The efforts of the grassroots movement supporting Al Gore for the presidential nomination will land him a ballot spot in New York (as diaried here).There may be a problem in other states, which may require the candidate to file an affidavit of candidacy. In addition, some caucus states may present a roadblock. The purpose of this diary is to discuss the process in Iowa and how to best approach the movement here.
For Iowa's caucuses, each precinct gets a preprinted sign-in sheet for use at the caucus. The sign-in sheet has a space to indicate preliminary support for a candidate. When registration is completed (at 7 PM), the indicated preferences are used to estimate viability of each presidential preference group (assuming the caucus decides to form preference groups). Typically, the candidates are listed as choices, in addition to "Other" and "Uncommitted."
There is an old question, though, of how to decide which candidates to list. For instance, I don't believe anyone thought that George McGovern was going to be nominated in 1984. Yet, he was listed as a candidate and came in third, with 10% of the delegates.
With this in mind, in my capacity as a Democratic Party County Chair, I wrote to the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) asking that Al Gore be included as a choice on the list for caucus sign-in materials. Here is what I wrote:
Inasmuch as there is broad-based support within the Democratic Party for the nomination of Al Gore, I am writing today to request that when you print the sign-up sheets for the precincts, you include a column to indicate initial support for Al Gore, as well as for "uncommitted" and for the other 8 recognized candidates.
It did not take long for the IDP to respond:
We will only be including candidates who have officially announced they are running for President and have spent time campaigning in Iowa on our registration forms. I am sure Mr. Gore has a broad base of support but unless he announces he is running for President we at the Iowa Democratic Party will not be including him. Although, caucus attendees can support any candidate they choose, even Mr. Gore. However the results will be coded as other and tallied later.
Now, it is pretty obvious that the difference between being listed and not listed on the sign in sheet could have a large effect on the level of support for any candidate, much like the difference between being on the ballot vs. a write-in campaign. So I looked at some official Democratic Party documents to see if there was an actual policy requirement, or even a statement of policy that was guiding this decision. Of course, if the IDP By-Laws or policy, or Delegate Selection Plan or the DNC Delegate Selection Rules specified this policy, then it would just be something to live with. However, nothing I could find supports this or any other method of deciding who ends up on the sign-in sheet.
So it is obvious that no matter how reasonable the requirements quoted by the IDP staff are, they are based on some policy which is not enshrined within the DNC Rules, IDP By-Laws, nor in the Delegate Selection Plan. Here is the closest I could find to any stated policy, from Page 9 of the Iowa 2008 Delegate Selection Plan (The Rules cited within the plan refer to DNC Delegate Selection Rules):
Section III
Presidential Candidates
A. Ballot Access
- There are no specific filing requirements whereby a presidential candidate gains access to the Iowa delegate selection process. (Rules 11.B., 14.A., 14.B., 14.D., 14E., & 14.H.)
- Each presidential candidate shall certify in writing to the State Democratic Chair, the name(s) of his or her authorized representative(s) by ten (10) days prior to the precinct caucuses and respective conventions. (Rule 12.D.(1))
- Each presidential candidate (including uncommitted status) shall use his or her best efforts to ensure that his or her respectivew delegation within the state delegation achieves the affirmative action goals established by this Plan and is equally divided between men and women. (Rule 6.1)
While Subsection 2 might seem to limit access by requiring a candidate to certify one or more authorized representatives, such an interpretation would be incorrect. First, it would directly contradict Subsection 1, which clearly provides that there are no specific filing requirements. Second, the deadline of ten days prior to the event sets up an impossible situation because the county parties will already be in possession of the caucus materials more than ten days prior to the caucus date. Hence, the IDP has not shown that there is any established rule that would keep them from including Al Gore as a candidate.
With that in mind, I will start to address the issue of getting a good result for Al Gore from the Iowa Caucuses.
Caucus for Gore (Part I)
It seems to me that getting Mr. Gore's name on the caucus sign-in sheets is a key to getting a good showing. Of course, a significant showing without being listed would be great. But it seems obvious that having his name on the list would provide a much better opportunity to do well. Therefore, to support Al Gore for the nomination, the first action must be to mount a campaign to get him on the list.
It is especially important to notice that there is no requirement that the candidate declare his candidacy to anyone in order to be included. While it would seem to be reasonable to exclude someone who declared that they would not be a candidate, it also seems reasonable to include someone with widespread support. So I would propose that a showing of widespread support in Iowa might land him a spot on the list - especially if that support comes from party activists.
How do we show sufficient support for inclusion of Al Gore to effect a change in their current plans? Well, I would imagine it would be most persuasive if it comes from (1) Democratic Party officials, such as DNC Members, State Central Committee Members, County Chairs, County Central Committee Members, District Committee Members and regular caucus-goers. It would probably be least persuasive coming from outside Iowa (except if it came from Al Gore, himself).
I propose, then, that all of us from Iowa should send emails to the IDP asking for Gore's inclusion. Here is a link to the contact information for IDP Staff: IDP Staff The Caucus to Convention Manager might be a good focal point to convey your views.
In addition, you might want to contact your State Central Committee members and ask them to prevail on the Party to include Mr. Gore. I would concentrate on those in my Congressional District.
I am going to end this for now. Next week, I will try to take time to write something about how to get a showing for Gore in case he is not on the list. In the meantime, all you Iowans, let's give Al a chance!