Tomorrow, January 3, 2012 at 7pm CT, the Iowa caucuses will begin the process where residents of Iowa gather in all 1,784 precincts. They will gather in houses, libraries, schools, churches, etc. Attendees will not only vote for their presidential preference choices but will also elect delegates for their country conventions for all of their 99 counties. Those delegates will then choose delegates for the state and district conventions which will eventually choose delegates for the national convention.After residents gather they will be handed a blank paper, listen to supporters from each candidate, then they will write their choices down which the Republican Party of Iowa will then tally up the numbers and report to the media.
Iowa GOP has a list of caucus locations or you can find a location by country.
Pollsters descended on Iowa this past week, each trying to predict who the winners and losers will be, one of the latest by the Des Moines Register Iowa poll, considered by many pundits as traditionally accurate, shows Rick Santorum surging, Mitt Romney in the lead and Ron Paul in second with the caveat "if the final two days of polling stand alone, the order reshuffles: Santorum elbows out Paul for second."
While Iowa is the first to weigh in on the preference for the GOP presidential nominee, it is only one of many caucuses/primaries scheduled over the next six months and the field will naturally start narrowing in the months leading up to the national convention.
[Update] Caucus morning linkage and live blogging for Caucus night found HERE.
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