January NPR commentary

The following will air Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 7:35 am and 12:30 pm on WVPE 88.1 FM.

by Don Wheeler

Those of you who have heard my commentaries in the past will know that I often close with: Democracy is not a spectator sport.

That phrase would be an appropriate title for this piece.

I have recently returned from the Iowa caucuses, where I donated a week of my time to the John Edwards campaign. Many people wonder if it is right and/or reasonable that the citizens of Iowa kick off the process of nominating Presidential candidates. Based on my experience – I think so, but that’s not to say the caucus process is not without drawbacks.

I worked in the Ft. Dodge area. Ft. Dodge (pronounced Fo’ Dodge by the locals) is a fairly isolated city of about 75,000 people located about 90 minutes north of Des Moines. The location was chosen by the campaign and four volunteers from California were posted there as well – all of us there at our own expense. It seemed clear the area was considered important to the campaign.

Fort Dodge, like many towns on the prairie has suffered through many plant closings and small business failures. The businesses who haven’t failed are struggling. Corn farmers are doing well for the moment – thanks to the ethanol boom, but there’s no telling how long that will last.

I spent a lot of time talking to people on the phone and at the front door of their homes. Several even invited me in. That was much appreciated – it was bitter cold that week. Considering how much contact the eighteen campaigns had inflicted upon Iowans, I was quite surprised to find a very high proportion of people were still interested and wanted to hear what I had to say. Many folks had seen all the candidates in person, some of these multiple times. It was an unusual occurrence to talk with someone who only knew of the Democratic candidates through their television commercials.

A perfect example of this was an event I helped with on New Year’s Day – with twenty below zero windchills – two days ahead of the caucuses. The room reserved by the Edwards campaign for John’s appearance accommodated 400 with standing room, but there wasn’t enough room for all the people who came – some of whom were there over an hour before the scheduled start time. I’m sure this was true for other candidates as well.

On caucus day itself, I was assigned as an observer and to help our precinct captain in a meeting about an hour west of Ft. Dodge which was held in the home of Jim and Gracia Willis. If you happened to catch the American Public Media program Weekend America, this was the location that they did their segment on. (I’m the guy standing in the blue plaid shirt and a ball cap if you look at the slideshow).

http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/04/caucus/

I was told to expect approximately 19 attendees, but there were thirty-five, plus me. This was really too many people for their home and I’d challenge the Willis’ claim that things went optimally. I think their view is colored a bit by things going their way.

Nonetheless, the increased attendance of their caucus was reflected state-wide. In 2004, a bit over 120,000 people attended Democratic caucuses – a record. This time nearly 240,000 people made it. Most predictions were for about 150,000. These meetings took place in each of the nearly 1800 precincts of Iowa and had the flavor of town hall meetings.

Some people find it off putting to declare allegiance to a candidate in front of their neighbors. Others may covet the hour and a half required – time which could be spent on reruns of Survivor. A more important drawback is that there is no absentee voting option – if one is out of town or has to work at the time of the meeting, there is no option to weigh in on the outcome. A problem noted by several Iowans I spoke with.

Still, over twenty percent of eligible voters participated – a figure which approaches turnouts in some primary states.

Starting out in a smaller state offers other advantages. Early on, candidates are addressing small groups. This allows voters (from anywhere) direct contact with them. I took advantage of that aspect this past summer.

Furthermore, candidacies not blessed with tens of millions of cash on hand have at least some shot at competing. If the nomination process started in California (for example), it is unlikely that Jimmy Carter’s campaign would have ever gained any traction.

It also gives our candidates a chance to make mistakes and hone their messages.

I’m willing to listen to other ideas, but my experience indicates that Iowans indeed believe democracy is not a spectator sport.