The Texas Two-Step is a popular dance. For the March 4, 2008 Texas presidential primaries, voters were instructed to vote in the primaries—and then to return after 7 p.m. on election day to vote in the caucus.
The primary-caucus voting process has been called “Texas two-step” and “primacaucus” and “primaucus” and “primacus” and “caucumary” and “caucary.”
Politics from a New Brunswick perspective
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Happy Praucus (or Caumary) Day
(This story does not refer to Texas—ed.)
Barcelonaloca (Livejournal)
barcelonaloca wrote,
@ 2008-02-09 00:47:00
ON MARCH 4 VOTE…..TWICE
here’s a detailed explanation of how the primary in Texas works, and the ensuing caucus. 25% of the delegates are allocated AFTER the precincts close, when you go CAUCUS. It’s the Texas TWO-STEP. So remember, go vote twice. the second time you can just chose your candidate and then leave, you don’t have to stay for the whole thing unless you want to become a delegate.
The Atlantic
Texas’s Unique Primaucus
11 Feb 2008 09:50 am
Texas is the most un-primary of primaries there is.
For one thing, there aren’t any delegates awarded to the winner of the state—no statewide bonus delegates, nothing. For another, a third of the delegates will be chosen through a complicated caucus system.
Zone
Monday, February 11, 2008
Texas Two Step
It’s not easy trying to figure out Texas’ complicated primary/caucus/thing-a-majig that’s going to be held on March 4. Or how it might affect the Democratic race.
Jason Linkins - The Huffington Post
Texas Primary Primer
February 13, 2008 11:24 AM
(...)
Because you don’t want to find yourself trapped in the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer without any knowledge as to how the vote is going to get decided in Texas, the explainer provided by the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder is a piece of essential reading. Dubbing the Texas process as “primaucus” - over the poetically preferable “caucumary” - Ambinder confronts the vagaries of “the most un-primary of primaries there is.”
KTRE-TV (Lufkin, Nacogdoches, TX)
02/18/08 - Nacogdoches
Primary, Caucus, Primaucus…Which Is It In Texas?
by Donna McCollum
Only in Texas do you have what some refer to as a primary and at the end of the day another election at a caucus or convention. Some politicos refer to the process as a “primaucus”. Former President Bill Clinton describes it this way. ” The way we ought to sell this caucus is this is the only time in your life you’ll be able to vote in the same election twice without breaking the law,” he said at a recent Hillary Clinton campaign stop.
Time magazine
February 18, 2008 8:49
The Texas Primacus—uh, Caucary
Posted by Karen Tumulty
Time magazine
February 18, 2008 11:26
The Texas Caucumary/Primacus, Continued
Posted by Ana Marie Cox
Google Groups: UTHSCSA Med School Class of 2011
From: Noellayah
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:06:13 -0800 (PST)
Local: Thurs, Feb 21 2008 12:06 am
Subject: If you care at all about voting-PLEASE READ!
The process has been coined the “Texas Two Step”
1) Vote Early (February 19-29)
Sites can be found at: (warning this is a PDF)
http://www.co.bexar.tx.us/elections/EV_CALENDAR_-_JOINT_PRIMARY_2008.pdf
or Vote on Election day (March 4th)
Your election day site can be found at:
http://apps.bexar.org/cfdocs/ElectionsPublic/Where2Vote.cfm
2) Vote in your caucus at 7pm on March 4th
In order to caucus you have to vote in the primary!
Caucuses are held at your election day site, which again can be found
at:
http://apps.bexar.org/cfdocs/ElectionsPublic/Where2Vote.cfm
To vote in the primary &/or the caucus you need to be registered to vote, and you have to present either a picture ID or your voter registration card at the polling station. Since we do not declare a
party when you register to vote in the state of Texas, anyone can vote in either primary. However, once you vote in the Dem or Rep primary you can only vote in Dem or Rep races for the rest of the calendar year. (This of course has no barring on general elections.)
MSNBC
Texas two-step political contest
Lone Star state’s hybrid primary-caucus could be Clinton’s last stand
By Carrie Dann
NBC/National Journal Reporter
updated 3:57 p.m. ET, Mon., Feb. 25, 2008
EL PASO, Texas - Perched on the back of a pickup truck at a rally for his wife, the former president of the United States paused from his speech, and with a mischievous grin, said: “Think of it as the only time in your life that you’ll get to vote twice without going to jail.”
(...)
At rally after rally, the often sprawling message of Bill Clinton’s stump speeches has a new laser focus. “Will you vote twice for Hillary?” he roars. “Will you do that?”
New York (NY) Times
Pieces of Texas Turn Primary Into a Puzzle
By RANDY KENNEDY
Published: February 26, 2008
(...)
“We have grown men crying over it,” Mrs. Clinton said recently of the byzantine rules of the system, which also includes caucuses, leading people here to refer to March 4 as “primacaucus night” or “the Texas two-step.”
Google Groups: Stories from the Obama grassroots
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:37:16 EST
Local: Tues, Feb 26 2008 7:37 pm
Subject: Stories from the Obama grassroots
It has been less than 2 weeks. In that time, the “Texas Two Step” (Voting in the primary & the caucus) has come into full force, a slogan that was yelled out from the back of the room at a caucus training in Austin I ran and is now emblazoned on every piece of organizing material.
Wall Street Journal
Texas Two-Step Vote
Could Trip Up Clinton
By JUNE KRONHOLZ
February 27, 2008; Page A10
How is this for irony: Sen. Hillary Clinton, the ultimate Democratic Party insider, is struggling in Texas, in large part because the political system is stacked against her.
Opinion polls show her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, inching up to Sen. Clinton or already passing her in Texas. But it is the complicated delegate nominating system—the Texas two-step—more than popular turnout that could stymie a Clinton victory Tuesday and perhaps cost the New York senator the nomination.
“I had no idea how bizarre it is,” Sen. Clinton told reporters last week. “We have grown men crying over it.”
Of the 2,025 delegates either candidate needs to win the nomination, Texas has 228. The primary, where the candidates are thought to be in a dead heat, will award 126 of those seats. Minutes after the polls close, Texas Democrats then will convene caucuses that will seat an additional 67 delegates, and here Sen. Obama’s superior field operation is likely to work to his advantage.
KEO 23-TV (Brownsville, TX)
What is the Texas Two-Step?
It’s not only a dance, but Gilberto Hinojosa who is the Democratic Chair in Cameron County says it plays a significant role in politics.
“the Presidential primaries are designed to give one candidate or the other the most delegates coming out of the state of Texas towards the national convention for nomination for the Presidency. In Texas 2/3 of the delegates are selected based on votes in the primary 1/3 are based on precincts caucus, that will be held on election night after polls.”
If you really want to make your vote count here is what do you need to do.
“I am registered to vote in precinct 9 that is Putegnat school, I will early vote, then on election night I will go to my poll at 7:15, and I will participate in the precinct meeting and I will declare my Presidential preference at that time and participate in that caucus. If I do that even though I did not vote there on election I am a member of that precinct and can participate in that caucus. “
CBS News
February 28, 2008, 12:10 PM
A Whole New Meaning To The Phrase “Texas Two Step”
Posted by Brian Montopoli
(...)
The Washington Post, which notes that the Texas delegate selection plan is 37 pages long (read it here!), offers a quick overview, noting that “two-thirds of the state’s 228 delegates will be chosen based on the vote in each of 31 state Senate districts. The remaining delegates will be chosen based in part on the outcome of caucuses held on election night after the polls close.”
That’s just the beginning: Districts yield varying amounts of delegates based on the relative number of ballots cast in the 2004 presidential campaign and 2006 gubernatorial election, and the system could yield a situation reminiscent of the 2000 general election in which the winner of the popular vote does not win the most delegates.
As for the caucuses, you can only show up if you voted in the primary, and the Post notes that the lack of precinct chairs has created a situation in which inconsistency between precincts could influence the outcome. And then there’s early voting, which began last week and is expected to be a significant factor, and the fact that 32 of the states 228 delegates are actually superdelegates not tied to the popular vote.