In Iowa for the Christmas holidays, I’ve posted the following as a three part series on the impending Iowa Caucuses and observations on the process from the ground level. On Saturday, December 22nd, I was on the campus of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. From Sunday, December 23 until Christmas Day, I was in the tiny farming town of Dunlap, Iowa in western Iowa.

Saturday, December 22nd

Heavy fog hung over the plains of eastern Iowa today, posing a significant impediment to seeing much of anything beyond a 1000 feet away. Nonetheless, even a passive observer wouldn’t have missed the evidence that campaigns for President were underway in the liberal-minded college town of Iowa City, Iowa.

The campaign of Barack Obama seemed particularly strong here, with by far the most signs - they seem to prefer prominent 4? x 6? signs in tightly packed lawns - and bumper stickers on display on the dust-covered cars and trucks of Iowa City’s residents. John Edwards and Senator Hillary Clinton are close behind Senator Obama, with cleverly placed signs on display throughout the city. The so-called “second tier” candidates, our own Senator Dodd, Gov. Richardson, Sen. Joe Biden, and Dennis Kucinich were all represented as well, with a surprising number of Dodd and Biden lawn signs visible.

Interestingly, after quite a full day that included long stops at the mall and on the campus of the University of Iowa, I was surprised by what I did not see - teams of volunteer knocking on doors in the neighborhoods, college kids passing out literature at the mall, junior high schoolers waving signs along the road - none of it. On winter graduation weekend, one would have thought that the campaigns may target the crowds for displays of enthusiaism, at very least. But to my own eyes, at least, it was not so.

Sunday, December 23rd

240 miles west and lightyears away, I rolled into far western Iowa’s Harrison County, one that cast more than 60% of its 2004 ballots for President George W. Bush. And with a cold wind driving across the plains, it was a numbing day to be out and about in rural Iowa.

To the observer of the Presidential nominating process, my trip from dusty Dunlap through Dow City and Arion to Denison, Iowa, via Highway 30, offered unique insight. Rural, forgotten Iowa seems largely untouched by the 2008 Presidential drama, with nary a lawn sign nor bumper sticker visible along the way to Denison. The history of the place is written in the road’s crossings - a gravel covered dirt path offers entry into the bowels of the American heartland where brutally tough men amble across the prarie in search of lost cattle, rising corn, and thriving soybeans; a paved crossing over the railroad tracks to the Tyson slaughterhouse for Iowa and Nebraska- raised hogs; and a freshly-laid path to the new ethanol plant with thick steam rising to Heaven in the crisp midday air. The 4?x8? signs that dot the sinews of New Hampshire, for example, are not to be seen on this drive. Out here, its simply a man and his wide open dreams. Into Denison, there are dots of signs here and there - Edwards, Obama, Clinton - but nothing more than the brand names.

Of particular interest is a conversation with strikingly average Iowans - the simple farmer, who needs little other than rain, sun, fair health, and the blessings of the Chicago Board of Trade. From my conversations with these relatives and family friends, the results were clear - everyone had an opinion on Senator Clinton, who was not two weeks removed from a visit to the livestock sale barn in Dunlap, most had heard of Barack Obama - Oprah likes him, of course; and John Edwards. When offered the names, “Rudy Giuliani”, “Mitt Romney”, and “Mike Huckabee” fall on bland stares. “Fred Thompson” conjures curious gazes until someone has it - “the DA Arthur Branch on ‘Law & Order’!?” The Republican candidates - Romney, Huckabee, McCain, Giuliani - don’t seem to have ‘broken through’ as potential Presidents. In this decidedly conservative county of a swing state, that’s a bad sign for Republican Presidential candidates in 2008.

Monday, December 24

The highlight of the day was a stroll through Dunlap, a town that - improbably - has a Senator Hillary Clinton campaign office. The Senator’s office is on Iowa Avenue (Main Street), where even on this Christmas Eve a single campaign worker slaved away, until approximately 2pm when I just happened to be strolling by, and the young gentleman with Virginia license plates climbed into his dusty Audi and headed south across the plains for some unknown destination. And yet, the young gentleman’s efforts are tangible - the only lawn signs visible in town are the prominent blue ‘Hillary!’ signs that grace the front lawn of numerous local homes. This is a 60+% Bush ‘04 county on top of it - utterly remarkable.

Perusing the newspapers raises some eyebrows - the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman has candidate profile and issue responses on trade and global warming from Clinton, Obama, Edwards & Romney, Huckabee, and Giuliani. All six sound like Washington-speak on Iowan ears, save Huckabee. Huckabee’s is real, natural, and frank - like regular Iowans. Perhaps this is the nature of the appeal.

The Iowa process is so unique - so singularly Iowan - that one can’t help but admire its spirit. They are without fail unabashedly regular people; in places, the manufacturing plants spring up out of the prarie like aluminum-roof cornstalks, with expansive acreage and lights burning brightly throughout the dark evening sky. Like America, Iowa is built upon goods made in these far-flung places and fed on the corn, soybeans, and cattle that are sown, tended, and borne of the Iowa soil. Like Iowa, America is an amalgamated nation
of farmers, blacksmiths, bartenders, poets, and Holy men, bound together in the face of time’s ticking clock.

Iowa is ready to do their part in choosing the next President, and we look forward to listening to their wisdom on January 3rd, 2008.