The Alaska Rules

Alaska will anchor the far northwest corner of the cross-country votefest on Feb. 5, but the state's Republicans in particular are doing their best to draw some extra attention to their event. the state GOP has held a straw vote in conjunction with some recent caucuses. But in 2008, a presidential preference vote will be taken at the GOP Super Tuesday gatherings to actually allocate 26 delegates, divided proportionally to reflect the vote. In Alaska, both parties have two-tier caucus processes, culminating with state conventions where the national convention delegates are officially picked.

Both parties' caucuses are open to registered voters in that party, as well as any new voters or other voters who are willing to change their affiliation at the caucuses. As of September 2007, there were 474,167 registered voters in Alaska—117,212 Republicans, 67,672 Democrats, and 289,283 other voters.