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US presidential nomination process and Iowa caucus

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-01-17 12:23

DES MOINES, US -- The Iowa caucus on Thursday will mark the beginning of the presidential nomination process for both the US Democratic and Republican parties in the 2008 presidential election.

In the quadrennial US presidential election year, the two parties officially nominate their respective candidate for presidency at their national conventions, usually held in the summer before the election in November. The nomination is determined by the state-by-state primary elections held between January and June in the election year.

There are two forms of primary election, namely caucuses and primaries. Caucuses gauge support for presidential candidates through local meetings of party members, while primaries gauge support through statewide direct voting. The events determine which candidates will receive a state's votes for the Republican and Democratic nominations at the parties' national conventions held in late summer of the election year. The earlier a state holds the primary election, the more attention it receives from candidates and media. Thus, the first-in-the-nation caucus in Iowa and the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire are considered as the winnower or the weather vane for the presidential nomination process.

Historically, the Iowa caucus is commonly recognized as the first major event of the US presidential election year. This year's Iowa caucus will be held on the night of Jan. 3 when Iowans gather at a set location in each of Iowa's 1,784 precincts.

The Iowa caucus does not result directly in national delegates for each candidate. Instead, caucus-goers elect delegates to county conventions, who elect delegates to district and state conventions where the national convention delegates are selected. A candidate who has the most number of supporters among elected national convention delegates in Iowa is considered winner of the caucus in the state.

The Republicans and Democrats hold their own set of caucuses subject to their own particular rules that change from time to time.