Social Commentary: The Iowa Caucus

In past postings, I have been less than kind to the State of Iowa. In fact, the entire State made Co-Douche of The Day with none other than Herman Cain (March 29, 2011)! As can be my custom, especially involving DOTD's, I used some rather, shall we say, colorful language to describe my feelings towards Iowans (something about them looking as fat as their well-fed hogs). I was angry at their steadfast support of so-called Family Value conservatives like Cain, and Michele Bachmann, despite their short-comings in virtually every other area. I was also angry because they continue to support and elect men of narrow vision (IMHO) like their many-time Senator, Chuck Grassley. I had spent some time in Des Moines for the Caucus of 2008 and, so, was able to get somewhat of a first hand impression of Iowa and Iowans. However, in fairness (and I do make EVERY attempt to be fair!), I cannot say that I have traveled extensively throughout the State and, so, must qualify my impressions with that statement. Still, having been there in '08 and now returning to Des Moines for the latest Caucus, I believe I can offer some insight as to what the Iowa Caucus truly means.

I've just returned from Des Moines where myself and a crew of highly skilled technicians began building the sets and studios that will be used to provide the news coverage of the Caucus on January 3rd. In contrast to 2008 when the night-time temperature once reached -10F, the week I was there (12/12-12/16), the weather was almost balmy. In fact, one day it reached the low 50's - virtually unheard of for this time of year in that part of the country. In addition to not having to wear arctic gear to protect yourself from frostbite, the mild temperatures allowed us to walk around the city of Des Moines when we actually had the time to do so. And, for a rare change, we actually did have some. After a long days work, we would walk from the hotel to various eating and drinking establishments in the city. We were staying in the heart of downtown so it wasn't too difficult to find some nearby. What struck me immediately, this trip as it did the last, was the lack of street life of ANY KIND. I noticed it in '08 but attributed that to the extreme cold. However, this trip the weather was no excuse. In fact, you would think that the rarity of it would prompt people to take to the streets. Well, not in Des Moines. I've never seen anything like it. Even at rush hour there was virtually no pulse on the street - virtually no cars - virtually no noise - and virtually no people. Now as you can see from the photos I made, Des Moines is not a "tiny" city, it's a small one. But it does have over 240,000 people within it's confines. How do they get to work? And how do they get to places around the city without going on the street? I know that because of the harsh winters, "sky walks" connect every downtown major building, but is that all they use to get around? It baffles me. But I suppose that anyone who deals with the NYC mania on a daily basis like I do would be baffled, too!

For a city kid like myself (even though I grew up mostly in Fort Lee, NJ, my roots and my heart lie in NYC. All one need do is listen to my accent to understand that), I found the lack of street life disturbing. Just like any living organism, a city has to have a pulse to say it's alive. It must have a heart (a downtown) that pumps blood (the people) through arteries and veins (the streets and avenues) to sustain life. Well, I could not find that in Des Moines. We found some pretty decent restaurants and watering holes, but without a vibrant street life, we found no real stimulation to be there. There were nice, old sections of town which included the "East Village" and "Court Street" sections that offer some hip coffee houses, shops, and restaurants. And there was a new, modern, "muscular" financial district complete with glistening steel towers. But there was no beat to the street. John Travolta would be swinging those paint cans and striding all by his lonesome if he were doing it in the streets of Des Moines instead of Brooklyn. It's also an incredibly clean city. I saw no graffiti and virtually no litter. Drivers (those that actually venture out!) are most courteous. And you can even make a LEFT hand turn after stopping at a red light! I'm sure many people would find such a hassle free downtown to be must civilized. However, that would not be my choice of words. Mine would be sterile. I'd take a little of that NYC street stink any day. Why? Because I can walk through Times Square and hear a half-dozen or more languages spoken in just a few minutes. I can meet people from every corner of the globe. And they would be together, in harmony and blissful cacophony.

Another aspect of Des Moines that I could not help but notice was its homogeneity. More simply put, it is overwhelmingly white. The last census put the percentage of "white, european-decent" Des Moiners at over 86%. Folks, that's just about as white as you can get. And it shows. It was so apparent to me that I actually started to count the number of African-Americans (not including journalists and crew members) that I saw downtown. After three days the number was 2. Two. On the fourth day , while walking to dinner, we met another black man, believe it or not, actually on the street! Unfortunately, he was clearly mentally unbalanced. (The irony was not lost on us that one thing ALL cities seem to have in common is the amount of mentally disturbed people who roam our downtowns - a story for another day). On my fourth day we walked past a hotel whose clerk was black. On my last day I actually saw three black women dressed in African garb walking past a hospital! That brought my grand total to 7. Buy the end of my time there (5 days), I had seen 7 African-Americans in a city of over 240,000. To someone like me, again, that's a bit unsettling if not downright disturbing.

As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, I have not been all over Iowa (although in addition to Des Moines, I've been to Iowa City, Sioux City, and a few other towns). So, I can't and won't speak to what lies in the rest of the State. However, since Des Moines is the State Capital and Iowa's largest city, it is reasonable for one to assume that it would be among the most diverse and enlightened places in the State. And I'll claim here and now that I have been well treated by Iowans when I've been there. But how it can claim any political relevance when Iowa so sorely and obviously lacks in diversity and cultural clout?

So much is made in the press as to the importance of the Iowa Caucus. It certainly is the first, giving it some political cache'. And it claims to be "unique" because the State's size and the format of the Caucus allows more intimate access to the candidates. The media also claims that it can be an important prognosticator of who will ultimately win their party's nomination. No one can argue the first claim; it is the first of the political season. The second claim can certainly be defended as accurate. However, I would dispute the last claim that it can be an accurate indicator for predicting the nominee. Sure, there have been times where the winner in Iowa has gone on to win the nomination. But there have been other times where that has not been the case, the most recent being in 2008 when Iowans chose Mike Huckebee. For me, this is more a matter of chance than an accurate predictor of how the rest of the country will react to the candidates. How could it be? How could a place as unique and different from NYC or Los Angeles, or Miami be the litmus test? Iowa may be a reasonable indicator of how much of the mid-West thinks and, of course, that has relevance. However, to think that a state as small as Iowa, as "narrow" in scope as Iowa, could have that kind of influence over the rest of the country is just plain hyperbole!

And the media does it's part to distort the importance of the Caucus. And this is not to say that it is NOT important. Because it is first, it most certainly is. Like a professional sports team, everyone wants to get a good start on the "official" start of the Primary season with a win. And the media sees it as an opportunity to kick their political coverage into high gear (I've been there for 5 days already for set-up and will return for a week more to cover the event). So, like everything else today, it gets completely blown out of proportion. As I see it (and have seen it), because of it's homogeneity and small size, Iowa cannot, and should not, be seen as anything more than the first of many opportunities to make a choice of a candidate.

I'm heading back to Des Moines on the 27th and will be there through the Caucus on Jan. 3rd. After that, I head directly to New Hampshire for the next MOST IMPORTANT primary of the season. Can't wait!!