Statement on Iowa strategy with Edwards campaign
The Kucinich campaign issued the following statement on January 19, 2004, about its Iowa strategy:
IOWA CAUCUS STRATEGY EXPLANATION
Caucus goers in Iowa precincts elect delegates to larger caucuses. In each precinct a certain percentage of the caucus goers must back a candidate in order to elect a delegate. The smallest percentage required in any caucus to elect a single delegate is 15 percent. This means that if 14 percent of the people in a caucus supported Kucinich, they elected zero delegates and accomplished nothing - unless supporters of another campaign moved into the Kucinich column.
Because of the way these caucuses work, campaigns can arrange to encourage their supporters in precincts where they do not reach the threshold to support another candidate. The Kucinich campaign may very well have been strong in some urban areas where Senator Edwards' campaign was not viable. Senator Edward's campaign may have been stronger in some rural areas where Kucinich's campaign was not viable. By encouraging voters in these particular precincts to go with each other's campaigns, both candidates hoped to, and probably did, emerge from Iowa stronger.
The Dennis Kucinich for President campaign focused on turning out Iowans to caucus for Kucinich. Senator John Edwards' campaign focused on turning out Iowans to caucus for Edwards. Neither campaign is dropping out or endorsing the other. The arrangement they worked out was only for Iowa, not for the other 49 states.
In precincts where one or both campaigns were not viable (did not have the minimum number of supporters to elect one delegate), the Kucinich and Edwards campaigns encouraged their supporters to join forces. In these precincts only, caucus goers in whichever of these two groups was smaller were asked to move to the other campaign. Ultimately, of course, this decision was up to each individual participant.
Congressman Kucinich and Senator Edwards are friends and share a positive and optimistic approach to this election.
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