LAS VEGAS – After back-to-back fiascos in Nevada and Iowa, the term “caucus” may be on its way to becoming a bad word in the GOP lexicon.
Those troubled contests cast a shadow over the volunteer-run presidential selection process as the GOP’s caucus season begins Tuesday night in Colorado and Minnesota. In all, 10 states are scheduled to hold caucuses in February and March.
For now, national Republicans have shied away from calling for the end of caucuses in favor of straight-vote primaries. Critics say it is only a matter of time before the caucus troubles become too great to ignore.
“The average voter does not want to go to an event that is going to take one, two or three hours,” said Republican state Assemblyman Pat Hickey of Reno. “In that regard, I think it doesn’t work well, especially in states like Nevada.”
Nevada Republicans finally released the results of their Saturday caucuses early Monday morning, after volunteers had stayed up for nearly 48 hours counting and recounting votes in a contest that saw only 33,000 votes cast, about 9 percent of the state’s registered Republicans. Party leaders said they wanted to take their time to avoid another Iowa.
Last month, Iowa initially called
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