National Report (IA)
The lack of the Iowa Caucus results is not due to the Caucus System but rather the reporting method. As we have now learned, the problem was with the app used to report the results developed by Shadow Inc, a company founded by Gerard Niemira and Krista Davis, two Hillary Clinton Campaign staff in 2016. In an era of hyper-instantaneous gratification, this political system seems antiquated to the uninformed because of the failure of a report, even though it is not. It is a far more personalized system. The Caucus process is a more dynamic, organic and emblematic political process than is a Primary because it requires far more work than just a one-time event, which is what news reporting may have the biggest problem with due to its lack of instantaneous results. This requires a bit of history.
The Caucus System was the standard prior to the 1968 DNC Chicago convention and the resulting McGovern/Fraser Commission, (Chaired by US Senator George McGovern (D-SD) and Congressman Don Fraser (D-MN) which resulted in the raft of Primaries across the nation, which Fraser decried as a negative result. To those who are unfamiliar with the Caucus process, it seems to be ripe for political weaponization for people who see the protections of the secret ballot as a protector from the likes of Donald J Trump.
In Minnesota, we will be having the first Presidential Primary since 1992, and it will be a fiasco. Because the Republican Party is not fielding any other candidates than Trump, Republicans will be able to crossover in droves and they will inappropriately play a role in determining the DNC delegates when it is not their place. This sabotage will be ripe for the Trump forces to select the weakest candidate i.e. Bernie Sanders or whomever the Trump forces deem as such.
Caucuses record the community sentiments of a smaller area a precinct, which then propels forward representatives to the next level, the County or District Convention and then to the Congressional District Convention which selections the first DNC Pledged Delegates and then later to the State Convention for the balance of the DNC Pledged Delegates of 91.
Here in Minnesota, the purpose of a Primary is to affirm or negate the Primary Endorsement Process, which is why it occurs after. The Presidential Primary is an attempt to create an event for media coverage and to insert our state into the frontend of the Presidential nomination process.
Because we do not have a National Primary, where everyone is relegated to their own side by political party and a resulting limited ballot to a finite number of candidates that represent a spectrum of significant political support, this is why US Senator Bernie Sanders, a Socialist (I-VT) doesn’t seek the nomination of the Socialist Party.