I’ve of course never been to an Iowa caucus, but I’ve been to Minnesota caucuses many times, and I can say they are mostly pretty useless, although in theory well-intentioned. The idea is that it’s an opportunity to go mouth off politically with neighbors and make a person feel like he or she is participating and making a difference in the process.
The reality is that caucuses are un-representative of the general population or even the party. It can be a chance for activists of whatever persuasion to pack the caucus and give a distorted outcome to caucus decisions. For example, Bernie Sanders enthusiasts could pack the Iowa caucuses tonight and make it look like Bernie has a “win”, to which the news media would anoint him the “new front-runner”, even though it’s an un-representative fraction of a small state making that happen (and, if somehow he got the nomination, it would ensure Trump’s re-election).
Speaking of Trump, he apparently (based on his tweet) thinks that Kansas City, Missouri is in Kansas and congratulated the state of Kansas on the Chiefs win in last night’s Super Bowl. That reminds me of a conversation I had last week with two Trump-tolerating friends. Our debate was whether Trump is stupid, or is he just ignorant and under-educated. I’m anxious to know what they think of this latest screw-up.
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