Politics & Government
Iowa City Caucuses Get Underway
After months of campaigning, hundreds of candidate stops and way too many political commercials, the Iowa caucuses -- finally -- have begun. Check back with Patch for live results as they come in.
Campaign signs, particularly for Texas Congressman Ron Paul, are plastered inside and outside of which is hosting Republican and Democratic caucuses tonight.
People also passed Rick Santorum and Rick Perry signs as they entered. About 300 people were expected to take part in the Republican party caucus here, according to precinct chairman Don Racheter.
"He's a doctor. He knows the army. Defense is the best offense," Jun Ni, of Iowa City, a natuarlized citizen from China, said speaking of Ron Paul.
Find out what's happening in Iowa Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
He voted for President Obama in 2008, but this time is backing Paul.
In all, Iowa City was scheduled to host 25 Republican caucus sites. Johnson County was hosting 57 GOP caucus sites in total.
Find out what's happening in Iowa Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Iowa City has 71 delegates up for grabs, and the county has 153. The Washington Post identified Johnson County as one of six counties in the state to keep an eye on.
Meetings began at 7 p.m., with sign up at 6:30 p.m. For some areas, results will be known in a matter of 30 minutes or so. Larger caucuses could take a couple of hours. That depends on how many candidate representatives speak, how long they drag on and how many votes need to be counted.
The GOP record for caucus-goers is 118,411, set in 2008, when Mike Huckabee won, followed by Mitt Romney, Fred D. Thompson, John McCain, Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani.
Patch will provide live coverage of the results as they come in.