{"id":2551,"date":"2007-11-21T01:12:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-21T07:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/11\/iowa-thanksgiving\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:10:32","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:10:32","slug":"iowa-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/11\/iowa-thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

By Carter Bundy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iowa is 91 percent Caucasian. That\u2019s not the future of America \u2013 it\u2019s barely even reflective of its past. Critics of the Iowa\/New Hampshire stranglehold on the presidential nominating process have a completely valid point when they say it\u2019s absurd that, essentially, voters from one ethnicity virtually decide the nominees for each party. <\/p>\n

Beyond that, Iowa and New Hampshire are far more rural than the communities in which most Americans live. Finally, it\u2019s not even like there are many people in those two states. Experts are guessing that 120,000 Iowans will show up for the caucuses. <\/p>\n

Strike three, right? <\/p>\n

HDTV vs. MTV<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n

Those three problems can\u2019t be ignored, and both parties need to do more to spread the decision-making to more and different people. Having said that, we all should be thankful for voters in Iowa and Hampshire for the role they play. <\/p>\n

We live in a country of 300 million people spread out over 6,000 miles of territory. OK, no one\u2019s going to campaign in Alaska, so call it 3,000 miles. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s simply no way \u2013 none \u2013 that the average American voter can judge candidates based on their personal presence, their ability to think on their feet and their ability to empathize with real people. But the average Iowan can. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just that Iowans can meet with candidates; it\u2019s that they do. I\u2019m currently in Iowa, and one activist, who claims to have watched every debate this year, told me she still hasn\u2019t made up her mind because she hasn\u2019t seen a couple of the candidates in person. She will. <\/p>\n

When Iowans say they want to meet a candidate in person, they don\u2019t mean the same thing as the rest of us. In 2004, 15,000 of us showed up to watch John Kerry<\/a> on Civic Plaza in Albuquerque. <\/p>\n

If you got there early, you might have been in a position to see a few dots up on the stage. From that distance, who knows how much makeup they\u2019re wearing? That\u2019s the best contact most voters in America get. The rest is MTV. <\/p>\n

But when candidates show up at a Fraternal Order of Eagles hall in Iowa, you\u2019d think they\u2019ve known the folks there for decades. And if there\u2019s any makeup, it\u2019s barely visible from even a few feet away (well, maybe not for Sen. Hillary Clinton<\/a>, but even with her it ain\u2019t the TV caking). <\/p>\n

Iowans talk to the candidates before and after such events. If there weren\u2019t seven TV cameras, it could be an Albuquerque City Council forum. No one gets away with covering up their flaws, physical or political. <\/p>\n

You know how actors hate HDTV because it shows all their tiniest flaws? Yup. <\/p>\n

True stories from the front<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n

Iowans take their roles incredibly seriously. I recently sat down with a corrections officer in his late 50s. He\u2019s upset about the state of health care in America, but isn\u2019t satisfied with promises of universal coverage. He wants to know how each candidate is going to pay for it. <\/p>\n

I asked if he wanted a one- or two-page summary, or a 40-page position paper. It was pretty much a rhetorical question, because nobody wants to read a 40-page position paper. <\/p>\n

The guy wants the position paper. Seriously. Can you imagine? Hope my toner is full. Most politicians in America won\u2019t read a 40-page position paper, much less base their decisions on it. An Iowa corrections officer does, though. Wow. <\/p>\n

Several generations of Iowans have now taken that role and made it part of their culture. A Cedar Falls woman wasn\u2019t sure if she was going to caucus until her daughter came to the door to see what was going on. <\/p>\n

As soon as she did, the woman excitedly told her daughter to listen. It didn\u2019t matter who she supported \u2013 she knew that as an Iowa mom, she had to show her kid how much being an Iowa voter means. Mom\u2019s going to caucus. <\/p>\n

Muscatine matters<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n

Americans shouldn\u2019t just pay attention to Iowa and New Hampshire because they\u2019re first; they should pay attention because those two states are the places where voters, cycle after cycle, vet our national candidates as no place else can. <\/p>\n

This Thanksgiving, when many of us give thanks for living in a great democracy, don\u2019t forget the folks in Waterloo, Davenport, Cedar Falls, Sioux City, Council Bluffs and hundreds of even smaller towns \u2013 Muscatine, Newton, Vinton \u2013 who come out dozens of times to personally check out the candidates and give their best judgment. <\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t always work. W\u2019s<\/a> natural charm was so powerful that he mesmerized Iowa Republicans into a stunningly bad decision. Nothing\u2019s perfect. <\/p>\n

As for the caveats, let\u2019s work on developing the same in-person campaigning in some other states. Don\u2019t scrap the Iowa\/New Hampshire model, though. Candidates may not like HDTV, but voters do, and America needs it. Especially when the alternative is MTV. <\/p>\n

Bundy is the political and legislative director for <\/em>AFSCME<\/em><\/a> in New Mexico. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. Contact him at <\/em>carterbundy@yahoo.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carter Bundy Iowa is 91 percent Caucasian. That\u2019s not the future of America \u2013 it\u2019s barely even reflective of its past. Critics of the Iowa\/New Hampshire stranglehold on the presidential nominating process have a completely valid point when they say it\u2019s absurd that, essentially, voters from one ethnicity virtually decide the nominees for each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bundy-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}