From Iowa to Inauguration: A Retrospective on the Precariousness of Primary Politics
As 2008 ends with Barack Obama heading to his new pad on Pennsylvania Avenue, my thoughts keep returning to what was happening at this time a year ago, when I ventured to the Iowa caucuses to find out why a bunch of farmers deserved to pick our president. While I remain pleased with the outcome of the election, I'm still not convinced that this system is the most effective way to select our nation's leaders. Inevitably, the issue will fall to the wayside behind our struggling economy and the third intifada, then rear its ugly head again in four years, just in time for a routine round of lipservice before the status quo is sustained.
As such, in an effort to remind people of the absurdity that dictates who makes the most important decisions on planet earth, this week I am publishing my private emails from the time I spent in Iowa last winter while making a video about the caucus process. I went as a concerned citizen who felt marginalized by the process looking for answers. What I discovered was quite complicated: a struggle to preserve grassroots political discourse in a humongous nation versus an inherently exclusive and precarious system. Please enjoy my stories from the road, where antics and adventure were certainly abound for my posse of newly-mobilized millennials.
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DISPATCHES FROM IOWA (VOL. 1) December 28, 2007
Intern Jillian and I are stranded in Denver Wednesday, waiting in line at the United Airlines customer service counter, when suddenly I am the victim of a right-wing conspiracy, clandestinely dressed as a cuddly granny.
Our flight to Omaha, Nebraska, where we will be camped out at a (rockin') roadside La Quinta Inn until Jan. 4 after the election, has been delayed by 3 hours, and we are grumpy that we'll now be arriving at circa 5am. So, chatty-as-usual, I start a casual conversation with the elderly couple behind me. Randomly, they are from Encinitas, my hometown in San Diego. Under the impression I'm bonding with kindred spirits, I share that Jill and I are volunteering for Barack Obama and we are trying to make an 11am training session in Iowa the next morning.
The color in Cuddly Granny's face drains, and aghast, she says: "Ba-ROCK O-BOMB-A? Why, I hope he burns up in flames!"
Taken aback, I search for words as she continues, "He's one of those ... what do you call 'em, honey? [slaps dozing husband on the elbow] ... AY-rabs. Yes, AY-rabs! Obama? Osama? He's a terrorist!"
My reporting skills are obviously getting rusty, as I missed some telltale warning signals: Jill later tells me that she'd already noted a Bill O'Reilly book peeking out of Cuddly Granny's tote bag, as well as a "Jesus-is-the-reason-for-the-season" pin on her lapel.
I pause to prepare a measured response. As much as I want to shake her until her beauty-salon bob curls unravel, I want even more to channel the subtle, thoughtful respect Barack would likely give her, despite her wretched ignorance. To retort with my innermost thoughts or even spark a fiery debate would only fuel a knee-jerk, circuitous affirmation of her hateful attitude.
"Well, he's definitely not a terrorist," I say. "Obviously, I strongly disagree with that, since I'm such a big supporter that I've flown from California to help him win the election. Presumably you're a conservative?"
"Oh, God, yes! All stupid people are Democrats."
I shrug.
"I suppose I could respond to that, but I'm not sure that I'd like to push beyond casual airport conversation and harass you with my personal beliefs."
My dig flies over her head, the husband (now fully alert) grins at me and chuckles.
Some other amusing exchanges ensue until fortuitously, we are able to solve our problem over the phone and are whisked out of line to our gate. As we leave, I put on my fakest, my-grandma-Sallye-taught-me-to-kill-evil-people-with-kindness smile and doe eyes and say, "You all have a lovely trip; I wish you the best of luck and safe travels."
But for an hour I'm fuming. I grab a notepad and write furiously. I say to Dad on the phone, "We are NOT in Los Angeles anymore. Welcome to the election!"
Our time in Iowa has been uneventful by comparison. Well, except for when our rental car was attacked by excitable dogs the one time I dared to drive up an icy lane during our door-to-door field outreach. Unfortunately, Brett isn't coming with the camera until Monday. But the experience involved some shrieking, swearing, and a 20-minute attempt to drive in reverse back down the 300-yard lane while not running over said beasts, with me in a full-blown anxiety attack and the interns rolling in laughter. Needless to say, we marked that house, "NOT HOME," and fled!
Tomorrow we will go to Des Moines to scope out the buzz and media scene. We'll be seeing Michelle Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Barack speak over the weekend. We're hoping to also see Hill & Bill (mostly Bill!), which I'm sure we'll be able to accomplish.
Mostly we've just been getting situated and raiding the local Wal-Mart for Cheez-Its and Diet Coke. (I thought about storing it in the car until I remembered that the cans explode when they're frozen! "Oops! Sorry, Hertz Lady!") We had a fantastic dinner at Applebees last night, and now we're heading out for a real-life Omaha Friday night.
I'm sure I'll have some more intellectual updates over the course of the week. My initial reaction is: I can't believe this is what it takes to be elected President!
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When I think of the Iowa caucus the two facts that still stand out to me are:
A) Barack Obama would have had close to zero chance of winning without his firm promise to withdraw all American troops from Iraq in 16 months.
B) Without Iowa Obama would not have won the nomination.
I believe that the 16 month timeline was always fraudulent. Samantha Power let that cat out of the bag in March, and Obama has done nothing but water down the 16 month timeline to the point of meaninglessness. That means Obama's entire run to the White House was founded on a fraudulent promise.
This is an odd way to start out your criticisms of Iowans, by giving anecdotes from DIA and Omaha. Iowans for the most part take the caucuses seriously and demand real answers from the candidates when they campaign here. Iowans have always prized education. That is the value we exercise in the caucus process - educating ourselves about the candidates and then making an educated judgment in selecting the very best candidate. Why do you think Obama won by such a large margin over Edwards and Clinton (who came in 3rd)? It's because Iowans had gotten to know Obama well over the previous 10 months. We knew he was the one.
As an Iowan, who served as an Obama precinct captain in the caucuses, who recruited dozens of people to caucus, and had everyone in my extended Iowan family vote for Obama, I'd like to say, "You're welcome" to the author, the nation, and the world.
Proposal:
All states hold concurrent primaries in May, preferably on the weekend if religious issues can be mitigated. The primaries would follow an instant runoff voting (IRV) procedure: voters rank the candidates on the ballot from most to least preferable. If no candidate receives a simple majority of the first choices, then the candidate with the least first choices is dropped from contention and their supporters' votes redistributed to their second choices. This process is repeated, possibly with some votes going to third, fourth, etc. choices until the winning candidate achieves a simple majority. This all takes place instantly on a computer when the polls close.
In my view, this is the best way to narrow a large field down to a single nominee without discouraging support for marginal candidates or giving some voters undue influence on the outcome of later contests. It combines the best aspects of primaries and caucuses. The candidates would have to appeal simultaneously to a broad diversity of heterogeneous interests, and the voters would have no reason to vote defensively instead of accurately expressing their preferences. It's quick, economical, and the media would hate it.
If any group of people can exclusively lay claim to Obama's victory, it's Iowa.....n
Don't underestimate Iowa! We're not all farmers here (I barely know one end of a tractor from another) and we take our status as first in the nation VERY SERIOUSLY! Were it not for small caucus states like ours presidential campaigns would touch only the 12 or so swing states because of the flawed electoral college process. Iowans can be justifiably proud of our commitment to the electoral process. Go Hawks!
Funny... I left for Omaha the very same day, and spent the same week canvassing in Iowa for Obama. I met all sorts of people in Iowa, but by and large the ones I met were more involved in the election than most other people were at that time. I think living in Iowa makes you that way.
It makes sense for parties to have primaries one state at a time. It makes sense to start with smaller states so smaller candidates have a fighting chance. Say what you want about Mike Huckabee, but he is a viable option for the GOP's future and Iowa proved that.
I have a bigger issue with the fact that some states have caucuses than I do with the fact that certain states get to vote first. As Pennsylvania and Ohio and others saw this year, it can be cool to be among the last states too.
Of course most of the time, Super Tuesday determines the nomination, so it's good that a few smaller states get to see and choose before California, NY and others change the whole equation.
What's interesting is that Obama didn't win the election in Iowae, or on Super Tuesday or even in the late states. He won in it February, right after Super Tuesday, when Hillary Clinton's campaign paused too long to catch their breath. You could say that the best person won by understanding what was required and doing what he needed to.
Seth, we'll have to agree to disagree about when Obama "won" the election. I will always believe that he won the nomination because he won *my* state. :-) I don't say this as a biased Iowan, I say this because I believe that had he come in 2nd or 3rd, his candidacy would have been doomed. HRC could survive not winning here because, well, her last name is Clinton but Obama may have lasted a few weeks longer but his campaign would have been on a slippery slope.
In any case... We BaRACKED the caucuses on January 3rd, then turned Iowa a beautiful shae of Obama BLUE on November 4th! YES. WE. DID.
No, I think we can agree to agree. Had he come in second in your state, he would have lost bigger in New Hampshire and probably not won as big in South Carolina and then Hillary probably would have clinched it over Super Tuesday.
And it's not just that he won in Iowa. He won big. 38-30-29. And Hillary finished third. There is no way to overstate, the importance of Iowa and you have every right to be very proud of your home state and the major roll it played in the miracle of '08.
Please, stay engaged. I hope you keep as involved and active as you have been. This is needed to keep this democracy alive. We won because we worked as a coalition and for the first time took on the corporate media and the old school bigots. Winning is easy. Keeping the victory and maintaining it is the challenge. Do your part.
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