It's Nearly Time to Caucus, Northfield

The caucuses are tomorrow night, Northfield.

If you are planning to attend the GOP caucus, the leading candidates for that party’s presidential nomination, except for front-runner Mitt Romney, are in Minnesota today campaigning for your support tomorrow.

Among those candidates:

• Newt Gingrich is scheduled to attend a rally in Bloomington this evening.

• Ron Paul is scheduled to attend rallies in St. Cloud and Minneapolis this afternoon. Paul also was in the state on Saturday.

• Rick Santorum was in Rochester for a speech on health care this morning. He also spoke in Minnesota yesterday.

Romney visited last week. Today, he is scheduled to campaign in Colorado, which also has caucuses tomorrow.

Romney is coming off Saturday’s first-place showing in the Nevada caucus, where he received 50 percent of votes. He was followed by Gingrich, with 21 percent; Paul, 18 percent; and Santorum, 9 percent.

So, the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses, as well as a primary election in Missouri, are next up for the presidential hopefuls tomorrow.

For a state-by-state calendar of this year’s presidential primaries and caucuses, click here.

Minnesota’s presidential poll tomorrow night is non-binding. For Republicans, that means that the candidate winning the caucus has no guarantee that delegates will support the victor at the GOP National Convention in Tampa, Fla., this summer.

WHAT'S A CAUCUS?

A caucus helps a political party gain consensus as to how voters have aligned their political and candidate preferences.

But at a caucus, there’s more going on than just candidate selection. Participants sometimes select county committee chairs that go to a state—and sometimes national—convention.

What distinguishes a caucus from a primary is that at a primary, voters don’t have to be present at one particular location at a specific time. For a primary, voters just go to their polling place and cast a vote, the same as they would do at a general election.

For a caucus, you have to be physically present at your designated caucus site, register, show your party affiliation and then participate in the process. Attendees participate directly.

To take part in a caucus, you must be eligible to vote in the 2012 general election and live in the precinct. Teenagers ages 16 and up also can attend, but they cannot vote or serve as a delegate.

Each party has its own rules and guidelines it follows.

Additional caucus information—including a caucus finder—can be found on the Minnesota Secretary of State website by clicking here.

NORTHFIELD CAUCUS SITES

Caucus sites for Northfield residents include:

• DFL—The Senate District 25 DFL will meet at , 2200 Division St. For more information about the District 25 DFL, click here.

District 36 DFLers living in Northfield precincts W-3 and P-3 will meet in conjunction with District 25 at Northfield Middle School. For more information about the District 36 DFL, click here.

• Independence—A caucus for the entire Second Congressional District, which includes all of Lakeville, will be hosted by a delegate in Apple Valley. The Independence Party website says more details will be available soon. For more information about the Independence Party, click here.

• Republican (GOP)—District 25 Republicans will meet in the lower and upper cafeterias of l, 1400 Division St. For more information about the Rice County GOP, click here.

District 36 Republicans in Northfield precincts W-3 and P-3 will meet at Boeckman Middle School, 800 Denmark Ave., Farmington. For more information about District 36 GOP, click here.

In Minnesota, the DFL, Independence and Republican parties are considered major parties. For the definitions of major and minor political parties in Minnesota, click here.

All caucuses begin at 7 p.m.