Iowa Republican caucuses, 2008

Prior to the 2008 caucuses, as in previous election cycles with a competitive presidential race, an unofficial Ames Straw Poll was held, on August 11, 2007. The official one, electing delegates to the state convention, was held on January 3, 2008, the same day as the Democratic contest. In the Ames Straw Poll, Mitt Romney finished first with 32% of the vote. In the January 2008 caucuses, Mike Huckabee finished first with 34% of the vote.

January 2008 procedure

Following the straw poll, delegates are then elected from the remaining participants in the room, as most voters leave once their vote is cast. All delegates are officially considered unbound, but media outlets either apportion delegates proportionally or apportion them in terms of winner-take-all by counties. In precincts that elect only one delegate, the delegate is chosen by majority vote and the vote must be by paper ballot. The state party strongly urges that delegates reflect the results of the preference poll, but there is no obligation that they do so.

The Ames Straw Poll

In general, the candidates bought large blocks of tickets and gave them out for free to whoever agreed to go and vote for that candidate. The candidates also rented buses to transport voters to Ames.

Mitt Romney finished first with 32% of the vote, followed by Mike Huckabee (18%), Sam Brownback (15%), Tom Tancredo (14%), and Ron Paul (10%). Six other candidates shared the remaining 14% of the vote.

Pre-caucus polls

Before the caucuses, the Des Moines Register reported that during a poll of 800 likely Republican caucus goers from December 27 to December 30, 2007, the candidates had the following results:

Mike Huckabee's results in the opinion polls rose from 29% in the Des Moines Register's poll in late November 2007. Mitt Romney rose two points from 24% in November to 26% in December. John McCain enjoyed the biggest increase from November, increasing six points from 7% to 13%, while Rudy Giuliani suffered the biggest drop from November, decreasing eight points from 13% to 5%. Giuliani's large drop was attributed to his strategy of skipping early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire in favor of larger, delegate-rich states such as Florida, California, and New York. |- ! Candidate ! Votes ! Percentage ! Delegates |- | Mike Huckabee || 40,954 || 34.36% || 17 |- | Mitt Romney || 30,021 || 25.19% || 12 |- | Fred Thompson || 15,960 || 13.39% || 0 |- | John McCain || 15,536 || 13.03% || 3 |- | Ron Paul || 11,841 || 9.93% || 2 |- | Rudy Giuliani || 4,099 || 3.44% || 0 |- | Duncan Hunter || 506 || 0.42% || 0 |- | Alan Keyes || 247 || 0.21% || 0 |- | John Cox* || 10 || .01% || 0 |- | Hugh Cort || 5 || 0% || 0 |- | Tom Tancredo* || 5 || 0% || 0 |- | Vern Wuensche || 2 || 0% || 0 |- | Sam Brownback* || 1 || 0% || 0 |- | Cap Fendig || 1 || 0% || 0 |- | Total || 119,188 || 100% || 34 |} *Candidate had already dropped out of the race prior to caucus.

Only three candidates won majorities in the individual counties: Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul. The Giuliani campaign followed an unusual strategy of focusing on larger states that vote later in the process, and had done little if any campaigning in Iowa. Tancredo had already withdrawn from the presidential race two weeks earlier and endorsed Romney, but his name remained in the official list of candidates of the Iowa Republican Party.

Some 120,000 Iowa Republicans attended the 2008 caucuses, a new record. About 87,000 attended in 2000; in 2004, George W. Bush ran unopposed.

See also

References

External links

Category:Politics of Iowa Category:United States Republican presidential primaries, 2008 Category:Iowa elections, 2008