Iowa Caucuses

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To read more about what is happening in the Iowa election click on the link above: this note about who can and cannot participate.

THE IOWA CAUCUSES

Who: Anyone, whether registered as voters or not, can attend the Iowa caucuses as long as they'll be 18 by Election Day 2008. Attendees can register on caucus night.

When: The caucuses - since 1972 the first major electoral event of the presidential-nominating process - will be held the evening of Jan. 3.

How: Voters and future voters must be in their Democratic or Republican caucus location, which can be a church, school, someone's home or elsewhere, by 7 p.m. Jan. 3. The attendees will be asked to choose a presidential candidate - through a straw poll for Republicans and a variety of means for Democrats, including sometimes standing in a certain area to be counted.

What's next: For Republicans, the straw poll results will be counted and used to send delegates to the state nominating convention.

For Democrats, the results are counted at the caucus to determine whether candidates meet certain viability thresholds - at smaller caucuses the threshold is 25 percent, at larger ones it's 15 percent. If some preferences are considered not viable, voters will be given the chance to pick again. Once viable selections are made, the results will be used to select delegates to county nominating conventions.

The delegates are not bound by the caucus results but tend to stick with the candidate picks that won them selection.

Why it matters: While a presidential candidate can win party nomination without winning Iowa and lose it after winning Iowa, the early support gives candidates important momentum to continue.

Vote for Barack Obama -- for clarity insight reality and on top of the ISSUES. Got to www.BaraclObama.com to learn more.

Christmas nearly here, isn't it?

When I was a kid I got an orange, three pair of cotton panties from JC Penny and a book from my Pop. Sometimes it was Nancy Drew and sometimes it was the Hardy Boys. The books were almost always second-hand. One year I got a book called Girl of the Limberlost. And when I was about twelve my Pop got me a book called Green Mansions about a bird girl who lived in the jungles of South America. Since my birthday is so close to Christmas I didn't really get birthday presents. I usually got a cake though, a great big double chocolate, chocolate frosting Devil's Food Cake. It was so good that I thought it really ought to be called the Angel's Food Cake instead of the white fluffy kind. We always had a gallon of vanilla ice cream and candles on my cake. Today the children I know would be very unhappy to have such a meager Christmas. One year my name was put in as needy child by one of my teachers. My mother and father were horribly embarrassed at such a label. We weren't needy; just didn't have a lot of money. The real estate agent that drew my name bought me a doll that wet, a chalkboard with an easel and games. He bought me coloring books and a wood burning set. I was dizzy when Mama and Pop took me to his house. His wife and he were old to me, much older than my own parents. They had food that I had never had and special treats. I sat in their kitchen in my blue and pink plaid dress that my mother had made for me at the beginning of the school year. My mother had braided my hair very tight and scrubbed all my old skin off until there was only raw pinkish skin like a sunburn. My yellow hair was tied at the braids with blue ribbons. The old man wanted to hold me and watch me open my gifts. I shook my head no and couldn't speak. My mother said, " Go ahead, honey. They want to enjoy your happiness." I looked at my Pop. "Ahem," he said much too loudly. " She 's a shy kid and doesn't take well to petting. We live out of town so she is alone a lot. But watch out, you get her to talk and she'll talk your leg off." That made everyone laugh and the Mrs. Real Estate lady pour Morgan David wine for all of us, even me in a tiny glass. Then we had cookies and nuts and salty crackers. Finally I got to open those gifts. I didn't realize for a bit that they would go home with me. I thought the presents were very nice and told the man and the woman that I liked the gifts. The woman told me she had gotten a cat when she was a little girl for Christmas. She said that they just happened to have some kittens that were ready for a new home and would my daddy let me have a kitten too? I didn't know what to say. We had barn cats. Would we have another cat? My dad put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Girl, what do you think? Want a baby cat to look after?" "Yes please," I was able to whisper. We all went out to the garage except for Mama and the Mrs.
The kittens were sleeping in a box. I picked the biggest one. I named him Tommy and he lasted much longer than my Christmas gifts. Besides he was my friend. He liked my dogs too. He was the real gift that year.

We're not doing so good here in this country right now. We've been lied to and ignored by the Bush Administration. Today, not tomorrow and not after the election we need to have a leader, not a decider, to lead the people of this nation into the joyfulness that we felt for the last 4 terms of presidency.

We must not sit and expect things to correct themselves. It won't happen. We need to take charge of our country and its future. We are a strong people, even though sometimes we're a little rowdy and sometimes a little slow to learn. Does anyone remember watching the parade of the flag and feeling that surge of wonderful patriotism? When we wanted to be a world leader because we were fair and just -- because we stood for freedom.

You can find an itemized list of wrong-doings committed these last years. I say to you, each and every voter, put the past behind us and go forward with morality, decency and respect for ourselves and the rest of our planet brothers.

If you look at the candidates only one tries to be a kind, thoughtful and forward-thinking person.
This man can stand clean and unmarked by the political whorl that has gripped the nation these many years. He has no big political steam rollers and no big lobby. He wants to be honest and truthful. He wants us to be truthful and honest.

We can't substitute "truthiness" for actual truth. Despicable is what clings to the behavior of this administration and Bush-Cheney in particular. As they set themselves up to "do it their way" they have set into motion a decline in democracy and freedom. The very freedom we enjoy is melting away and while we fiddle.

Congress keeps getting scared by the bullies. Congress is not following what they were elected to do. Does anyone have the courage to stand up for the ideals and principals that our forefathers wanted for these United States.

Arrogance and duplicity are trade marks of the old parties. We need honesty, reason and compassion back in our land. We need to respect others and behave in a way that will give other nations a reason to respect us.

Trust in God! Does it say which deity we must claim? Of course not, and wisely so. Your God is not my God. Let's put some of these problems in the hands of a capable man.

Support Barack Obama! Even if you don't like him, read on his web site what some of his solutions to those scorching problems we face today. Instead of "letting George do it" let's get a man in the White House who is strong, humble and intelligent.