The Iowa Rules

Iowa and New Hampshire are to the presidential nominating process what Florida and Ohio have become to the fall election: the states where the overall outcome of the race is shaped, if not ultimately decided.

Iowa elects its delegates through a four-tier caucus process, with national convention delegates selected in the final stages.

But it is the first stage—the precinct caucuses—that the political world cares about. the Iowa caucuses were originally scheduled to kick off the 2008 presidential nominating season on Jan. 14. But with other states encroaching on its first-in-the-nation status, Iowa Republicans decided in mid-October to move their caucuses up to Jan. 3, and urged their Democratic counterparts to follow suit. They may or may not. A Jan. 5 caucus date is being considered by Iowa Democrats. In any event, candidates and media alike are expecting the Democratic and Republican caucuses in Iowa to be the first big test of voter sentiment in 2008. Iowa Republicans will hold a straw vote of presidential preferences at their precinct caucuses. Democrats will tally their vote in terms of projected delegates to the state convention. Neither party actually selects its national convention delegates until the congressional district and state conventions are held in the spring.

Both parties are scheduled to hold caucuses in all of Iowa's 1,784 precincts, although some of the caucuses may be held in the same location. Participation in both the Democratic and Republican caucuses is open to any of the party's registered voters, plus any voter who wishes to register as a member of the Democratic or Republican parties on caucus night, including those who will be 18 years old after the caucuses but before the November general election. As of August 2007, there were 1,898,137 active registered voters in Iowa—596,602 Democrats, 574,055 Republicans, and 727,480 independents.

An asterisk (*) indicates that the Democrats' Jan. 14 precinct caucus date is subject to change.