The Iowa caucuses are the first opportunity for Democrats to express their preferences in what's been a long and tumultuous primary. The winner usually receives a boost in media attention and fundraising that can propel them through subsequent contests.
DES MOINES, IOWA -- What are the Iowa caucuses and why do they matter?
The caucuses don't always pick the eventual nominee, but for Democrats they've been more predictive -- every winner since 2000 has gone on to become the Democratic nominee. And historically, they've been known to catapult underdog candidates' campaigns to prominence -- like they did with Barack Obama in 2008, or Jimmy Carter in 1976.The caucuses begin at 7 p.m. CST on Monday.
That's where attendees gather in the designated area for their favoured candidate. In most precincts, any candidate that receives the support of 15% of the people in the room is considered "viable" and moves on to the next round of voting. Caucusgoers who chose a viable candidate on their first round are locked in and can't choose a new candidate on the second.
At the end of realignment, the caucus chair takes a final count of the room, and transmits the numbers to the Iowa Democratic Party.The results in each precinct are used by the Iowa Democratic Party to calculate what's known as the "state delegate equivalent," or how many delegates each candidate gets at the Iowa Democratic Party convention. That number ultimately translates to how many of Iowa's 41 national delegates each candidate gets at the national convention.
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