The Green Papers
2008 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions
 
Copyright www.flags.net/UNST.htm Iowa Democrat
Presidential Nominating Process
Caucus: Thursday 3 January 20081
County Conventions: Saturday 15 March 2008
District Conventions: Saturday 26 April 2008
State Convention postponed: Saturday 14 June 2008
State Convention: Saturday 28 June 2008
Democrats
CandidateCounty
Convention
Delegates
Elected
Delegate Votes
Hard TotalFloor Vote
Obama, Barack Hussein940  37.58%24.0  42.11%48.0  84.21%
Edwards, John Reid744  29.75%7.0  12.28% 
Clinton, Hillary Rodham737  29.47%14.0  24.56%9.0  15.79%
Richardson, William B. "Bill", III53   2.12%  
Biden, Joseph Robinette "Joe", Jr.23   0.92%  
Uncommitted3   0.12%12.0  21.05% 
Dodd, Christopher J. "Chris"1   0.04%  
Gravel, Mike0   0.00%  
Kucinich, Dennis J.0   0.00%  
(available)   
Total2,501 100.00%57.0 100.00%57.0 100.00%

States Chronologically   States Alphabetically     Democratic Convention     Iowa Republican    
 
Iowa Primaries for Statewide offices and Congress
 
Iowa State and Local Government

 
 

Here's how we compute the delegate count:

  1. A candidate must receive 15% or more of the total popular vote to qualify for delegates. Discard votes cast for those candidates who do not qualify. Obama, Edwards, and Clinton have qualified for delegates.
  2. Allocate Congressional District delegates from the qualified vote in each district. Allocate Pledged PLEO and At-Large delegates using the state-wide qualified vote.
  3. In each jurisdiction (CD and statewide):
    1. Total qualified vote = total votes cast for the qualifying candidates in the jurisdiction.
    2. Allocation = (delegates for the jurisdiction) × (candidate's popular vote) ÷ (total qualified vote).
    3. Assign each candidate the WHOLE NUMBER of delegates.
    4. If delegates remain, allocate each of the remaining delegates to those candidates with the LARGEST REMAINDERS.

Saturday 28 June 2008 State Convention: http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2536 and http://jdeeth.blogspot.com/. In lieu of taking a Presidential preference poll at the State Convention, the campaigns chose to honor the math as if all delegates elected at the County Conventions remained committed to their Saturday 15 March 2008 County Convention preferences. Pledged PLEO delegates elected: Obama 3, Clinton 2, Edwards 1. At-Large Delegates elected: Obama 5, Clinton 3, Edwards 2.

The Obama supporters allowed the Clinton and Edwards State Convention delegates choose their National Convention Delegates however the Obama group "ratified" the choices. Hence, we have "hard coded" the Clinton (2 PLEO, 3 At-Large) and Edwards (1 PLEO, 2 At-Large) delegates as such but "soft coded" those delegates as Obama (3 PLEO, 5 At-Large) supporters.


26 April 2008 District Convention Results from a party, a media, and a media source, CD 3 Party

Saturday 26 Arpil 2008 District Convention Results
ContestUncommittedClintonEdwardsObama
 State
Convention
delegates
Qualified
State
Convention
delegates
DelState
Convention
delegates
AllocDelState
Convention
delegates
AllocDelState
Convention
delegates
AllocDelState
Convention
delegates
AllocDel
CD15335336   1561.7562941.05812833.1863
CD25735737   1692.06521071.30712973.6284
CD35155156   1641.9112861.00212653.0873
CD450550362  1872.2312   3163.7694
CD5  4     1  1  2
Delegates  29     9  4  16

According to the 15 May 2008 article below, 1 Edwards pledged delegate intends to cast her ballot for Obama. Accordingly, we have changed our soft pledged count from Obama 24, Clinton 14, Edwards 7 to Obama 25, Clinton 14, Edwards 6. Our hard count remains Obama 16, Clinton 9, Edwards 4 as elected at the Distict Conventions. An additional 6 Pledged PLEO and 10 At-Large Delegates will be elected at the Saturday 14 June 2008 Iowa State Democratic Convention.

15 May 2008 CNN.com: Eight Edwards delegates [1 in IA] now moving to Obama: One Edwards delegate from Iowa, Machelle Crum [CD 3], came out for Obama on Thursday morning ... Crum made the decision after receiving a phone call from Edwards supporters encouraging her to make the switch.

According ot the 16 May 2008 article below, the 3 estimated statewide Edwards delegates may go to Obama when elected on 14 June 2008 Convention. Since these delegates have not yet been elected, we are have not changed our delegate count.

16 May 2008 press-citizen.com: Edwards' delegates to go to Obama: David Redlawsk, who also is a University of Iowa political science professor, said Edwards' Wednesday announcement likely will cause three Edwards' delegates to change to Obama at the state Democratic Convention on June 14 in Des Moines.

According to the 16 May 2008 article below, 1 Edwards pledged delegate intends to cast her ballot for Obama. Accordingly, we have changed our soft pledged count from Obama 25, Clinton 14, Edwards 6 to Obama 26, Clinton 14, Edwards 5.

15 May 2008 ap.google.com: Edwards endorsement pays off for Obama: Arlene Prather-O'Kane, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, said she is a backer of Edwards but "I will support who he is endorsing — which is Barack".

3 June 2008: The Obama Campaign today announced that all 4 delegates pledged to former Senator John Edwards have committed to vote for Senator Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

Machelle Crum, Newton
Arlene Prather-Kane, Cedar Falls
David Redlawsk, Iowa City
Merci Wolff, Sioux City

15 March 2008 County Convention update.

Here's how we estimated the delegate count on 15 March 2008 (Based on the number of delegates elected to the State Convention at the County Conventions. Results from a party source. Note that zero national convention delegates are allocated during the County Conventions - national convention delegates are first elected in April.):

Saturday 15 March 2008 County Convention Results
National Convention Delegate Estimate
ContestObamaClintonEdwards
 State
Convention
delegates
Qualified
State
Convention
delegates
DelState
Convention
delegates
AllocDelState
Convention
delegates
AllocDelState
Convention
delegates
AllocDel
CD153445562883.79841672.202277  
CD257357372953.60441712.08921071.3071
CD352752762693.06331621.8442961.0931
CD450744862783.72341702.277253  
CD535935641691.89921321.4831550.6181
PLEO2,5002,48961,2993.13138021.93323880.9351
At-Large2,5002,489101,2995.21958023.22233881.5592
Delegates  45  25  14  6

Here's how we estimated the delegate count on 3 January 2008 (Based on the number of delegates elected to the County Conventions at the Precinct Conventions. Results from a party source. Note that zero national convention delegates are allocated during the Precinct Conventions - national convention delegates are first elected in April.):

The Iowa Democratic Party reports that more than 239,000 Democrats caucused statewide.

Thursday 3 January 2008 Precinct Caucus Results
National Convention Delegate Estimate
ContestObamaEdwardsClinton
 County
Convention
delegates
Qualified
County
Convention
delegates
DelCounty
Convention
delegates
AllocDelCounty
Convention
delegates
AllocDelCounty
Convention
delegates
AllocDel
CD1534.00522.066219.142.5192145.141.6682157.781.8132
CD2572.85562.437238.742.9713168.522.0972155.171.9312
CD3527.04505.216194.552.3112164.331.9522146.331.7382
CD4506.99480.526174.302.1762154.121.9242152.101.8992
CD5359.13349.704112.791.2901111.661.2771125.251.4332
PLEO2,500.012,419.926939.522.3292743.771.8442736.631.8262
At-Large2,500.012,419.9210939.523.8824743.773.0743736.633.0443
Delegates  45  16  14  15

Reference: Iowa Caucus Results Live
Results from www.iowavotes2008.com with 100% of the precincts reporting.
Results by county from desmoinesregister.com.
Results from http://www.iowacaucusresults.com/.


Reference: IOWA DELEGATE SELECTIION PLAN FOR THE 2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION ISSUED BY THE IOWA DEMOCRATIC PARTY


Unpledged delegates as of
29 January 2008: Clinton: 2, Edwards: 3, Obama: 2
31 January 2008: Clinton: 2, Obama: 2
9 February 2008: Clinton: 4, Obama: 3
16 February 2008: Clinton: 3, Obama: 4
30 April 2008: Clinton: 3, Obama: 6
20 May 2008: Clinton 3, Obama: 7
3 June 2008: Clinton 3, Obama: 8


   

Thursday 3 January 2008: Democratic Party Caucuses meet in each precinct at 6:30 PM CST. Each Precinct Caucus chooses the precinct's delegates to County Conventions based on presidential preference (which, despite the media circus that quadrennially surrounds this event, is all that will be actually decided at these Iowa caucuses!).

NOTE: Estimates will, of course, be made by media outlets as well as by the campaigns of the presidential contenders themselves as to how many of Iowa's 57 National Convention delegates each presidential contender is likely to be ultimately be receiving as a result of the Iowa caucuses but, of course, since no National Convention delegates are actually being chosen by these caucuses, all such estimates will almost certainly, come the State Convention in June, be wrong!!

  • At each caucus, each presidential contender who fails to get at least 15 percent support among the participants in the initial balloting after a period of discussion will be considered "non-viable" and all supporters of such "non-viable" presidential contenders will then be required to join in the support of presidential contenders who have remained "viable". To determine the viability of a presidential contender, multiply the number of eligible caucus attendees by the percentages below and round to the nearest whole number. This is the minimum number of delegates needed for the contender to remain viable.
    • 50% (majority vote) for caucuses electing 1 delegate.
    • 25% (one quarter) for caucuses electing 2 delegates.
    • 16.66...% (one sixth) for caucuses electing 3 delegates.
    • 15% for caucuses electing 4 or more delegates.

Example. 57 people attend a caucus electing 3 delegates. The viability is 1/6th of 57 = 9.5 rounded which is 10. Say 29 people support candidate A, 19 support candidate B, and 9 support candidate C. Candidates A and B are viable since they have support of 10 or more of the attendees. Because candidate C did not receive the support of 10 attendees, those supporting candidate C must realign to another candidate. At this point, the attendees realign themselves so 34 support candidate A and 23 support candidate B.

The caucus will next choose the precinct's delegates to the Democratic Convention of the County in which the precinct is located (which is all, despite all the media hoopla, that will be actually decided at the Iowa caucuses!) who will be allocated in proportion to the percentage of the support each "viable" presidential contender received in the second round of balloting at the precinct caucus as of the time of its adjournment. (Estimates will, of course, be made by media outlets as well as the contenders themselves as to how many of Iowa's 57 National Convention delegates each contender will ultimately be receiving but, of course, since NO National Convention delegates are actually being chosen by these caucuses, all such estimates will almost certainly, in the end, be WRONG!!!)."

Continuing the example from above: For Candidate A: 3 (total precinct delegates) × 34 (supporters) ÷ 57 (total attendees) = 1.789 which rounds to 2 precinct delegates. Candidate B receives 3 × 23 ÷ 57 = 1.211 which rounds to 1 precinct delegate. Note: Due to rounding, the sum of precinct delegates may exceed the total number of precinct delegates allocated to the caucus. If this happens, round down the candidate with the smallest fraction. Candidates receiving 1 precinct delegate are not subject to this rule, that is, candidates cannot loose their only precinct delegate during this adjustment.

 

Saturday 15 March 2008: Democratic Party County Conventions convene in each county. Each County Convention chooses the county's delegates to both Congressional District Conventions and the Iowa State Convention based on presidential preference. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be viable. Delegates assigned to a non-viable candidate will realign themselves to another candidate.

  • County Conventions choose both the county's delegates to the Democratic Party Convention of the Congressional District of which the county is a part as well as the county's delegates the Iowa State Democratic Convention; each presidential contender receives a number of the county's delegates to each respective Convention (District or State) in proportion to the number of county convention delegates supporting said candidate.
 

Saturday 26 April 2008: Democratic Party District Conventions convene in each congressional district to choose the district's delegates to the Democratic National Convention. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates at the district level.

  • 29 district delegates are to be allocated proportionally to the number of district convention delegates supporting said candidate in each Congressional District:
    • CD 1: 6
    • CD 2: 7
    • CD 3: 6
    • CD 4: 6
    • CD 5: 4

Therefore, the very first time Democratic National Convention delegates from Iowa will be allocated to presidential contenders officially will be at these Saturday 26 April 2008 District Conventions!!

 

Saturday 14 June 2008: The Democratic Party of Iowa has postponing its state convention originally scheduled for Saturday 14 June due to massive flooding and severe weather across Iowa. "We ask our Iowa neighbors to continue their efforts to help the families and communities impacted by the flooding" --State Party Chairman Scott Brennan.

 

Saturday 28 June 2008: The Iowa State Democratic Convention convenes. The State Convention chooses 16 of the Iowa's Pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates at the statewide level.

16 delegates are to be allocated to presidential contenders based the support for the presidential contenders in the State Convention as a whole.

  • 10 at-large National Convention delegates
  • 6 Pledged PLEOs

The remaining 12 National Convention delegates consist of

  • 11 Unpledged PLEO delegates:
    • 6 Democratic National Committee members.
    • 4 Members of Congress (1 Senator and 3 Representatives).
    • 1 Governor.
    • 0 Distinguished Party Leaders.
  • 1 Unpledged "add-on" (selected at the state convention).

These 12 delegates and will go to the Democratic National Convention officially "Unpledged".

Only as of Saturday 28 June 2008 will ALL of Iowa's 57 Democratic National Convention delegates have been allocated: the estimates made re: delegate allocation as a result of the Iowa caucuses will likely not match the presidential preferences and pledges of the National Convention delegates as actually chosen because it is rather probable that the field of Democratic presidential contenders on Saturday 28 June 2008 will very well be quite different from the way that same field looked at the time the Iowa Precinct Caucuses had taken place way back in January!


Delegation to the National Convention

Iowa Delegation (as posted by http://www.demconvention.com/, 18 July 2008)

RoleClintonEdwardsObama(total)
Pledged District941629
Pledged PLEO0066
Pledged At-Large001010
Total Pledged943245
Alternate Pledged District0055
Alternate Pledged PLEO0000
Alternate Pledged At-Large0033
Total Alternates0088
Unpledged   12
Credentials Committee   2
Platform Committee   2
Rules Committee   3
Pages   2
 
Role(s)PreferenceNameResidence
Pledged District 1ObamaGeorge DixonDewitt, IA
Pledged District 1ObamaJacob KrapflNew Vienna, IA
Pledged District 1ClintonWayne LaufenbergSaint Donatos, IA
Pledged District 1ClintonHelen McClainDubuque, IA
Pledged District 1EdwardsErlene Prather-O'KaneCedar Falls, IA
Pledged District 1ObamaKathleen WeberDubuque, IA
Pledged District 2ObamaAngel GonzalezOakdale, IA
Pledged District 2ClintonKathleen KrehbielSolon, IA
Pledged District 2ObamaRichard MyersIowa City, IA
Pledged District 2ObamaSandra PopeOttumwa, IA
Pledged District 2EdwardsDavid RedlawskIowa City, IA
Pledged District 2ClintonDonald ShafferOttumwa, IA
Pledged District 2ObamaPeggy WhitworthCedar Rapids, IA
Pledged District 3ObamaNancy BoboDes Moines, IA
Pledged District 3EdwardsMachelle CrumNewton, IA
Pledged District 3ClintonDanny HomanDes Moines, IA
Pledged District 3ObamaJoe JudgeAlbia, IA
Pledged District 3ObamaJordan OsterClive, IA
Pledged District 3ClintonIone ShadduckWest Des Moines, IA
Pledged District 4ObamaEddie DiazPerry, IA
Pledged District 4ObamaMolly GradyMarshalltown, IA
Pledged District 4ObamaTom HarringtonAmes, IA
Pledged District 4ClintonStephanie ImhoffAmes, IA
Pledged District 4ObamaHelen MillerFort Dodge, IA
Pledged District 4ClintonAlan SchroederChester, IA
Pledged District 5ObamaTimothy BottaroSioux City, IA
Pledged District 5ObamaStephanie CosgroveCherokee, IA
Pledged District 5ClintonJason WinterSibley, IA
Pledged District 5EdwardsMarci WolffSioux City, IA
Pledged PLEOObamaHon. Frank CownieDes Moines, IA
Pledged PLEOObamaHon. Ro FoegeMount Vernon, IA
Pledged PLEOObamaHon. Patty JudgeWest Des Moines, IA
Pledged PLEOObamaHon. Tom MillerDes Moines, IA
Pledged PLEOObamaChristie VilsackDes Moines, IA
Pledged PLEOObamaHon. Tom VilsackDes Moines, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaJan BauerAmes, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaMary CamposDes Moines, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaCatherine CristCedar Rapids, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaSandra Lee GalerCedar Rapids, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaRobert (RJ) JarvisOskaloosa, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaPaula MartinezCarlisle, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaMichelle Ray MichalecCedar Rapids, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaFaith Nalani BromwichTiffin, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaCarlie TartakovAmes, IA
Pledged At-LargeObamaTammy Wetjen-KestersonMarengo, IA
Alternate Pledged District 1ObamaTod BowmanMaquoketa, IA
Alternate Pledged District 2ObamaEbony LuensmanMarion, IA
Alternate Pledged District 3ObamaSteven ChasseDes Moines, IA
Alternate Pledged District 4ObamaJune OwensNorwalk, IA
Alternate Pledged District 5ObamaSteven KrausCarroll, IA
Alternate Pledged At-LargeObamaHon. Bill GlubaDavenport, IA
Alternate Pledged At-LargeObamaAllyson StoryCedar Rapids, IA
Alternate Pledged At-LargeObamaCaroline WildinLuVerne, IA
Unpledged
Delegation Chair
 Scott BrennanDes Moines, IA
Unpledged
Delegation Vice Chair
 Sarah SwisherCoralville, IA
Unpledged Add-On Mari CulverDes Moines, IA
Unpledged Congressman Hon. Leonard BoswellDes Moines, IA
Unpledged Congressman Hon. Bruce L. BraleyWaterloo, IA
Unpledged Congressman Hon. David LoebsackIowa City, IA
Unpledged DNC Member Hon. Michael L. FitzgeraldWaukee, IA
Unpledged DNC Member Hon. Michael GronstalDes Moines, IA
Unpledged DNC Member Richard MachacekWinthrop, IA
Unpledged DNC Member Sandy OpstvedtStory City, IA
Unpledged Governor Hon. Chet CulverDes Moines, IA
Unpledged Senator Hon. Tom HarkinWashington, DC
Credentials CommitteeObamaEvan AndersonCedar Rapids, IA
Credentials CommitteeObamaCheryl FasanoDes Moines, IA
Platform CommitteeObamaKathy CarlsonKalona, IA
Platform CommitteeObamaJohn NorrisDes Moines, IA
Rules CommitteeObamaRay BrownDes Moines, IA
Rules Committee Deborah GroeneDes Moines, IA
Rules CommitteeObamaLuAnn PedrickUrbandale, IA
Page Anne BottaroSioux City, IA
Page Matthew PeirceDes Moines, IA

Congressional Districts  

CD per County
 
Adair: CD 5
Adams: CD 5
Allamakee: CD 4
Appanoose: CD 2
Audubon: CD 5
Benton: CD 3
Black Hawk: CD 1
Boone: CD 4
Bremer: CD 1
Buchanan: CD 1
Buena Vista: CD 5
Butler: CD 1
Calhoun: CD 4
Carroll: CD 5
Cass: CD 5
Cedar: CD 2
Cerro Gordo: CD 4
Cherokee: CD 5
Chickasaw: CD 4
Clarke: CD 5
Clay: CD 5
Clayton: CD 1
Clinton: CD 1
Crawford: CD 5
Dallas: CD 4
Davis: CD 2
Decatur: CD 5
Delaware: CD 1
Des Moines: CD 2
Dickinson: CD 5
Dubuque: CD 1
Emmet: CD 4
Fayette: CD 1
Floyd: CD 4
Franklin: CD 4
Fremont: CD 5
Greene: CD 4
Grundy: CD 3
Guthrie: CD 5
Hamilton: CD 4
Hancock: CD 4
Hardin: CD 4
Harrison: CD 5
Henry: CD 2
Howard: CD 4
Humboldt: CD 4
Ida: CD 5
Iowa: CD 3
Jackson: CD 1
Jasper: CD 3
Jefferson: CD 2
Johnson: CD 2
Jones: CD 1
Keokuk: CD 3
Kossuth: CD 4
Lee: CD 2
Linn: CD 2
Louisa: CD 2
Lucas: CD 3
Lyon: CD 5
Madison: CD 4
Mahaska: CD 3
Marion: CD 3
Marshall: CD 4
Mills: CD 5
Mitchell: CD 4
Monona: CD 5
Monroe: CD 3
Montgomery: CD 5
Muscatine: CD 2
O'Brien: CD 5
Osceola: CD 5
Page: CD 5
Palo Alto: CD 4
Plymouth: CD 5
Pocahontas: CD 4
Polk: CD 3
Pottawattamie: CD 5
Poweshiek: CD 3
Ringgold: CD 5
Sac: CD 5
Scott: CD 1
Shelby: CD 5
Sioux: CD 5
Story: CD 4
Tama: CD 3
Taylor: CD 5
Union: CD 5
Van Buren: CD 2
Wapello: CD 2
Warren: CD 4
Washington: CD 2
Wayne: CD 2
Webster: CD 4
Winnebago: CD 4
Winneshiek: CD 4
Woodbury: CD 5
Worth: CD 4
Wright: CD 4

1 Democratic Party's "First Determining Step" of the delegate selection process.

 


  Election - Primary, Caucus, and Convention Home  
 
  Presidential Hopefuls  
 
  States Alphabetically  
  Events Chronologically  
  Major Events Chronologically  
  Poll Closing Times Chronologically   --   Poll Closing Times Alphabetically  
  Democratic "First Determining Step" Chronologically  
 
  Chronological Cumulative Allocation of Delegates  
  Weekly Delegate Distribution and Availability  
 
Delegate Counts
  State by State Summary  
  Democratic Pledged and Unpledged Summary   --   Republican Pledged and Unpledged Summary  
  Democratic Hard and Floor Summary   --   Republican Hard and Floor Summary  
  Democratic Unpledged Delegate Preferences  
 
Delegate Allocation
  Democratic Quick Reference   --   Republican Quick Reference  
  Democratic Detailed Delegate Allocation   --   Republican Detailed Delegate Allocation  
 
  Democratic Delegate Selection and Voter Eligibility   --   Republican Delegate Selection and Voter Eligibility  
 
  Primaries at a Glance  
 
Ballot Access
  Democratic Candidates   --   Republican Candidates  
 
Documentation
  Historical Analysis of the Presidential Nominating Process  
  Historical Analysis of the apportionment of delegate votes at the National Conventions of the two major parties  
  Primary/Caucus/Convention Glossary  
 
  Third Parties (Green, Libertarian)  
 
  Straw Polls