caucus race

Meaning

Noun

• The competitive process in which a political party selects their candidate, especially presidential; a primary election via caucus.
• A political competition; the game of campaigning and one-upmanship to get votes and be elected.
• A laborious but arbitrary and futile activity; an activity that amounts to running around in a circle, expending great energy but not accomplishing anything.
• A win-win system; a positive system in which everybody wins.

Origin

• From caucus + race.
• Image:Image-Super Duper Tuesday 2008.svg|thumb|Map of the USA showing the twenty-four states that held caucuses or primary elections on Super Tuesday (February 5, 2008).
• From caucus + race; a reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, chapter III "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale", being a nonsensical satire thereof: all participants have to run in circles until an arbitrary end is called and everyone is declared a winner; Alice has to give prizes to them all, and being declared a winner too, the Dodo solemnly takes her thimble and awards it back to her.