Libertarian Girl

There’s a Caucus! The Musical, so why not Caucus! The Reality Show?

This is the true story, of 11 candidates, who choose to campaign in Iowa, debate each other and have their lives taped, to find out what happens, when people stop being polite, and start getting real. The Real World: Iowa Caucus.

Just imagine what this reality show would be like. Eleven politicians out of their element. For the first time, a diverse cast (different races, religions, and genders, but sorry, no token gay person here). Thousands of young people converging on Iowa despite subzero temperatures. Renting next door to each other, Huckabeeites snipe at Paulites, while Clintonites and Edwardsites have the same conundrum as they share a building across town. Reporters descend in one place, rushing from press conference to rally to barbershop (“OMG! John Edwards is getting a haircut!”) via the Des Moines skywalk. Iowans get no peace, constantly interrupted at home by phone calls and door knockers, not to mention political ads on their television and candidates’ buses clogging up their streets.

Finally, in a taste of sweet, sweet justice, the ex-mayor who said a congressman’s speaking in a debate about the CIA’s (and 9/11 Commission’s) stated idea of “blowback” was “absurd” is soundly trumped by said congressman, 3-1 in fact. Yes, Ron Paul tripled the vote of Rudy Giuliani in Iowa, while being not-invited to a Fox News debate and only 3% out of third place at the first caucus in the nation… despite getting approximately 1% of the media attention that Rudy McRompsonbee get, especially in Iowa.

I bought the Des Moines Register every day while I was in Iowa. The first night, I was hopeful because a huge picture of Ron Paul was actually splashed across the top of the first page– however, there was no mention of him in the accompanying article about Benazir Bhutto. They gave every candidate’s opinion except his. He never appeared in the candidates’ schedule that was published every day, and Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd (eventual 1%-ers in the Democratic caucus) were given lavish attention in comparison, with full article coverage of, for instance, Dodd visiting a Mexican restaurant with 20 people in it. The rally Ron Paul had with 600 people was barely mentioned the next day.

But, the naysayers crow, Giuliani didn’t try all that hard in Iowa and didn’t go there that much. Yet how do they explain the fact that Ron Paul went there less and did three times better?

I saw David Gregory from NBC News, the C-SPAN reporters who report from the C-SPAN bus, Ron Paul and Fred Thompson. There I was, innocently walking down the street with a fellow innocent bystander, when the doors to the restaurant of the Des Moines Marriott opened, and out came… some old guys. Two black-suited security guard types extended their arms in front of us, blocking the sidewalk from this apparently very important person. Who was it? Upon further inspection, Fred Thompson. The black suits were wasting their time, as if we had any desire to get anywhere near Fred Thompson. His wife was nowhere in sight.

I met Dr. Drew Ivers, who was the Iowa chair of Ronald Reagan’s campaign and is now the state chair for Ron Paul. What a classy guy, and a veteran, too. I met Ron Paul’s wife, Carol Paul, and one of his granddaughters. I met a couple who head up “Latter Day Saints for Ron Paul,” and I met many, many college students– 300 were there to help canvass for Ron Paul.

Most importantly, I met Pearl, an 85-year-old woman in Ames, Iowa, whom I had the privilege of driving to her caucus site at an Ames school. She said she had waited 50 years to be able to vote for someone she could really believe in, and that person had finally come: Ron Paul. She was homebound due to a leg problem and almost never gets out, so she was so excited to be able to attend the caucus and vote. She had convinced many people in her neighborhood to vote for Ron Paul as well– the street was full of Ron Paul yard signs. It’s wonderful to meet older Americans who are true patriots like Pearl.

I went in and actually got to witness a caucus. I wasn’t the only observer: two Germans were also there to witness this civic event. At the caucus I attended, there were 53 votes for Huckabee, 33 for Romney, 25 for Ron Paul, 14 for Fred Thompson, about 10 or so for McCain, 7 for Giuliani and a token one for Duncan Hunter. There were two speeches given for Ron Paul, one for McCain of two sentences (“He’s a veteran, and his ideas for immigration are balanced. If it makes any difference, he was endorsed by the Des Moines Register,” which led to calls of “It doesn’t!”), one for Romney read straight from his website, and one for Fred Thompson that at least was written by the person who gave it. No one wanted to give a speech for Huckabee, Giuliani, or Hunter.

At first, the man in charge of Pearl’s precinct said that two people could speak for each candidate. Someone had signed up ahead of time to be able to give a speech for Ron Paul, and after his speech was concluded, the precinct leader moved on to Romney. The man next to me raised his hand after the Romneyite spoke and asked if he could also give a speech for Congressman Paul, since two speeches were allowed per candidate. The precinct leader said, “Well, it seems to me that everyone wants to move on, and we’re not even getting one speech for some candidates, so let’s move on. Does anyone want to give a speech for Fred Thompson?”

At that, the German man on the other side of me raised his hand and said that since two speeches had already been established as the rule, it was too late to go back and change the rules in the middle of the game. The precinct leader was, to put it lightly, amazed that anyone would object to his executive decision. He said that people wanted to move on and asked for a show of hands for who thought the man in question should be able to give a speech, after which almost everyone in the room raised their hands. I appreciated that, unlike Fox News, the good people of Pearl’s Ames precinct could appreciate that fair is fair and democracy should be allowed to work, whether you support the candidate in question or not. The man said that while he was then put on the spot to come up with a piece of great oration, he really just wanted to say that he thought the Jeffersonian principles of democracy and the Founding Fathers’ ideas were important, and Ron Paul is the only candidate who embodies them. The man later told me that he was a Republican married to a Democrat, and his wife was downstairs in the Barack Obama contingent. He doesn’t like Obama’s economic policies.

At this school, there were many caucus sites, both Democratic and Republican. I ran into an Iowa State University student after the caucus who was excited that Ron Paul won in his precinct. Thompson and McCain may have come up 3% on Dr. Paul statewide, but he won a county and came in second in many, which they did not. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything to the media, who were suddenly crowning McCain the “comeback kid” and completely ignoring the once-obscure and still-relatively little known congressman who came in just 3% behind the incredibly famous Arizonan senator.

Another day, another primary as we move into the primary season. Today we find out whether New Hampshire really is the “Live Free or Die” state… or whether that’s just a slogan on their license plates.

Tags: Iowa caucus, Iowa Republican caucus, Iowa caucus volunteer, Ron Paul Iowa caucus, Huckabee Iowa caucus, Iowa primary

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 1:57 pm and is filed under 2008 presidential election, Republican Party, Ron Paul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.