Talk:Caucus

Bartleby's etymology
Bartleby's gives a very different etmology: "ETYMOLOGY: After the Caucus Club of Boston (in the 1760s), possibly from Medieval Latin caucus, drinking vessel." Samw 22:06, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC)

international use of caucuses
- suggest including use of 'caucus' terminology at UN summits, e.g. World Summit on Information Society civil society caucuses and working groups

---

I would love to see a reference to the use of the phrase "caucus race" in Alice in Wonderland. It stuck in my head from childhood, and considering the state of the caucus in North Carolina that prevented the Democratic primary, it seemed quite appropriate. -- Dave in NC

http://rackham.artpassions.net/alice3.html

"What I was going to say, said the Dodo in an offended tone, was, that the best thing to get us dry would be a Caucus-race.

What IS a Caucus-race? said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.

Why, said the Dodo, the best way to explain it is to do it. (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)

First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (the exact shape doesn't matter, it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no One, two, three, and away, but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out The race is over! and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, But who has won?"


 * I have added the above to the article as a blockquote, since it bears upon the statement that the term in noit used in the UK.--Wetman (talk) 09:49, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

native american origins source
- suggest checking this source for support of algonquin origin> From http://www.ratical.com/many_worlds/6Nations/EoL/index.html#ToC

Possible Finnish origin of the term
This seems very unlikely to me. And it merits no mention in the Oxford English Dictionary. Furthermore, the statement that there were "many" Finnish immigrants in the Great Lakes reason is, I think, contrary to historical evidence for the period. The OED gives the first attestation in writing as 1763, and I think there was only neglibile Finnish immigration by that time. It was made by a user from the IP address 62.237.62.1. Given that the information is uncited and contradicts that of reliable sources, I propse that this be removed unless someone can provide independent citations for it. Inter lingua talk email 02:10, 12 January 2007 (UTC)


 * It's been over a week and no one has responded to the above post. As there is no reliable source that I know of which supports the Finnish etymology, I've removed the following:


 * In the Finnish language, there is also a word, kokous, meaning an official meeting. The existence of this word in the Finnish language supports the theory that it has European origins. It is also known that many Finns moved to the United States, more specifically to the East Coast and the areas surrounding the Great Lakes. However, the Finnish language is not an Indo-European language, and belongs to a very different language family than most European languages so the possibility that the word is of a common European origin is highly unlikely.

Most likely, the word entered Finnish from some other language, perhaps English. Inter lingua talk email 01:59, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
 * No, it didn't. It's a neologism: koko "whole", to give the verb kokoontua "to assemble", to give the noun kokous "meeting". --Vuo (talk) 10:49, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

--Australian Usage-- I thought there should be some mention of the strong prohibition in the Australian Labor Party against voting against the decision of the caucus. This has been a significant point of solidarity within the ALP. --Peacenik 23:43, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Etymology of the Term
I learned in school that the etymology had to do with an early Boston tradesman union called The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, commonly called "the caulker's club." This website backs it up in the paragraph titled "Two Shillings a Day and a Place in History": http://realapprenticeship.com/mcat/mainweb/hist1.htm I find all these other etymologies rather comical, since "caucus" is an American term, not Finnish, and its historical usage is almost exclusively leftwing, not right. A union history seems to make more sense, at least to me.72.78.172.138 (talk) 04:41, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Also came here after reading the http://www.realapprenticeship.com/mcat/mainweb/hist1.htm article. Should be considered if the claim stands to scrutiny. 75.23.40.169 (talk) 21:26, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Quoting from Simon Hawke's novel, The Hellfire Rebellion: "the word having grown from "caulker's club," since the majority of the original members were all in the shipbuilding trade". I don't know how much authentification Mr. Hawke had for this, but it seems to agree, at least in part, with the above.The-Dixie-Flatline (talk) 11:31, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Biased Reference
The first reference, "See Caucuses Or Primaries: The only time your vote truly matters for a description", is a flagrantly biased student newspaper article that is openly liberal and editorial in nature. It also fails to describe the actual differences between state caucuses and primaries.

I strongly encourage someone who is knowledgeable of the political process to replace the reference with a more neutral and professional reference that actually describes the differences rather then attempt to further a particular political viewpoint. Veriss (talk) 19:21, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed the blatantly biased reference after waiting three months for someone to replace it with something that was actually informative. Veriss (talk) 09:46, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Speaking of "bias", the first of the two pictures in the Article is witty but at the same time insulting: (Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland). Why make fun of those picking the Oval Office occupant? Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 13:48, 6 January 2012 (UTC). . . A better first picture, please!

Caucuses, Primaries: What's the differences?
Other than business commerce and precincts in a caucus, and only one vote out of one party's candidates in a primary, what differences are there? PLEASE let me know...someone...anyone? BlueCaper (talk) 00:04, 12 March 2008 (UTC)


 * For this article, "See also: Iowa_caucuses" could answer this question, plus what it leads to. Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 13:57, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, there is no explanation of what a US caucus actually is and how it differs from a Primary 14.137.76.22 (talk) 00:37, 20 February 2016 (UTC)Paul Trundley14.137.76.22 (talk) 00:37, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

Article on Caucuses
With all the primaries this year, we need more info about the caucus procedures in varios states,since they are NOT all the same. Article has info onWashington, but what about Iowa? I think Texas had one too. What other states held caucuses instread of or in addition to primaries? Orpheusclaude (talk) 02:31, 2 April 2008 (UTC)


 * There is clearly a need for several separate pages on Caucuses in America. One for Presidential Caucuses (General), one for each party (at least Republican and Democratic), and possibly one for individual state caucuses, since these differ so widely. Laughingvergil (talk) 21:15, 9 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Where's the "See Also" section? There are WP articles on Iowa_Republican_caucuses,_2012, Iowa_caucuses, and probably other WP pages of interest.  Where's the "External Links" section?  Just asking, Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 13:55, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Paragraph in German has appeared
The second paragraph of the article is in German. Needs fixing.

A few minutes later...    I deleted it myself. It duplicated the next paragraph.

JFistere (talk) 17:26, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Minor POV question?
The existence of multiple citations seems to imply strong support for the statement that the Texas caucuses are &#8220;only occasionally relevant.&#8221; But the 4 citations all point to dead links. Bwrs (talk) 22:49, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

missing information
The Nevada caucus article is a stub. Somebody needs to fill it out and discuss why people can't vote for a nominee without attending the caucus. It should turn on why they would not move the scheduled caucus when it falls on Saturday as it does this year, and why the state doesn't allow an alternative for people affected by that date or for absentees. If, on the other hand, all three caucuses have the same rules for such things, it should be discussed in this article in the US caucus section. 4.248.216.209 (talk) 23:35, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

possible etimology
caucuses were for caucasian people. i.e. the white people decide who gets to be nominated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.144.54.113 (talk) 19:24, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

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New NEWS today, for future editing
Will voting from home and overseas lead to fraud/abuse? Headline-1: Utah's Republican caucus will be the first of its kind QUOTE: "For its presidential preference caucus next week, the Beehive State’s Republican Party will allow any Utahn outside or inside the state to vote online. This will be the first time any political party has allowed online voting for a presidential primary election in the nation." -- Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 22:31, 19 March 2016 (UTC) -- PS: FYI for future editing.
 * http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865650163/Utahs-Republican-caucus-will-be-the-first-of-its-kind.html?s_cid=Email-1

Another interesting article, about Soros-team running the online voting. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/20/soros-board-member-chairs-firm-running-online-balloting-for-tuesdays-utah-caucuses/ AstroU (talk) 17:48, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

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