Candidate linked financially to American Youth Torture Schools Relegated to Low Second Place
Iowa Caucus Report by the Creative Youth News Team
January 4, 2008
In the Republican caucuses in Iowa, voters practiced democracy. Republicans got to vote for the candidate of their choice and to have their votes counted. Democrats weren't so lucky. Each Democratic candidate had to get 15% at each caucus gathering. If a Democratic candidate got 14.999% at a caucus, that 14.999% counted for 0.000%. That candidate's supporters were told to go home or back another Democratic candidate. This artificially boosted some results while depriving viable candidates of any genuine indicator of their true support.
The Democratic caucuses were undemocratic in others ways. The numbers of delegates were preassigned to each caucus and the number didn't change whether 2 people showed up or 1000 showed up. For example, suppose caucuses in districts 1 and 2 were assigned 2 delegates. Suppose 10,0000 Kucinich supporters showed up in district 1 but didn't constitute 15%. The result would be that he lost all those delegates. Suppose district 2 had a low showing where the top winner only had 10 delegates show up. The votes of those 10 delegates would count more than the 10,000 votes of the Kucinich delegates in the first district.
Knowing that the Democratic caucuses were undemocratic, several candidates who had been denied media publicity asked their delegates to back Barack Obama on the second vote. The fact that several candidates picked Obama for their second did not go unnoticed. George Stephanopoulos referred to this as anti-Edwards. From speaking with supporters of various candidates, members of the Creative Youth News Team have confirmed that supporters urging candidates to do this were more opposed to John Edwards than supportive of Obama. Edwards has alienated a lot of voters with his aristocratic ways and his attempts to fix the debates by limiting the number of participants. The news media has pushed Edwards and allowed him to have his way in cutting candidates, particularly anti-war candidates, out of the debates.
Several caucus-goers have pointed out that Obama's 38% finish was a misleading tally and related to the number of delegates assigned to each district. In reality, close to 50% of caucus-goers picked Obama on the second round. Edwards and Clinton finished low in an almost tie, 2/10s of a percentage point apart.
For John Edwards, a low second-place tie was a major loss. Edwards has spent much of recent years trying to woo the Iowa voters to his cause. He has spent millions in Iowa and millions have been spent by others on his behalf, there. Edwards was heavily promoted by the mass media while others candidates were either criticized or largely ignored. Edwards had been counting on a first place finish and a number of speculators expected him to drop out of the race if he didn't finish a high first. Making the best of his loss, Edwards acted as if it were a win. One observer commented that Edwards is great at spinning things. He could convince a jury that black is white. Many independent observers felt that Iowa was his best shot and that he needed Iowa to propel him to victory elsewhere.
On the Republican side, where the voting was much more democratic, Mike Huckabee won a runaway first place and soundly defeated Mitt Romney, whose former Utah finance director among others on his campaign, was tied to schools sued for torture and for physical, mental and sexual abuse of children. To America's youth, the defeat of Romney was a big win in Iowa.
In almost a dead heat for third were Fred Thompson, John McCain, and Ron Paul. Ron Paul is an Internet superstar and fundraising champion who is expected to do well in other states that are more impacted by the war in Iraq. A number of states have stood against the Patriot Act and Paul is expected to do exceedingly well in those states. Paul opposed both the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act.
The undemocratic nature of the Iowa caucus system is one of many reasons Democrats, nationwide, are calling for a national primary. Most expect this to be the last year Iowa has the first say.
Copyright ©2008 by the Creative Youth News Team. All rights reserved.
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In the Republican caucuses in Iowa, voters practiced democracy. Republicans got to vote for the candidate of their choice and to have their votes counted. Democrats weren't so lucky. Each Democratic candidate had to get 15% at each caucus gathering. If a Democratic candidate got 14.999% at a caucus, that 14.999% counted for 0.000%. That candidate's supporters were told to go home or back another Democratic candidate. This artificially boosted some results while depriving viable candidates of any genuine indicator of their true support.
The Democratic caucuses were undemocratic in others ways. The numbers of delegates were preassigned to each caucus and the number didn't change whether 2 people showed up or 1000 showed up. For example, suppose caucuses in districts 1 and 2 were assigned 2 delegates. Suppose 10,0000 Kucinich supporters showed up in district 1 but didn't constitute 15%. The result would be that he lost all those delegates. Suppose district 2 had a low showing where the top winner only had 10 delegates show up. The votes of those 10 delegates would count more than the 10,000 votes of the Kucinich delegates in the first district.
Knowing that the Democratic caucuses were undemocratic, several candidates who had been denied media publicity asked their delegates to back Barack Obama on the second vote. The fact that several candidates picked Obama for their second did not go unnoticed. George Stephanopoulos referred to this as anti-Edwards. From speaking with supporters of various candidates, members of the Creative Youth News Team have confirmed that supporters urging candidates to do this were more opposed to John Edwards than supportive of Obama. Edwards has alienated a lot of voters with his aristocratic ways and his attempts to fix the debates by limiting the number of participants. The news media has pushed Edwards and allowed him to have his way in cutting candidates, particularly anti-war candidates, out of the debates.
Several caucus-goers have pointed out that Obama's 38% finish was a misleading tally and related to the number of delegates assigned to each district. In reality, close to 50% of caucus-goers picked Obama on the second round. Edwards and Clinton finished low in an almost tie, 2/10s of a percentage point apart.
For John Edwards, a low second-place tie was a major loss. Edwards has spent much of recent years trying to woo the Iowa voters to his cause. He has spent millions in Iowa and millions have been spent by others on his behalf, there. Edwards was heavily promoted by the mass media while others candidates were either criticized or largely ignored. Edwards had been counting on a first place finish and a number of speculators expected him to drop out of the race if he didn't finish a high first. Making the best of his loss, Edwards acted as if it were a win. One observer commented that Edwards is great at spinning things. He could convince a jury that black is white. Many independent observers felt that Iowa was his best shot and that he needed Iowa to propel him to victory elsewhere.
On the Republican side, where the voting was much more democratic, Mike Huckabee won a runaway first place and soundly defeated Mitt Romney, whose former Utah finance director among others on his campaign, was tied to schools sued for torture and for physical, mental and sexual abuse of children. To America's youth, the defeat of Romney was a big win in Iowa.
In almost a dead heat for third were Fred Thompson, John McCain, and Ron Paul. Ron Paul is an Internet superstar and fundraising champion who is expected to do well in other states that are more impacted by the war in Iraq. A number of states have stood against the Patriot Act and Paul is expected to do exceedingly well in those states. Paul opposed both the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act.
The undemocratic nature of the Iowa caucus system is one of many reasons Democrats, nationwide, are calling for a national primary. Most expect this to be the last year Iowa has the first say.
Copyright ©2008 by the Creative Youth News Team. All rights reserved.
Home