Misconceptions

 

With my home state in the news a lot right now, I can't help but see a lot of misconceptions about our state, our caucus and what it represents. So I thought I would set the record straight. Before that though, I'll start out by saying I'm happy to let another state take the lead for a change and what that really means. More on that in a bit.

Misconception #1: Iowa botched the 2020 caucus. Fact: Less than three hours after polls clothes, half the results, the Republican half, were finalized and reported on by the media. It was only the Democrat party that wasn't able to report their results. Most outside of the state don't even know half the story as to why. The Iowa Democratic party, under pressure from the National Democratic party, wanted to get some more information on the middle parts of the caucus. For those that don't know, the Democratic caucus goes through alignments where people vote for their candidate of choice. If candidates don't achieve a certain percentage of votes, they are essentially considered non-viable and kicked out. Those people who previously supported the kicked out candidates are allowed to support someone else in the next alignment until an alignment is reached where all candidates receive a significant portion of the votes case. Until 2020, only the final alignment results were published. Basically all this lets everyone know that should a viable candidate now become unviable in the future, who is likely to succeed them.  We give hope to those who don't win Iowa but go on to win the nomination. But the Democrats, rightfully so I think, wanted to know that numbers of all candidates in all alignments to get a sense of how people shift as candidates are eliminated. The Iowa Democratic party wanted to report these numbers using their tried and true system of calling into the state office by telephone. The National Democratic party said no. Instead, the National Party demanded that Iowa use an app that was less than 2 months old at the time of the caucus (that may or may not have been funded by several of the leading Democratic candidates) and hadn't been thoroughly tested. As many of you probably know, what happened was a total disaster and delayed the Democrat caucus totals by almost a week. Had Iowa been left alone, none of this would have happened.

Misconception #2: Other states want a turn at being "kingmaker". Fact: Iowa has never been about making one candidate a king. The caucus system and our being first in the nation was all about winnowing out a crowded field to only a handful of viable candidates. How many think Tulsi Gabbard, Deval Patrick or Michael Bennet had legitimate chances of winning the nomination for the Democratic party? Neither did Iowans. Instead, out of 12 candidates on the ballot, five were considered viable and they were Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar. Do those names ring a bell? So the caucus has always done it's job well and saved non-viable candidates and their supporters lots of money and saved the general voting public lots of unnecessary phone calls and television ads. 

Misconception #3: President Biden has declared South Carolina will go first. Fact: Actually this isn't a misconception but it might not happen anyway. The states have always decided their dates and still will. Iowa Democrats have (of this writing) still not shied away from being the first in the nation to vote. It might mean that no candidates will visit our state in the leadup to 2024 or that our delegates will not be seated at the national convention or both. The Iowa Republican caucus will still hold it's caucus first as normal regardless of what the Iowa Democrats decide. (Fun fact, Biden got a crucial endorsement from South Carolina Governor U.S. Representative Jim Clyborn right before the 2020 primary in that state. Payback?)

[Thanks to MaryP for setting the facts straight about Jim Clyborn's title. I'm not sure how I ended up typing Governor.]

Misconception #4: Being first in the nation is a privilege. Fact: It is a brutal punishment that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Because we have traditionally been first, we get an unusual amount of focus by ALL the candidates, not just the top handful of viable ones we winnowed out for the rest of you, thank you very much. It means our phone ring non-stop for nearly a year, our radios spew political ads for nearly a year, our televisions play spiteful ads full of stretched truths for nearly a year, our.... well I think you get the picture. It is just a barrage of politics that honestly I don't think anyone can imagine without having lived here during a political cycle. The only benefit and it definitely isn't worth all the pain, is that if you want to meet a candidate in person, I can guarantee that it can be done. But with media so in your face these days, you could also just stream the political rally on your iPhone and skip the sunburn, heat and mosquitoes. 

Misconception #5: Iowa isn't diverse enough. Fact: Compared to many states, Iowa isn't as diverse as other states. But that doesn't mean we are racists. Iowa Democrats selected Obama as the most viable candidate. Alan Keyes has always done well at the Iowa Republican caucus. That doesn't sound like something a racist state would do. Vermont still holds the first in the nation primary and is 94% white, 4% more white than Iowa. So this isn't about diversity, it is about money. We aren't the easiest state to get too being a flyover state and all. One must make connections because there isn't a direct flight from Washington DC like there are to Vermont and South Carolina. We aren't a state where you can hit up a few large venues in a couple towns and pretty much canvas the state. Instead, politicians here have to rent large buses and spend hours, days, weeks and months going from one small venue to the next to ensure their message gets out.  They can't buy adds on one television state and cover the entire state. My local news station covers portions of three states! To reach all of Iowa, they have to saturate around a dozen different news stations and that folks, takes money, lots of it.  I'm guessing there is a fair amount of politics behind this as well. The Democratic party doesn't want another Jimmy Carter. They want someone fresh, hip to the world and that just isn't going to happen out here in the Midwest. 

I don't know what will happen in early 2024 at the Iowa Democratic caucus or whether or not Iowa will be first or not. Nor do I really care. Though I consider myself an independent, I have to be affiliated with one of the parties to participate so I have caucused with the Republicans because up until the last president, I felt that I had more of a voice in their future. I no longer feel that way. The fact is, in 2020 I was the only "Republican" in my precinct who didn't vote for Trump. I know this because after the secret votes are cast, our precinct captain read and totaled them publicly. When he read my vote for Bill Weld, visibly angry heads starting looking around to spot the traitor in their midst. Who is Bill Weld you ask? Well despite earning one delegate from Iowa on caucus night, he was eventually winnowed out and after Trump won the Republican nomination, went on to endorse Joe Biden. Thank you very much.