Political rite taken seriously in Iowa
In hundreds of schools, churches, voters gather to listen, and be heard
DES MOINES — The long and sometimes quirky drama of electing a U.S. president began Tuesday in more than 800 schools, libraries, churches and homes across Iowa.
Iowa’s caucuses, which bring voters together for one evening to cast ballots in a public place on a winter night, are the first step in the state-by-state nominating race to decide the Republican challenger who will face President Barack Obama in the election Nov. 6.
The caucuses in Iowa are known more for weeding out candidates than picking the future president, although Obama launched his White House run with an Iowa win four years ago. But finishing in the top spot Tuesday could provide a GOP candidate a big boost in a long battle that could end up as the most expensive in history.
Most of the candidates have topped opinion polls at one point in a race that until recently centered on televised debates rather than on-the-ground campaigning.
Heading into the caucuses Tuesday, many voters remained undecided. And the unusual caucus process adds an element of unpredictability. Voters in Iowa gather in public meetings and listen to speeches touting the various candidates before casting their ballots.
“I’m paying great attention; I just can’t decide,” said Judy Peters, the owner of an events center where nearly 1,000 voters were scheduled to meet. “There’s bits and pieces of each candidate that I like and bits and pieces that I don’t.”
Iowans, accustomed to the personal courtship of numerous presidential candidates, take the political ritual seriously and defend it with pride.
“If you are active, your expectation is that you will meet one or more of the candidates face to face and get a chance to evaluate them personally,” said Iowa Republican lobbyist Joe Hrdlicka. “People embrace the process.”
So too have outside groups associated with candidates, known as super PACS, which have taken advantage of loosened campaign-finance rules to flood the airwaves with negative ads.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has seen his support erode under a barrage of such attack ads.
“Poor Newt. I kind of feel sorry for him. He’s just been savaged,” said voter James Patterson, who said he planned to vote for Mitt Romney. “Somebody’s really, really mad at Newt.”
Gingrich tried to keep the emphasis on a positive campaign.
“You have a chance tonight to send a signal to America,” he told voters before caucuses began in Cedar Falls. “You can do that by refusing to vote for anyone who has run negative ads.”
More than 100,000 voters, only a small percentage of the state’s electorate, were expected to attend the caucuses.
Although the GOP was the big story Tuesday, Democrats and independent voters were able to participate in the GOP caucuses if they registered as Republicans at the last minute.
Iowa only yields 28 delegates of the 1,143 needed to lock up the Republican presidential nomination, and those delegates aren’t awarded for months. Still, the stakes are high. Romney was seeking a win that could ease persistent doubts among conservatives about his moderate past and propel him toward clinching the nomination early. He, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum were running ahead of the pack in early returns.
Whether all the candidates stay in the race much longer is an open question, particularly for Rep. Michele Bachmann. The Minnesota congresswoman won a straw poll of Iowa Republicans in August but her campaign all but collapsed in recent weeks.
Even before the caucuses opened, she faced pressure to drop out.
“I don’t think it is her time this go-around,” Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, said on Fox News hours before Tuesday’s caucuses.