Come next semester, few events will get more ink than the famed Iowa caucus, but February often hits with out-of-state students and even a few home-grown Iowans having little knowledge of the state’s first-in-the nation status.

Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science at Iowa State, said the Iowa caucus lets candidates sell themselves to their party, explain their positions on the issues and tell why they will be able to lead the party to the White House.

“The Iowa caucus is important because it lets a lot of the lesser-known people get their word out and become known,” Schmidt said.

Throughout the Iowa caucus, candidates can get information from likely voters, he said. It also allows them a chance to get some publicity.

“The caucus is really important to the candidates because it is the first place where a really serious vote is taken on who might get the candidacy,” Schmidt said.

Mack Shelley, professor of political science and statistics at ISU, said the Iowa caucus is a decentralized process that takes place in over 2,000 districts throughout Iowa.

Shelley said on caucus night, each party picks a place in each of the precincts to hold their caucus. He said they range from living rooms and school gymnasiums, to hotel reception rooms.

Schmidt said people who are active, registered voters go to the selected areas on caucus night and discuss the party candidates.

“It can be a long process. People just talk and decide how much support their favorite candidate has. It takes time,” Schmidt said.

Once the favorite is picked, the information is sent to the party headquarters in Des Moines. The media tallies the results.

Schmidt said the caucus is also important to the second-place finisher because it gives he or she a boost for the upcoming New Hampshire primaries.

Both Schmidt and Shelley agreed that on the ISU campus, the students’ choice for the Republican nomination appears to be Bob Dole.

“As far as I can tell on campus, Dole is still ahead of everybody else,” Schmidt said.

“I would say Dole has the biggest stock of support at ISU. It seems to be a statewide pattern,” Shelley added.

Shelley said because there are so many students, the vote could be important. However, because of the lack of student interest in politics and the low voter turnout, many candidates realize they may not have any effect on college students.

“The candidates will still come and talk to the students because they want any support and help they can get,” Schmidt said.

There are 10 candidates running for the Republican nomination.

Because the Democratic Party already has a candidate in office, the caucus will not be nearly as important.

Dustin Shaver, a junior in political science and co-chair of the ISU Democrats, said his group will begin to prepare for the upcoming caucuses after break.

Shaver said for Clinton, the student vote is extremely important. He believes that in 1992 it was the student vote that put Clinton and Gore in office. “Clinton puts value on student opinions. Voter campaigns will be heavily towards the students,” Shaver said.

It is extremely important for students to go to the caucuses, Shaver said. For students who are not sure where their caucus is or want to become a registered voter, Shaver suggested contacting either the ISU Democrats or the Collegiate Republicans.

Shelley said there are several ways candidates can prepare for the upcoming caucuses.

The first is through one-on-one contact with the voters. The meetings can be anything from coffees in private homes to public receptions where the candidates can talk directly with their supporters.

Shelley said another growing trend is sending videotapes to the voters.