Terry collected 18% of the votes, winning twelve counties, in the Oklahoma primary, qualifying him for seven delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Jim Rogers collected 13% of the votes, winning three counties, qualifying him for three delegates, New Hampshire A Democratic presidential candidates debate, held at Saint Anselm College in December 2011, was attended by seven candidates, Obama did not participate. A total of 60,659 votes were cast in the primary, the total votes cast were more than 30 percent fewer than in 1996, the last time that a Democratic president ran for re-election without significant opposition. Oklahoma Louisiana Missouri Arkansas United States presidential election 2012 Democratic National Convention Republican Party presidential primaries,2012
16.
Iowa Republican caucuses, 2000
–
The 2000 Iowa Republican caucuses took place on January 24,2000. The Iowa Republican caucuses are a primary, with the delegates to the state convention selected proportionally via a straw poll. The Iowa caucuses marked the formal start of the delegate selection process for the 2000 United States presidential election. Prior to the 2000 caucuses, as in previous cycles with a competitive presidential race. The official one, electing delegates to the convention, was held on January 24,2000. In the Ames Straw Poll, George W. Bush finished first with 31% of the vote, in the January 2000 caucuses, Bush again finished first with 41% of the vote. Unlike the Democratic caucus, the Republican Party does not use voting rounds or have minimum requirements for a percent of votes, the Republican version is done with a straw vote of those attending the caucus. This vote is sometimes done by a show of hands or by dividing themselves into groups according to candidate. However, officially it is done with voters receiving a piece of paper with no names on it. Following the straw poll, delegates are elected from the remaining participants in the room. All delegates are officially considered unbound, but media outlets either apportion delegates proportionally or apportion them in terms of winner-take-all by counties, in precincts that elect only one delegate, the delegate is chosen by majority vote and the vote must be by paper ballot. The state party strongly urges that delegates reflect the results of the preference poll, the 2000 Ames straw poll was held at Iowa State University s Hilton Coliseum on August 14,1999. This was primarily a fundraising event for the states Republican Party, tickets were available through the various presidential campaigns and the Iowa Republican Partys headquarters. In general, the candidates bought large blocks of tickets and gave out for free to whoever agreed to go. The candidates also rented buses to transport voters to Ames, George W. Bush finished first with 31% of the vote, followed by Steve Forbes, Elizabeth Dole, and Gary Bauer. Eight other candidates shared the remaining 25% of the vote, three candidates won majorities or pluralities in the individual counties, George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, and Gary Bauer. The McCain campaign chose to skip the Iowa caucuses and instead campaign in New Hampshire, Iowa caucuses Iowa Democratic caucuses,2000 Republican Party presidential primaries,2000
17.
Iowa Republican caucuses, 2008
–
The 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses took place on January 4,2008. The Iowa Republican caucuses are a primary, with the delegates to the state convention selected proportionally via a straw poll. The Iowa caucuses mark the formal start of the delegate selection process for the 2008 United States presidential election. Prior to the 2008 caucuses, as in previous cycles with a competitive presidential race. The official one, electing delegates to the convention, was held on January 3,2008. In the Ames Straw Poll, Mitt Romney finished first with 32% of the vote, in the January 2008 caucuses, Mike Huckabee finished first with 34% of the vote. Unlike the Democratic caucus, the Republican Party does not use voting rounds or have minimum requirements for a percent of votes, the Republican version is done with a straw vote of those attending the caucus. This vote is sometimes done by a show of hands or by dividing themselves into groups according to candidate. However, officially it is done with voters receiving a piece of paper with no names on it. Following the straw poll, delegates are elected from the remaining participants in the room. All delegates are officially considered unbound, but media outlets either apportion delegates proportionally or apportion them in terms of winner-take-all by counties, in precincts that elect only one delegate, the delegate is chosen by majority vote and the vote must be by paper ballot. The state party strongly urges that delegates reflect the results of the preference poll, the 2007 Ames straw poll was held at Iowa State University s Hilton Coliseum on August 11,2007. This was primarily a fundraising event for the states Republican Party, tickets were available through the various presidential campaigns and the Iowa Republican Partys headquarters. In general, the candidates bought large blocks of tickets and gave out for free to whoever agreed to go. The candidates also rented buses to transport voters to Ames, Mitt Romney finished first with 32% of the vote, followed by Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, and Ron Paul. Six other candidates shared the remaining 14% of the vote.5 percentage points, Mike Huckabees results in the opinion polls rose from 29% in the Des Moines Registers poll in late November 2007. Mitt Romney rose two points from 24% in November to 26% in December, john McCain enjoyed the biggest increase from November, increasing six points from 7% to 13%, while Rudy Giuliani suffered the biggest drop from November, decreasing eight points from 13% to 5%. Giulianis large drop was attributed to his strategy of skipping early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire in favor of larger, delegate-rich states such as Florida, California, no other candidate polled more than 10%
18.
Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012
–
The 2012 Republican presidential primaries were the selection processes in which voters of the Republican Party elected state delegations to the Republican National Convention. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election, there were 2,286 delegates chosen, and a candidate needed to accumulate 1,144 delegate votes at the convention to win the nomination. The caucuses allocated delegates to the state delegations to the national convention. Delegates were elected in different ways that vary from state to state and they could be elected at local conventions, selected from slates submitted by the candidates, selected at committee meetings, or elected directly at the caucuses and primaries. The primary contest began in 2011 with a wide field. However, he lacked support from the conservative wing and the media narrative became. Several candidates rose in the polls throughout the year, however, the field was down to four candidates by February 2012, Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, U. S. Congressman Ron Paul, former Governor Romney and former U. S and it was the first presidential primary to be affected by a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unlimited independent expenditures to support or oppose candidates through super PACs. Three different candidates won the first three contests, Santorum, who had been running a one-state campaign in Iowa, narrowly won in that states caucuses by a handful of votes over Romney. Romney won New Hampshire, but lost South Carolina to Gingrich, Super Tuesday primaries took place on March 6. With ten states voting and 391 delegates being allocated, it had less than half the potential impact of its 2008 predecessor, Romney carried six states and Santorum three, while Gingrich won his home state of Georgia. Twelve more events were held in March, including all of the territorial contests, Santorum suspended his campaign on April 10, a week after losing Wisconsin and two other primaries to Romney. Gingrich followed suit on May 2, after the Republican National Committee declared Romney the presumptive nominee on April 25, on May 14, Paul announced that he would suspend funding the remaining primary contests and devote his resources to winning delegates at state conventions. He then won majorities in delegations of three states whose non-binding primaries had been in favor of other candidates, with his subsequent victories in California and several smaller states, Romney surpassed a majority of bound delegates on June 5. Romney chose congressman Paul Ryan to be his running mate but they went on to lose the election to incumbent President Barack Obama. Delegate Hard Count, This only included bound delegates that had to vote for a candidate if they supported another candidate. Delegate Soft Count, This only included delegates allocated at the primaries and it did not include any projections on future local conventions or the 117 unbound RNC delegates that were not a part of the primary election process. A breakdown of this count is found in the Primary Schedule below
19.
United States Senate
–
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress which, along with the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, composes the legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. S. From 1789 until 1913, Senators were appointed by the legislatures of the states represented, following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The Senate chamber is located in the wing of the Capitol, in Washington. It further has the responsibility of conducting trials of those impeached by the House, in the early 20th century, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began, although they are not constitutional officers. This idea of having one chamber represent people equally, while the other gives equal representation to states regardless of population, was known as the Connecticut Compromise, there was also a desire to have two Houses that could act as an internal check on each other. One was intended to be a Peoples House directly elected by the people, the other was intended to represent the states to such extent as they retained their sovereignty except for the powers expressly delegated to the national government. The Senate was thus not designed to serve the people of the United States equally, the Constitution provides that the approval of both chambers is necessary for the passage of legislation. First convened in 1789, the Senate of the United States was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate, the name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. James Madison made the comment about the Senate, In England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people. An agrarian law would take place. If these observations be just, our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation, landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority, the senate, therefore, ought to be this body, and to answer these purposes, the people ought to have permanency and stability. The Constitution stipulates that no constitutional amendment may be created to deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the Senate without that states consent, the District of Columbia and all other territories are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress. The District of Columbia elects two senators, but they are officials of the D. C. city government. The United States has had 50 states since 1959, thus the Senate has had 100 senators since 1959. In 1787, Virginia had roughly ten times the population of Rhode Island, whereas today California has roughly 70 times the population of Wyoming and this means some citizens are effectively two orders of magnitude better represented in the Senate than those in other states. Seats in the House of Representatives are approximately proportionate to the population of each state, before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, Senators were elected by the individual state legislatures
20.
United States Senate election in Iowa, 1984
–
The 1984 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 5,1984. Incumbent Republican United States Senator Roger Jepsen ran for re-election to a term in the United States Senate. Jepsen was opposed by United States Congressman Tom Harkin, from Iowas 5th congressional district, ultimately, Harkin defeated Jepsen by a wide margin, winning the first of five terms in the Senate. Tom Harkin, United States Congressman from Iowas 5th congressional district Roger Jepsen, incumbent United States Senator
21.
United States Senate election in Iowa, 1990
–
The 1990 United States Senate election in Iowa was held on November 5,1990. Incumbent Democratic United States Senator Tom Harkin sought re-election to a term in the United States Senate. Harkin was opposed by Republican United States Congressman Tom Tauke, from Iowas 2nd congressional district, though Harkin performed slightly worse than he had six years earlier, he was successful in his re-election bid and defeated Tauke. Tom Harkin, incumbent United States Senator Tom Tauke, U. S
.jpg)
