Though this year’s presidential election has already started being discussed in the media for the last couple months now, today’s Iowa Caucus marks the beginning of the race to the White House. For those of you wondering what exactly the Caucus is and why you’ve been hearing so much about it on the news, here are three things you need to know about how it affects the presidential election:

1. Strictly speaking, the Iowa Caucus indirectly results in the election of the delegates who are sent to the parties’ national conventions, where representatives from all 50 states choose their party’s candidate for the presidential election.

2. People in all 1,774 precincts in Iowa elect delegates for the state’s county conventions and the county conventions elect delegates for the State Convention who eventually choose the delegates for the national convention.

3. Bottom Line: The reason why the Iowa Caucus generates so much media buzz is because it’s the first indication of how much support an aspiring candidate has among the electorate. The results of the Iowa Caucus let the rest of the country know whether or not a person is a viable candidate for the nomination. Though it does not have a direct influence on the nomination, it lets candidates know whether or not they have a realistic chance of being nominated as their party’s presidential candidate. —Erick Pleitez

Check out the video below if you’re a visual learner:

Blog was originally published January 3, 2012

Erick Pleitez is a Data & Research Associate at Voto Latino. He provides research, communications, and operations support to Voto Latino's initiatives and helps coordinate VL's voter registration program. Erick graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Government.