It’s caucus day in the snowy farmland that is Iowa. The New York Times put up this explainer video that attempts in a pinched nearly Power-Point way to answer the question: “What the hell is a caucus and how does it actually work?” The short answer is: Folks get in a room, drink coffee and consult on the candidates. There are no secret ballots. The experience is less complicated for Republicans. For Democrats, it’s a messy talkfest that requires compromise. Sad part is that only something like 10 percent of eligible voters participate, which isn’t entirely a product of apathy. If you work nights, you can’t go. If you’re out of town on business, you can’t go. If you got kids and no baby sitter, you can’t go. If you are the baby sitter, you can’t go. If you’re an Iowan but attending a college somewhere not in Iowa and so not in Iowa tonight, you may be lucky overall, but you can’t go caucus. Some say that’s just how it is. To which others might respond: “Video conference anybody?”

Best candidate quote going into tonight goes to… Obama: “There are people who say, you know, ‘Obama may be inspiring, he may have good ideas, but he hasn’t been in Washington long enough. We need to stew him and season him a little bit more, boil all the hope out of him so he sounds like everybody else, then he’ll be ready.’ But the real gamble is to have us do the same old things with the same old folks over and over and over again and expect nothing but the same results. That’s a risk we can not take.”

It’ll be gusty and in the teens fahrenheit for caucus goers tonight. Dern cold, aye?!