Political Equinox

I know I said my last post would be a couple of days ago, but after the week I had plus an 8 hour car ride back to Fort Wayne I was pretty tired.

So…here are my final thoughts.

I find the Iowa caucus to be both maddening and wonderful at the same time. On the one hand, here is 234,000 Democrats deciding who the frontrunner would be for the balance of the primaries.

The potency of The Caucus is only exacerbated by the abbreviated primary season, with the New Hampshire primary only five days after Iowa and the majority of the rest of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention chosen on what has become “Super Duper Tuesday” on February 5^th – less than a month away. The power of Iowa in this election cannot be underscored. As a resident of a state whose primary is not until May, not having a say in choosing the nominee is completely maddening.

Yet at the same time, there is something beautiful about the caucus process. Those that do participate take their job as caucus goers seriously – I saw this especially in the NPR discussion. The moderator attempted to ferret out a single reason why Iowans were going to caucus – but to no avail. Each caucus attendee had complex reasons why they were going to take part this year and (it seemed anecdotally) none of them choose a candidate for a single issue.

This serious analysis is also reflected in the fervor supporters of certain candidates while they attempted to persuade certain caucus attendees who were undecided or supporters of non-viable candidates to join their side. Even though Senator Obama’s supporters garnered well over half of the caucus attendees after the first round, the Richardson supporters worked fervently to peal not only most of the undecided’s, but also supporters of Senator Clinton, Congressman Kucinich and even some Senator Edwards supporters to their cause. Their level of persuasion garnered them one delegate and, it is important to note that they nearly had a second if time had not run out.

I sincerely hope that everyone who has an interest in politics at any level give into their instinct and travel to one of these political hotbed states, whether it’s Iowa or New Hampshire in the primary or any of the swing states in the general. While many disagree whether or not these select states should have the political power they do, the fact is that at least in the immediate future this is where the battleground of national politics exist. I was thrilled to observe and document the longest and most contested primary state in history (at least to my knowledge). The frenzy usually associated with Iowa was only ratcheted up by the sheer uncertainty of the outcome, and being at the nexus of the current political battleground was a privilege I am only beginning to understand.

I was most fortunate to undertake this journey with two of my friends from high school. Although Chris, Tyler and I hadn’t been in close contact over the last year, our collective love for politics and the political process made our trip only seem natural. I cannot thank Tyler enough for his hospitality and as our de facto ‘tour guide’ through the politics of Iowa. Chris’ willingness to drive 8 hours out to Iowa and 8 hours back to Indiana only days later speaks volumes for not only his love of politics, but his amazing patience to be cooked up in a car with me for that time.

Each of these guys served as photographers and cameramen providing Political Equinox’s readership with visual documentation of what we were all seeing. Neil’s support from back in F-Dub was equally as important. This coverage was as much theirs as it was mine, and I cannot thank them enough for their partnership in this venture.

And finally (this is when they would turn on the ‘get off the stage’ music at an awards ceremony) Thank you for reading about this journey. In the coming months and years I look forward to continue what Neil and I started and continue our public discussion.

Tags: candidate, Congress, Democrats, fort wayne, IRS, obama, The Caucus