The news cycle in early 2020 has been dominated by the fires in Australia and the United States attack on Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. What many people forget is that 2020 is an election year with the Iowa caucus creeping up on us.

On January 14th, the 14 Democratic presidential candidates took the stage in Des Moines, IA  to win last-minute votes for the first primary/caucus of the election year. Former Vice President, Joe Biden, and Senator Elizabeth Warren squared off before real results start rolling in.

The Iowa caucus differs from the way states normally pick a candidate for nomination Caucuses are usually defined as a “gathering of neighbors”.

The eyes of the nation will look upon Iowa as they pledge 56 of their delegates to several Democratic presidential candidates. On the day of the caucus, members of the Democratic and Republican parties gather in schools, churches and libraries to vote for a candidate. 

The way the process works is a bit confusing; for 30 minutes members argue and convince other members to join their candidate’s team. 

After the 30 minute debate the supporters of the separate candidates are counted and the 

results are sent to the party headquarters in the said state. After the count is made official, the network news announces the results as official. 

 On February 3, 614,000 Democrats and 639,000 Republicans will gather to determine who will represent them on the national stage.

The Democratic primary process is a bit more competitive than the Republcian side; candidates such as Senators Warren and Bernie Sanders look to strike an early blow on the way to the nomination.  In a recent poll conducted by the reliable pollsters YouGov, surprise candidate, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigeig looks prime to steal the majority of the delegates from his competitors. In the poll among likely voters, Buttigeig clocks in at a solid 24% as rivals Biden and Sanders not far behind both polling at 23%. 

While the Iowa Caucus is the first official event of the election season, it also is a good tell to see who will be on the convention stage in late July. In the last 10 Democratic Iowa Caucuses, 7 of the last 10 winners were selected to represent the democratic party .

When Oakdale Senior Aidan Batt was asked about the upcoming caucus, he didn’t know the difference between a primary and a caucus saying “ I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference, all I know is it’s the first results of the season”. 

When asked who’d he would support in the coming election, he responded, “The election is a long way away and anything could happen in between, I’ll most likely be decided on who to support closer to the election.”