So without further ado, my first interview is with Bryan Bedera, Northern Nevada Campaign Coordinator for Senator John McCain. I’d like to thank Bryan for taking some time to answer my questions.

Question #1: Nevada moved up the date for its caucuses in the hopes of making the state more important to the election process. Is the NV caucus more important this year than in previous elections?

Absolutely, with the caucus being moved up in Nevada to 4th in the nation we have become one of the few vital states in the nomination process.

Question #2: Based on the high turnout for the Iowa Caucuses, as well as NV’s new place in the political calendar, do you expect turnout for the NV Caucuses to be up this year?

That is an un answerable question, with this being the first time Nevada as caucused in living memory, predicting turnout rate seems to often come down to tea leaves and crystal balls.

Question #3: According to an article in today’s New York Times, Nevada has been “ignored” by all Republican candidates except Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Do you think this is a fair claim? How would you characterize Republican interest in the Nevada Caucuses?

The Nevada Caucus is central to the McCain campaign and major part of our overall campaign strategy. With the campaign organizing over 200 volunteers from two regional offices, we expect our focus on Nevada to result in a good showing for Senator McCain.

Question #4: Both NV and South Carolina will hold their Republican contests on January 19th. Which state is more important to the McCain campaign?

The vote of every American citizen is important, and though the focus of a campaign may move from one state to another, value of every American’s vote is constant.

Question #5: Which issues do you think are most important to likely caucus-goers in Nevada? Which of these issues are particular strengths for Senator McCain?

Simply put, integrity is back in style. The Nevada voter is looking for a leader they can trust, both in his record of service and in his firm commitment to the truth.

Post from: EveryJoe

Campaign Staff Interview #1 – Senator John McCain

So how much personal contact are Iowan receiving from the campaigns? According to The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, plenty. The numbers indicate that both parties are using every means at their disposal to saturate potential caucus-goers with advertising, but the Democratic campaigns seem to be making more calls and home visits than the Republicans.

• 33% of Iowan Democrats, but only 8% of Republicans, have reported receiving a visit at home from a campaign worker
• 65% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans have gotten a personal telephone call from a campaign. About 80% from both parties have gotten a pre-recorded call. By the way, 44% of those who receive pre-recorded calls say they hang up on them.
• 80% of Democrats and 78% of Republicans have received good ol’-fashioned mailings
• About one-third from both parties have gotten email

The Iowa Caucuses are right around the corner, so don’t expect the personal advertising push to slow down any time soon. Politics is Iowa is ‘retail’ – you buy one voter at a time. By late on January 3rd, we’ll know which candidates went home with the biggest shopping bags.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Iowa Caucuses – Have You Been Called?

• The total raised so far in Iowa by all candidates is $873,141.
• Despite a recent suggesting that Mike Huckabee (R) is a favorite of Iowans, his fundraising in the state has lagged – he has raised only about $19,500.
• The fundraising frontrunners are Mitt Romney (R), with $143,900, and Hillary Clinton (D), with $123,038.
• Fundraising by party has been about equal. Democrats have garnered about 52% of all campaign donations in the state.

The most interesting bit of information here is the disparity between Mike Huckabee’s strong performance in last week’s Des Moines Register Poll and his weak fundraising within Iowa. At first glance, one might expect his strong poll numbers to be reflected in his fundraising. But campaign finance disclosure is never as current as the latest polling data, so when updated financial information is available we may find that Huckabee has experienced a surge in Iowa fundraising lately.

There are also several problems with the poll itself that may have caused Huckabee’s support to be over-reported. But public opinion surveys are a topic for another day…

Post from: EveryJoe

How much are the Iowa Caucuses worth? (Part 2)

According to several trustworthy estimates, candidates will spend at least $22,000,000, and as much as $30,000,000 wooing Iowa caucusgoers. How much is that per voter? Bear with me – the answer requires some math.

In 2004, turnout for the Iowa Caucus was 133,353, which equaled 6.1% of eligible voters.

In 2000 it was 145,000, or 6.8% of eligible voters.

Let’s use the 2000 figure, since there was no incumbent candidate.

In the last 8 years, the population of Iowa has increased, so a caucus turnout of 7% next January would equal about 208,740.

At, say, $25,000,000 in campaign spending by all the candidates contesting Iowa, that gives us a figure of…

$119.76 per caucusgoer!

Now let’s try that in Base-8.

Post from: EveryJoe

How much are the Iowa Caucuses worth? (Part 1)

Although any registered Iowan voter can be involved, typically fewer than 10% participate. Participation by younger, more moderate, voters has increased in recent years, but older, white, party extremists still predominate. This makes the Iowa Caucus similar to other states’ primary elections, which are also dominated by party activists.

But the similarity ends there. Rather than simply stepping up to a voting kiosk and casting a ballot, participants in the Iowa Caucus undergo a much more involved process. In 1,784 precincts across the state, caucusgoers get together for town hall style public meetings that include an often boisterous combination of speeches, arm-twisting, and voting. The official purpose of this exercise is to elect delegates to the county conventions, but in effect these caucuses demonstrate support for presidential candidates. Of course, the Republican and Democratic Caucuses are operated separately, and each has its own unique set of procedures.

In each precinct, Republican caucusgoers vote for their favorite candidate by show of hands or paper ballot. Democracts physically divide themselves into “preference groups” by candidate. During the next 30 minutes, they negotiate with each other to form new groups. By the end, groups over a certain size get to elect a proportionate number of delegates to their county convention.

The candidate preferences of caucusgoers are not legally binding on their county delegates. Even so, delegates are party loyalists who almost always respect the preferences of their precinct caucuses.

Advocates of the Caucus process consider it more civicly engaging than a mere primary election. They like the idea of people joining together for real political discussion, rather than voting in private. Detractors point to the complexity of the process, the dominance of party insiders, and the arguably unrepresentative nature of its outcomes.

Either way, as the “First in the Nation,” the Iowa Caucus is a major political event that wields influence far in excess of the state’s small size.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Iowa Caucus