Caucus process invites input from local voters

The presidential nominating conventions for the nation's two major political parties are well publicized, but they wouldn't happen without those smaller meetings of the party faithful in county caucuses leading up to the conventions.

Even in states like Missouri that hold presidential primaries, county and congressional caucuses and state conventions are still needed to choose delegates and alternates to the national conventions, said Dr. Rick Althaus, political science professor at Southeast Missouri State University and an alternate to the upcoming 8th District Democratic Party congressional caucus.

Althaus said everyone knows that Democrats will choose Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Republicans will nominate President Bush.

"It has been decades since either party has had a real contested convention," Althaus said.

Still, he said, national conventions are important from a party morale standpoint.

"I tell my students, don't underestimate the party part of political parties," Althaus said. "Participating in a national convention ends up being kind of a reward to party activists for their hard work."

The Missouri Republican Party will hold county caucuses Saturday. There's no mystery here. All of the delegates and alternates will be pledged to President Bush under the GOP's winner-takes-all primary system.

The caucus gives GOP voters a chance to be elected to attend the congressional caucus, said Leonard Sander Jr, chairman of the Cape Girardeau County Republican Central Committee, and to be considered as a possible delegate or alternate to the national convention.

"We don't register by party in this state. If you consider yourself a Republican, you can come," he said of the county caucus.

The Democratic Party county caucus was held Feb. 26, and chose delegates for both Kerry and John Edwards under a party formula.

The Cape Girardeau County GOP caucus is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Cape Girardeau County Administration Building in Jackson.

The caucus fittingly is the same day as the annual Lincoln Day celebration, sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women's Club. Sen. Kit Bond will be the keynote speaker at the 6 p.m. dinner at the A.C. Brase Arena Building.

The event annually draws hundreds of people, including some of the top Republican officeholders in the state.

Three-part process

As for the county caucuses, in both parties they are the first step in a three-part process to choose national convention delegates. The county delegates and alternates will attend congressional district caucuses at which some delegates and alternates are chosen for the national conventions. The rest are chosen at the state conventions.

Neither county caucus is limited to local party leaders. Any registered voter in the county can attend. About 65 people attended the Democratic caucus.

Unlike the Republicans, the Democratic Party allocates delegates and alternates on the basis of the percentage of votes each candidate received in the February presidential primary.

Delegates and alternates are chosen only for candidates receiving at least 15 percent of the vote.

The Cape Girardeau County Democratic Caucus was allotted seven John Kerry delegates and seven alternates. Edwards' supporters were allotted five delegates and three alternates.

Tom Neumeyer of Cape Girardeau is an alternate for Edwards. But Neumeyer said participants in the county caucus weren't partisan about Kerry or Edwards.

Neumeyer said he would have supported either Kerry or Edwards. Democrats, he said, just want to defeat Bush in November.

"Where we are staunch is the need for a new administration," he said.

Neumeyer and the other alternates and delegates will move on to the March 25 congressional caucus in Poplar Bluff.

Missouri will have 88 delegates and 13 alternates at the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for July 26 to 29 in Boston.

The 88 delegates includes 14 "super delegates" -- automatic selections for the national convention --which includes the state's Democratic governor and other top party officeholders in the state.

Ten other party leaders and elected officials are chosen by the party as delegates prior to the state convention.

At the nine congressional caucuses this spring, 48 delegates and eight alternates will be chosen.

The remaining 16 delegates and five alternates will be chosen at the state convention in Columbia on April 17.

On the Republican side, Missouri will send 57 delegates and 54 alternates to the national convention in New York City, Aug. 30 to Sept. 3.

The selection process, as with the Democrats, begins at the county level.

A total of 33 delegates will be chosen at the Cape Girardeau County GOP caucus on Saturday, along with a similar number of alternates , said Leonard Sander Jr. of Jackson, chairman of the county's Republican Central Committee.

That number is determined by how many votes were cast for the Republican presidential ticket in 2000.

Those delegates and alternates will attend the Republican 8th District caucus on April 24 at Poplar Bluff.

Each of the state's nine congressional districts will elect three delegates and three alternates to the national convention, said Paul Sloca, state GOP spokesman.

At the state convention on June 4 and 5 in Springfield, an additional 27 delegates and the same number of alternates to the national convention will be chosen.

In addition, the state chairman and two Republican National Committee members from Missouri are automatically included in the state delegation.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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