Republican and Democratic party activists in Maine will caucus next month to select delegates to their state conventions as well as indicate their preference for presidential candidates.

The Republicans will caucus the weekend of Feb. 1-3 and the Democrats will caucus on Sunday, Feb. 10. Democrats will caucus in nearly every community in the state, while for the most part, Republicans will caucus at a single location in each county. Only registered party members can participate in the caucuses.

Although the Republicans have the option of caucusing on Friday, Saturday or Sunday next weekend, most county committees have opted for either Friday evening or Saturday because Super Bowl XLII will be played on Sunday, Feb. 3.

Maine Republican Party chairman Julie Ann O’Brien said the party’s local caucuses would select approximately 3,000 delegates for the state convention to be held May 2-3 at the Augusta Civic Center. That group will determine the 21 delegates and 18 alternates that will attend the party’s national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 1-4. Three of the delegates will be filled by the party chairman and national committeeman and national committeewoman.

Republican delegates to the state convention will not be bound to support a specific presidential candidate. That is because the results of Super Tuesday primary elections of Feb. 5 may result in changes to the field of candidates.

“There’s a good chance that a number of the candidates will drop out after Super Tuesday,” O’Brien predicted.

Among the Republican presidential candidates seeking delegates are Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Govs. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Arden Manning, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said the local caucuses would select 3,500 delegates to the state convention to be held May 31-June 2 at the Augusta Civic Center. Besides attending their town caucus, party members can also vote by absentee ballot at www.mainedems.org, Manning said.

The state convention will pare down the number of delegates to the national convention – to be held Aug. 25-28 in Denver – to 34 delegates with four alternates. Manning noted that nine of the 34 delegates to the national convention have been designated “superdelegates” and will consist of party leaders such as Gov. John Baldacci, former Gov. Kenneth Curtis, former Sen. George Mitchell and others.

Democratic delegates selected during the caucuses for the state convention are bound to vote for the candidates they were selected to represent. The same is true for delegates to the national convention.

Democratic presidential candidates who will be vying for delegates are Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Mike Gravel of Alaska.

Maine has a long tradition of party caucuses, although the state has conducted presidential primaries in the past, most recently in 2000, according to Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn. Flynn added that the provision in the law which permitted parties to hold presidential primaries was repealed in 2004.

She said state law requires that all parties must caucus in at least one community of each county in order to retain legal status as a state-recognized party.

“The caucuses are really a party function,” Flynn said.

Under the caucus system, party members gather at their required locations and break off into separate groups, each supporting a specific candidate. Delegates are apportioned based on the number of individuals supporting that candidate. The caucus can be concluded in a matter of minutes or the wrangling can go on for hours.

“I’ve seen it where it’s been everything from totally placid to totally nuts,” former Belfast Mayor and Democratic Party member Michael Hurley recalled of past caucuses.

Although the Republicans generally meet in a single location for each county, they caucus as individual towns. For party activists and political junkies, there is nothing like the atmosphere of a caucus or the excitement of a convention, Republican Janet Plause of Lincolnville said.

“It’s usually very exciting. Everyone is circulating nomination papers, and representatives of the candidates are there to talk to us,” Plause said of the caucus. “I always enjoy caucus. I love politics and I love being in with what is going on.”

More information on the respective caucuses and their locations can be found on the parties’ Web sites. Republican information can be found on www.mainegop.com and Democratic details can be found at www.mainedems.org.