{"id":2730,"date":"2020-02-03T10:10:12","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T15:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2730"},"modified":"2020-02-03T10:10:18","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T15:10:18","slug":"it-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/03\/it-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"It Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It\u2019s Monday, February 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, 2020.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s the day that many Americans have been waiting for since the early morning hours of Wednesday November 9<sup>th<\/sup>, 2016; when the Trump Presidency became a nightmarish reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s the beginning of the Presidential election cycle, and for Democrats, it begins in Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Different Ways to Choose&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you know anything about the American electoral process, you know it\u2019s eccentric. We have the Electoral College that gets selected to choose the President.&nbsp;&nbsp;And we have differing ways to choose who are the Presidential candidates for the political parties.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here in Ohio it\u2019s pretty simple, you ask for a ballot for the Party of your choice, and then you pick one candidate from the list on the ballot.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s an election, and though the winner doesn\u2019t \u201ctake all\u201d this year, there definitely is a \u201cfirst place\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;That primary chooses delegates to the nominating convention, divided by the candidates\u2019 ranking in the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four states, Alaska, Kansas, Hawaii, Nebraska, will make their Presidential candidate selection using \u201cranked choice\u201d voting.&nbsp;&nbsp;Voters rank the candidates by preference.&nbsp;&nbsp;The \u201cfirst place\u201d votes are counted, and the candidates with less than 15% are dropped.&nbsp;&nbsp;Then the ballots are recounted without those candidates, with those that had the dropped candidates at first now counting their second choice as first.&nbsp;&nbsp;The delegates to the nominating convention are then apportioned by those final results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Caucus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>And then there are the caucus states, leading off tonight in Iowa.&nbsp;&nbsp;In caucus states you don\u2019t go to your precinct to vote \u2013 you go to meet (caucus).&nbsp;&nbsp;At the meeting, held in a big room (think high school gym) you walk in, and go to the section of the gym designated for the candidate you support.&nbsp;&nbsp;So go to the \u201cBiden Corner\u201d, or the \u201cBernie\u201d section of the bleachers, or the \u201cYang\u201d center court.&nbsp;&nbsp;When everyone is organized, they count the people in the sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, it\u2019s not over.\u00a0\u00a0When the first count is done, any candidate that doesn\u2019t have at least 15% of the total no longer counts.\u00a0\u00a0Those who were in their \u201ccorner\u201d are now free to go to their \u201csecond choice,\u201d any other candidate still in the count.\u00a0\u00a0So in that brief reorganizing time, there\u2019s a tremendous amount of persuasion as neighbors try to convince neighbors to come over to \u201ctheir\u201d corner.\u00a0\u00a0After the second count, the results are reported, precincts are added up, and the delegates apportioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stand UP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the caucus, neighbors have to literally show up and stand up for a particular candidate.&nbsp;&nbsp;Unlike the secret ballot in the voting primaries, in the caucus states neighbors get to see where everyone in the neighborhood stands, literally.&nbsp;&nbsp;By the way, there are no eligibility rules, if you show up to participate in the Democratic caucus, you are a Democrat for that night.&nbsp;&nbsp;This leads to some concern that Republicans might try to \u201ccandidate shop\u201d to choose a weaker candidate to oppose President Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that can happen in any primary.&nbsp;&nbsp;Even here in Ohio, where you have to declare a party to get a ballot, you are allowed to switch parties.&nbsp;&nbsp;Generally though, Republicans take a Republican ballot, and Democrats get their Democratic ballot.&nbsp;&nbsp;Most people don\u2019t get hung up in trying to \u201crig\u201d the general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Start<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So, after a year or more of debates, discussions, plans and pledges; we finally begin the process of choosing.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is \u201cjust\u201d the beginning, the primary cycle will continue into June.&nbsp;&nbsp;And even then, there\u2019s no guarantee that the Democratic Party will have a \u201cwinner\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;There may still have to be another \u201ccaucus\u201d,&nbsp;&nbsp;the big one at the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee in July.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you understand the Iowa caucus method, then you have a pretty good idea how a \u201ccontested\u201d Convention might turn out.&nbsp;&nbsp;A first ballot with no \u201cwinner\u201d would then start a \u201cre-sort\u201d like the gyms of Ottumwa, or Davenport, or Limoni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Democratic Party is raucous. \u201cBernie Bros\u201d, \u201cYang Gangers\u201d, nervous Biden backers, Warren planners, fresh-faced Mayor Pete followers and all the rest are fighting it out.&nbsp;&nbsp;Except of course for Mike Bloomberg, who\u2019s buying up all of the television time. They will test each other, raising questions about policies and attacking past records.&nbsp;&nbsp;Don\u2019t worry:&nbsp;&nbsp;they won\u2019t reveal any secrets that the Trump Campaign didn\u2019t know.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And by Thursday, July 16<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;we will have one candidate, and one mission: to end the Trump Presidency.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s not that big a deal, just the fate of the American Republic and maybe the whole world.&nbsp;&nbsp;After all the fighting \u2013 Democrats will be one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s Monday, February 3rd, 2020.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s the day that many Americans have been waiting for since the early morning hours of Wednesday November 9th, 2016; when the Trump Presidency became a nightmarish reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s the beginning of the Presidential election cycle, and for Democrats, it begins in Iowa. Different Ways to Choose&nbsp; If you know anything about &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/03\/it-begins\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;It Begins&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>It Begins : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The American election cycle begins. We have primaries, ranked choice voting, and the caucus. It all leads to a single candidate for President.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/03\/it-begins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It Begins : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The American election cycle begins. We have primaries, ranked choice voting, and the caucus. It all leads to a single candidate for President.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/03\/it-begins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-03T15:10:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-03T15:10:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/03\\\/it-begins\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/03\\\/it-begins\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"It Begins\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-03T15:10:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-03T15:10:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/03\\\/it-begins\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":843,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/03\\\/it-begins\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/03\\\/it-begins\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/03\\\/it-begins\\\/\",\"name\":\"It Begins : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-03T15:10:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-03T15:10:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"The American election cycle begins. 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