Do not define every caucus by one famous state's former ritual. Some use secret preference cards, remote procedures, or separate stages; some choose delegates who later attend county, district, or state conventions. Rules can include viability thresholds, realignment, or multiple reported totals, but those features are not universal. The durable distinction is institutional: a caucus is organized through party procedure, whereas a primary is ordinarily a ballot election administered under state election machinery.

A caucus result can be reported at several levels. The initial preference count shows participant support at that moment. A later delegate count shows the result after the party's translation and selection rules. If the process moves through precinct, county, and state stages, the people chosen at the first meeting may not yet be national-convention delegates. Calling every participant a national delegate skips the institutional chain.

Caucuses can reward organization because campaigns must identify supporters, explain the procedure, and ensure that they attend at the correct time and place. A small, committed campaign can outperform its standing in broad public polls. That result may demonstrate activist intensity without proving the same level of support among all party identifiers or general-election voters.

At a neighborhood party meeting, participants might express presidential preferences and elect representatives to a county convention. They have participated in a caucus, but the meeting is not a national convention and its first tally is not automatically the state's final delegate allocation. The meaning of the result depends on the next stage specified by the party's rules.

Video lesson: Political Campaigns: Crash Course Government and Politics #39