The Democratic Caucus is a gathering of neighbors who take the important first step in choosing our party's nominee for President. At the caucus you'll determine how many delegates each presidential candidate gets, and elect delegates to the district and state conventions, where the national convention delegates are selected.

Anyone who will be 18 by November 4, 2008 - the date of the general election - is allowed and encouraged to caucus. If you're already 18, you must be a registered Democratic voter in that precinct to participate in the caucus, but you can actually register right there at the caucus on January 3. So, no excuses!

There are 1,784 precincts in Iowa, and nearly all of them will have caucuses. Yours is sure to be easy to find, as the meetings are typically held in schools, libraries, community centers, churches or other public buildings. The Iowa Democratic Party selects the caucus locations. They'll release the list of locations late November or early December. Check back here, or visit www.iowafirstcaucus.org, or www.HillaryClinton.com/hq/iowa/ to find out where your caucus will be held.

Technically you're electing the delegates who will elect the delegates who will vote for Hillary at the Democratic National Convention. (Whew!) But the bottom line is - if you want to see Hillary Clinton in the White House, this is the absolutely critical first step.

It depends; the number ranges from 1 to 37. The number of delegates is determined by the precinct's Democratic performance in the 2004 and 2006 General Elections.

A Presidential candidate needs to be "viable" to be eligible to win delegates. That means they need a minimum number of supporters at the caucus. Your caucus chair will tell you how many supporters are needed, based on the total number of people at your caucus site, and the total number of delegates your site will elect.

After you get the viability information, everyone in the room will divide into Presidential Preference Groups. You might go to a specific corner, or even into different rooms. There will be Clinton supporters at each caucus site who can answer any questions you have. The Caucus Chair will count how many supporters each candidate has - you'll get to stand up and be counted for Hillary!

This depends on the number of delegates to be elected in that precinct.
If one delegate is to be elected, the caucus as a whole elects the delegate.
If two delegates are to be elected, preference groups must contain at least 25% of the caucus attendees in order to be viable.
If three delegates are to be elected, the total caucus attendees are divided by six (6) to determine viability. (For example: 120 caucus attendees divided by 6 =20 people to be viable.)
If four or more delegates are to be elected, preference groups must contain at least 15% of the caucus attendees in order to be viable. At most caucus locations, the viability threshold is 15%

You can leave after the number of delegates for each candidate has been finalized. You might want to stay to elect the actual delegates, or participate in designing the party platform, or electing party leaders, but you don't have to.

Sure! It's a great learning experience for "tweens" and young high school students. And you're the best judge of whether your younger children could handle the evening.

The refreshments vary by caucus site. Some people bring desserts and snacks; other sites don't have much in the way of munchies.