Cohen: Gear up for caucuses
Politi-geek urges students to partake in elections
By Ben Cohen
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Everybody has his or her own odd little fascinations.
Some people religiously watch a TV program just because they know that it is so terrible it just has to be fun. Similarly, some people live and breathe by how a particular sports team is performing.
Now with me, I’m a geek for politics.
I paid close attention to all of the crazy goings-on of the early part of the campaign season last fall, as more and more random politicians decided that they wanted to be the next president.
I am counting down the hours until Super Tuesday when I can be herded into a large room to say that I want someone to be president.
Now that the primaries and caucuses have begun, I’m pretty excited.
I’ve been keeping track of whom has done decently in what state, who could make a bigger impact by dropping out than by staying in and even trying to figure out where Duncan Hunter got enough votes to earn a single delegate.
And for the record, it was Wisconsin.
The Republican primary took place in that state shortly after Iowa on Jan. 3, and Mitt Romney won it handily, though about half of the candidates did not have their names on the ballot.
I may very well have been the only Democrat in Kansas who noticed that.
Now, I am not saying that everyone should become a politics geek.
In fact, I don’t recommend it at all.
Life gets sad and lonely when there isn’t an election going on.
Still, now that Super Tuesday, that grand festival of primaries that only comes once every four years, is nigh, it’s a good time for people to start feeling some of that spirit.
Before students get out to vote, here are some things to know about how the system works.
States can hold either primaries, which are simple ballot-box votes, or caucuses, which include elements of open forums before supporters of certain candidates gather in groups to cast their votes.
After the election in a state happens, the amount of votes a candidate gets will net them a certain number of delegates.
The candidate who has a simple majority of delegates by the end of the primary season is that party’s candidate.
The Kansas Democratic Party caucuses on the aforementioned Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.
The Democratic side has featured a dogfight between Senators Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Former Sen. John Edwards has stuck around, generally coming in a respectable third place, and he will probably stay in the race unless it becomes painfully obvious that he doesn’t stand a chance at winning.
Beyond the top three, Mike Gravel is the only other Democratic hopeful still in the race, though MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann incorrectly stated that Gravel had dropped out of the race after the Democratic caucus in Iowa.
The Republicans will caucus in Kansas on Feb. 9. The GOP presidential race features a three-way battle among former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee was the dark horse coming into the Iowa caucuses, which kicked off the election season.
But after a win there, and maybe a little help from appearances on “The Colbert Report,” he has cooled down only a little bit and appears poised to have a continued impact on the race for the Republican nomination.
Also still in the race are former Libertarian-now-Republican candidate Ron Paul, a Representative from Texas who seems to relish the opportunity to go on major talk shows and bemoan the fact that the mainstream media don’t pay attention to him, and former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani was believed by many to be a potential front-runner going into the primaries, but his campaign appears to have stumbled, as very few people see being mayor of a big city as the only qualification somebody needs to run the United States of America.
I am counting down the hours until Super Tuesday when I can be herded into a large room to say that I want someone to be president.
Maybe you won’t be quite so giddy, which is understandable, and probably healthy, but don’t forget to make it out to your polling location next week.
You won’t get to do it again for four years.
Cohen is a Topeka junior in political science and English.
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