It’s another Saturday, so for those who tune in, welcome to a diary discussing the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. If you’ve missed out, you can catch up anytime: Just visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide. Every week I tackle issues I’ve been asked about and, with the help of a lot of great minds, we put together a series aimed at helping small campaigns.
This year we are going behind the scenes of the selection process for delegates to the national convention. With the Iowa caucus fast approaching, now is a good time to look over a delegate selection plan (DSP). These are the documents state parties submit to the Democratic National Committee rules body for adoption, and spell out how the process will be run and delegates selected. While a DSP can seem like really in-the-weeds information, if you are in Iowa and thinking about going to the national convention as a delegate, or if you are outside of Iowa and interested in how the process will run, a DSP represents the guiding document for the beginning of the selection process.