First In the Nation

I haven't always been a huge political fan...but I have to admit one of my favorite pastime's includes talk radio. (Plus, I turned 45 last month, so in addition I will also be working on my mid-life crisis). Being home throughout the day gives me plenty of time to follow events and happenings both locally and nationally through this medium. These past eleven months, Iowa has been gearing up steadily for the Iowa Caucuses. Before moving here, I had heard a bit about these...mostly in passing. But I could not believe the attention our tiny state got this past year from presidential hopefuls. Candidates regularly visited cities where we do our grocery shopping (to put it in perspective for you, it would be like saying Barack Obama is speaking tonight in Graham, or Granite Falls) speaking to small groups of people. Each Monday the news would start with "Huckabee will be in Waterloo this morning, while McCain is travelling to Iowa City. Obama will be at the Elementary gymnasium in Marshalltown, and Hillary will be speaking with seniors in Ames." It became so routine.

But as the caucuses got closer, I started to wonder- was this like a vote? Why were all of these candidates here?

And so I researched, listened, asked questions, and found out how to do this "caucus" thing. And yesterday, we caucused. We decided that if we were going to be in Iowa, we were not going to miss a chance to have a voice like this- where some 118,000 republicans and 230,000 democrats show up to give America a taste of what is to come.

What an experience! I am used to the kind of voting where you go, stand in a line, punch a few holes or tap a screen a few times, receive your neat little sticker and leave.

But last night, we showed up to a room full of our neighbors - some we had met, others we had not. I'm sure it was routine for them- they knew who the democrats and republicans are in the area, but I felt like I was attending a secret meeting. "Psst! It's me! I didn't know you were republican!"

It was set up like a town meeting, with a few older gentleman standing at the front, along with a secretary who took notes. The 60 or so people in the room stood to say the pledge, and then sat down in chairs, facing the front. The head of this little meeting of ours (some 60 people) asked if anyone would like to come up and speak for a candidate. There were no special representatives there from the parties- only us "local folk". A few people stood up and talked- one for John McCain, one for Fred Thompson. Can you imagine giving a speech in front of your neighborhood, attempting to persuade them to vote for your candidate? It seems so open, so vulnerable, so NOT private! Yet this is the great thing about a caucus- it's about collaboration- making sure people are informed versus voting by name recognition. Then, they handed out little scraps of paper and had us write the name of the candidate we wanted to vote for. What? No multiple choice? Only now do I realize the opportunity we squandered. I could have written down "Obama" or "Mike McCain". I wonder if those poor vote counters would have come out to ask who the hidden democrat in the group was. But no, we were mature, civilized Iowans and kept our rowdiness at bay.

At our tiny caucus, the votes were as follows:
26 Huckabee
15 Mitt Romney
14 Fred Thompson
8 John McCain
4 Ron Paul
Guillani and Hunter- none.

After the vote, people brought up different issues and such that they wanted addressed by the republican platform. It was grassroots politics at its best- a time when I actually felt like I had a voice AND what I said counted. Now, granted, this was all straw poll voting...and "suggestion" giving to the state party. But this all starts somewhere. Last night Iowa had record turnouts to their caucuses - the republicans expecting 80,000 and the dems expecting 150,000- the actual numbers ended up at 120,000 and 230,000. We met in a tiny school cafeteria (which we filled up with the 60 of us!) and the democrats met next door in the fire hall. I was amazed at how well-informed people were on the issues and the candidates. They knew who stood for what, the ins and outs of the fair tax versus the flat tax, and what the death tax was about and why we should be leery of legislation dealing with it. They discussed Social Security reform, marriage, and the preservation of life. I can see why this process is so respected in Iowa- as people here really do take it quite seriously.

Both Phil and I left feeling invigorated by the process. And after last night's results, I can't wait to see what happens in New Hampshire!

AND, if you haven't been following along, start! It's quite interesting. I know everyone knows about Hillary and Barack, but there are some good candidates on the other side of the aisle, too, like Huckabee and Thompson. This is a year to get involved!