Primaries, Caucuses, Ground Hounds, Oh My!
24 hours. 24 States. [including American Samoa.] Who's got a primary, who's got a caucus, and when will we know the winner?
Minnesota, for one, will be caucusing, and our Ground Hound Lorika talked to DFL Chair Brian Melendez about their state's caucus at Drinking Liberally. So what about everybody else? Here's the breakdown:
Under Democratic Party rules, all delegates are awarded via proportional representation, with a minimum 15% threshold required to receive delegates.
state - type of election - how many delegates
Alabama: primary, 60 delegates
Alaska: caucus, 18
American Samoa: primary, 13
Arizona: primary, 67
Arkansas: primary, 47
California: primary, 441
Colorado: caucus, 71
Connecticut: primary, 61
Delaware: primary, 23
Democrats Abroad: primary, 11
Georgia: primary, 104
Idaho: caucus, 23
Illinois: primary, 40
Massachusetts: primary, 121
Minnesota: caucus, 88
Missouri: primary, 88
New Jersey: primary, 127
New Mexico: caucus 17 6 6 26 12 38
New York: primary, 280
North Dakota: caucus, 21
Oklahoma: primary, 47
Tennessee: primary, 85
Utah: primary, 29
Across the aisle for the Republicans, many states operate on a "Winner Takes All" basis:
state - type of election - delegates - how is the winner decided?
Alabama: primary, 48 modified WTA district + proportional at-large/bonus
Alaska: caucus, 29 District/state convention
Arizona: presidential preference election, 53 Statewide WTA
Arkansas: primary, 34 modified WTA district + proportional at-large/bonus (WTA if 50%+)
California: primary, 173 WTA district + WTA at-large/bonus
Colorado: caucus, 46 district/state convention
Connecticut: primary, 30 Statewide WTA
Delaware: primary 3, 18 Statewide WTA
Georgia: primary, 72 WTA district + WTA at-large/bonus
Illinois: presidential preference primary+delegate election, 70 District delegate election + unpledged state delegates
Massachusetts: primary, 43 statewide proportional
Minnesota: caucus, 41 Basic Political Organization Unit - district/state convention
Missouri: primary, 58 statewide WTA
Montana: invited caucus, 25 Statewide WTA
New Jersey: primary, 52 Statewide WTA
New York: primary 87, 101 Statewide WTA
North Dakota: caucus, 26 statewide WTA
Oklahoma: primary, 41 district WTA + at-large/bonus WTA
Tennessee: primary, 55 District proportional (WTA 50%+) + At-large/bonus proportional (WTA 50%+)
Utah: primary, 36 Statewide WTA
West Virginia: convention, 18/30 multiple ballot WTA
That's a lot to make sense of, so here at Veracifier, we'll be looking at the issues affecting each state, what the delegates do, and who else will be at the conventions. Like, what is a Super Delegate, anyway? Stay tuned to Veracifier for more.
[source: Super Tuesday (2008)]
