The 2010 Caucus on a Saturday

The Republican Party of Iowa announced today that the 2010 Cacucuses will be held on Saturday, January 23rd at 1pm. The Iowa Democratic Party has agreed to hold their caucuses at the same time.

I was on the State Central Committee when we chose the date and the intent was to try and get more voters involved in what are generally, lightly attended non-presidential year caucuses. The Des Moines Register's Katie Obradovich says:

That’s a really good idea and it will serve as a great test before the next presidential-year caucuses in 2012.

Don't expect to see Saturday caucuses in a presidential year. In order to get the maximum effect from Iowa's First in the Nation Caucuses, they need to occur during a normal weekday news cycle. The caucuses are timed so that presidential straw poll data will be available fo rthe late news.

Obradovich also notes that the Saturday date will cause conflicts for some observant Jews. This is certainly true, but any date will have conflicts. It has been my experience that the caucuses make it very easy for newcomers to get involved in politics locally. I think the Saturday experiment is a good one.