Iowa not all it's cracked up to be?

[inibo]

The cynic in me says this bodes well for Ron Paul, the idealist in me feel depressed.

Even though candidates in both parties will have together spent hundreds of days in the state and doled out more than $30 million to air more than 50,000 television advertisements, only one out of ten eligible Iowans is expected to participate in a caucus on Thursday.

Even some of those who attend political events are not very knowledgeable about the candidates or major issues. I spoke to one man who told me that he thought Rudy Giuliani was "okay as governor" and another who told me that he was undecided between Huckabee and Romney, but he couldn't say what the attributes or drawbacks were of either of them even though he had seen both candidates speak within the prior 24-hour period. He also said he didn't know what issues were important to him.

To be sure, there are Iowans who are closely following the election, but they are small in number relative to the voting age population, especially considering the amount of attention that is heaped upon the state. The well-informed voters appear in news accounts because reporters need tight, coherent quotes for their stories. "I don't knows" and blank stares do not make for good copy or television.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12502

Read the whole thing if you have a minute or two. It is first class commentary.

 

[Pete]

Really, it sounds as though the best thing the campaign could have done was to hand out candy bars or SpongeBob dolls.

The low turnout is definitely a plus for us, and the Byzantine secret ballot/delegate elections process a negative. Overall, I'm hopeful.

 

[inibo]

Really, it sounds as though the best thing the campaign could have done was to hand out candy bars or SpongeBob dolls.

Ahh, the American electorate.

The low turnout is definitely a plus for us, and the Byzantine secret ballot/delegate elections process a negative. Overall, I'm hopeful.

Well, as I said, the cynic in me thinks this is a good thing. I've seen people projecting a turnout of approximately 80,000 for the Republican caucus. If after 10 months of work we can't turn out at least 20,000 Ron Paul supporters in Iowa it means either Ron Paul 2008 PCC and/or the grassroots campaign are completely lame. That might seem discouraging, but it also means if we did things even halfway right we could pull off an upset that will amaze even us.

Is there such a thing as hopeful trepidation? Because that pretty much sums up how I feel right now.

 

[Bossobass]

I made 2 trips to Iowa this year. I admit to having been brainwashed to the point of expecting most Iowans to be the standard for savvy voters, aware of the candidates positions and the issues.

I found the opposite. Last summer, many RP supporters complained that people did not know who Ron Paul is. I've got news for them. Iowans didn't know who the rest of the candidates were either, at least the ones I talked to, because I asked them about every GOP candidate. I was shocked to find that they didn't know and they didn't care, to the point of showing annoyance at my questions.

I agree 100% with the article's observations. As I've posted many times before, my take is summed up by this observation: Politicians have to provide transportation, food, beverages, entertainment and purchase a ticket for Iowans, yet you can't get 40,000 of them to vote in their Straw Poll.

Immediately after that extremely small percentage of uber-wooed people vote, their votes are whisked away to a locked room that's guarded by armed police where, in total secrecy, hours are spent by a select handful of gangsters 'fixing the mistakes made by the computerized vote tally machines'.

What a crock of shit. The only thing I disagree with in the article is its assertion that 1 in 10 Iowans will vote in the Caucus. I believe it will be less than that. I also wish there was a reporter with enough stones to at least mention the fact that vote count fraud is an issue in every state, but especially in the Iowa Caucus.

Bosso

 

[Mesogen]

I heard that only 125,000 people participate in the Iowa caucuses. Wow. All this crap over what 125,000 people think.

 

[inibo]

I heard that only 125,000 people participate in the Iowa caucuses. Wow. All this crap over what 125,000 people think.

Yes, and upon this hangs the fate of the republic.

 

[hueylong]

It's part of the process people. We just need to do well, and move on to NH and the following states.

Huey

 

[dianeh]

Originally Posted by Pete
Really, it sounds as though the best thing the campaign could have done was to hand out candy bars or SpongeBob dolls.

Then start handing out lollipops or whatever it takes! I'm not saying BUY them, but geez, if campaigners have to damper down their intellectual level a bit to reach some voters, then they might want to figure out how to do it. From a pragmatic standpoint, the vote of a dumbass counts just as much as all the others.

 

[seapilot]

Originally Posted by Pete
Really, it sounds as though the best thing the campaign could have done was to hand out candy bars or SpongeBob dolls.

Then start handing out lollipops or whatever it takes! I'm not saying BUY them, but geez, if campaigners have to damper down their intellectual level a bit to reach some voters, then they might want to figure out how to do it. From a pragmatic standpoint, the vote of a dumbass counts just as much as all the others.

Yes slim Jims dont work well for those that dont like to read. Ron Paul coffee mugs might have worked too as well as free ice scrapers for their cars.

Saw Slick Willy on CSPAN in Iowa stumping for the battle ax, about 1/3 of the people in the audience were literally eyes closed asleep. That guy can cure insomnia.