Doubts from a non american: How does a caucus work?

[Josu]

Yep, ladyes and gentlemen, I received a hit in my head , and suddenly I want to know how does a American caucus work.

As far as I know. Some people mets and choose a delegate, and the delegate votes then in other meeting for a pre-candidate. right?

Now my questions are:
1) Must this people choosing a delegate have to be joined or affiliated to a party?
2) Must the delegate have to be joined or affiliated to this party?
3) Can the delegate vote what he wants or must be representative from his/her delegation?

 

[classical_hero]

Link to video.

I am just as clueless as you are.

 

[GoodGame]

delete this please

 

[GoodGame]

Yep, ladyes and gentlemen, I received a hit in my head , and suddenly I want to know how does a American caucus work.

As far as I know. Some people mets and choose a delegate, and the delegate votes then in other meeting for a pre-candidate. right?

Now my questions are:
1) Must this people choosing a delegate have to be joined or affiliated to a party?
2) Must the delegate have to be joined or affiliated to this party?
3) Can the delegate vote what he wants or must be representative from his/her delegation?

1. Yes
2. Yes (or at least probably)
3. Probably, but in practice the delegate wouldn't fool around like that.

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4923602_a-caucus-work.html

How Does a Caucus Work?
By an eHow Contributor

The Caucus

A caucus is very different than a primary and is similar to a town hall meeting. Each party is able to hold its caucus based on its own rules. Registered members of the party meet at a designated precinct to decide their candidate for office. The Iowa caucus is the first time the nation finds out who is the stronger of the candidates for president. The importance of a caucus centers around the fact that this gives voters the most direct contact with the candidates and their ideologies. Voters gathering to debate and share ideas is what makes a caucus happen.
Supporters Align

During a caucus, everyone comes in and joins a group. Each group represents one candidate running for office and the undecided voters. Once everyone is seated with one particular group, discussion begins and representatives for each candidate try to sway voters to each candidate. They especially target the undecided voters to join their candidate. Once the discussion period is finished, each group turns in a number of supporters. Once a particular candidate gets a predetermined percentage of voters, they are determined as the candidate to receive that party's delegates. If no candidate received a large enough percentage of the votes, supporters must separate and begin the process again until one candidate secures enough votes to receive his party's delegates.


Read more: How Does a Caucus Work? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4923602_a-caucus-work.html#ixzz1j4c2FHwZ

I think a good question is "How the heck does one become a delegate?"

 

[peter grimes]

Don't feel bad, Josu or C_H - I'm american and I feel just as confused as you guys

One thing to consider, though, is that the importance placed on the Iowa Caucus(es) is almost completely the result of the news machine. It's not as if rest of the 99% of us care. For reference, Iowa has a population of about 3 million, while the whole population of the USA is about 350 million.