Poor Iowa: Great Host, Stuck With This Caucus Thing

2/3/2020

(The following ode to Iowa was written before all hell broke loose in the ramshackle "system" that was supposed to collate the Democratic caucus results Monday night. Even before the network failed to produce while the world was watching, visiting savants like Chris Matthews were questioning -- in front of the earnest citizens -- why Iowa got to hold the highly visible first "primary" scrimmage every four years. With these reasonable questions being raised, Iowa may lose its prominent spot. Shame. There ought to be a place for well-meaning Americana -- but maybe not with an ignorant and vicious wannabe dictator getting a free pass from his party enablers. Poor Iowa, caught up in the tumult. My original praise for Iowa and skepticism about a caucus:)

They are highly motivated, conscientious American citizens.
But what in the world are they doing?
Why don’t they just vote?

Then I remember, Iowa is different, or so they say.
I’ve been there three times and liked all three visits. (More in a bit.)

While trying to make sense of this caucus thing Monday evening, I remembered one of my favorite musicals – “The Music Man,” by Meredith Willson, that’s with two L’s, and don’t you forget it.

A con man (Robert Preston) gets off the train in River City, Iowa (Willson was from Mason City) and tries to chat up the townspeople, only to receive a bunch of double talk, some of it polite.
The result: “Iowa Stubborn.”

That charming character trait emerged Monday in snow-covered Iowa (or “I-oh-way,” as some of the denizens insist.)

“The caucus is like cricket,” I told my wife. (We once saw the great West Indies team play a tuneup in a Welsh country town.)
“Cricket is easier,” she said, meaning – bat, ball, tea.

This caucus thing determines who wins the delegates, who has the momentum, or maybe not.
It’s a portrait of Iowa. The Grant Wood painting, American Gothic.

I am affectionate about Iowa – after first noting that its populace does not at all resemble that of my home town of New York.

My first trip to Iowa was in 1973 when Charlotte Curtis, the great Family/Style editor of the Times (herself a Midwesterner), sent me out to Iowa to write about a boy, 18 or 19, who had just been elected mayor of a little town. (I cannot find the story in the electronic files.) It was such a nice visit, at this cold time of year, as I recall.

My second trip to Iowa was early in 1979 when Iowa was selected as one of the sites for the first American visit by Pope John Paul II, because of the huge farm preserve, judged a perfect site for the man from Cracow. After scouting out Des Moines, I had dinner with a couple who had met when he was posted to her town in the Altiplano of a South American country. We went to a Chinese restaurant, where they chatted with the staff in Spanish – a big Chinese contingent, emigrated via Latin America.

My third trip to Iowa was on a perfect autumn day in 1979 as the square-jawed Pope strode the plains, waving to a bunch of Lutherans. He was young and strong, looking like a former linebacker for the Iowa Hawkeyes. I edged closer to get a look – and got blind-sided by an American Secret Service guy.

When the Pope had moved on, I stood on the great plain and congratulated the nun who had facilitated the press visit. She was so happy that the day had turned out so beautifully that I could think of only one thing to do – I hugged the nun. That’s what I think about whenever I remember that day.

Oh, one other Iowa impression: Our daughter Laura decided to spend her junior year abroad and chose Iowa City. Every few weeks the phone would ring and a plaintive voice would say: "It's dark out here."

"American Gothic," by Grant Wood. From the Art Institute of Chicago. My feet can find it whenever I climb the front steps.

Now, every four years, the great journalists from my cable-network-of-choice wander all over that state and I thrill to every coffee klatsch and every barber shop. The journalists can explain “quid-pro-quo” and “impeachment” perfectly, but they cannot explain what those folks are doing on the first Monday in February.

(The aforementioned Laura watched caucus news from Iowa Monday night and texted us: "Nicolle and Rachel far better than Troy and Buck." Poor girl is having Super Bowl flashbacks.)

Maybe Meredith Willson could have explained the caucus, but he was more interested in the busy intersection of chicanery and romance, and bless his heart for that.

Alan Rubin link

2/4/2020 11:07:18 am

Although I have never been to Iowa, I have a very positive image of the state.

While at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, I was very familiar with Iowa and Iowa State as strong wrestling opponents. Lehigh usually is a dominant for in eastern wrestling circles, but they usually struggled against the Iowa teams and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Ed, contrary to popular belief, soccer was not the dominant sport at Lehigh in the 1950’s as it is today.

Iowa’s Ride every July is an amazing event. It is a week-long ride across the state. My daughter Jen and her family did it a few years ago and loved the experience.

The riders pass through many small towns and end up dipping their wheel in the Mississippi River. Along the way they sample local foods.

On the Friday of her ride, Jen was asked by an Orthodox family if she was Jewish. They were from a Kosher meat packing plant near by and were reaching out to Jewish riders.

I listened to Iowans being interviewed this morning on NPR about yesterday’s caucus and its glitches. They sounded so normal and grounded.

Many Republicans weighed in with a sensible take on how our current “leader’s” policies are affecting them.

We need someone from the Midwest in office, either as president or vice-president. Amy Klobuchar would do just fine.

Altenir Silva

2/5/2020 07:16:13 am

Dear George,
Sorry for my ignorance, but why Iowa was the top choice for these primaries?
Is it because of President Jimmy Carter had been elected after there?
Best/Altenir
P.S. I loved your text on Super Bowls.

Roy Edelsack

2/5/2020 11:20:20 am

From NPR:
"The really important thing to remember about Iowa is not that it's first because it's important. Iowa is important because it's first," said Kathy O'Bradovich, political columnist for the Des Moines Register. She acknowledges that Iowa didn't really happen on purpose.

"It happened after the 1968 Democratic National Convention," she said, which was marred by violence over the Vietnam War and racial tension. "The Democratic Party nationally and in Iowa decided they wanted to change their process to make it more inclusive."

Part of that meant spreading the presidential nominating schedule out in each state. Because Iowa has one of the more complex processes — precinct caucuses, county conventions, district conventions, followed by a state convention — it had to start really early. (The Democratic Party held Iowa caucuses first in the nation in 1972; the GOP followed suit in 1976.)

And once a peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter rode an Iowa caucus win all the way to the White House, Iowa suddenly became a thing."

George

2/5/2020 01:24:39 pm

Alan, Jen's summer ride sounds great.. Imagine, ending a ride for the day and having somebody ask, "You Jewish?" Like walking down 7th Ave, and being greeted by the Lubavitchers,
Altenir: I was going to research why Iowa started but Roy is way ahead of us. You as a screen writer, have you seen The Music Man? So corny on one level, a period piece on another level, and so subtle on a third level. Like somebody in town griping about Old Miser Madison, and The Music Man says (knowingly), "You mean, the Madison Public Library, the Madison Theater, the Madison Band Shell, etc. etc?" And the local nods and says, yeah, that Miser Madison. Perfect.
Roy, thanks, man, Kathy Obradovich was excellent on MSNBC in recent days. Reminds me of my days as national reporter -- great reporters in Louisville, Nashville and Des Moines, before the papers were Gannet-ized. GV

bruce

2/5/2020 10:56:28 pm

george,

laughed when i saw this....Our daughter Laura decided to spend her junior year abroad and chose Iowa City.....

every time i've been to nova scotia (born in halifax but moved at 15 months old--with the help of my parents) as an adult i always say, 'when i go back to canada, er, ontario'.

always.

i somehow managed to miss iowa on my trips to the states.

as for your monster in chief, i see he'll be giving some sort of take on what's happened to poor him recently.

i'm sure you'll agree that he'll likely admit to some honest mistakes, that he's learned his lesson and will be more temperate and honest during his five remaining years as potus.

at least.

bruce

George Vecsey

2/6/2020 11:53:06 am

Bruce: It's such a big continent -- even overlooking Mexico, with its various native languages plus Spanish. Quebec its own world. Out west compared to the Maritimes. etc.
I've been lucky to live and work in different parts of the US -- living for two years in Kentucky, traveling around Appalachia, changed me forever, I don't understand McConnell but I do understand some people who are tempted to think he acts for them. I love wandering all over New York City, my home town. Stop and talk to people.
Deep South. California. Seattle. So many regions. Then again, I think of sectionalism in Europe. Big sign in Florence stadium when Napoli comes to play, "Benvenuto a Li'Italia." And they mean it. GV

bruce

2/6/2020 12:44:21 pm

george,

good timing.

as i type this trump has just appeared at the podium to 'jail to the thief'

prolonged standing O and another for melania--she of the anti bullying initiative.

see he came up small again at the big prayer session this morning.

he's at his 'some people say...' bit.

i like to chat to people when i travel or walk.

so many people who look pretty ordinary until you start to talk to 'em. some incredible stories and life experiences.

mieko used to be stunned by the size and diversity in canada.

in a short period of time we were in st. john's, newfoundland and victoria, british columbia. 4 1/2 hour time difference and 4400 miles apart. newfoundland being much closer physically to england and an hour closer time wise too. completely different accents and history-

then we went to sub arctic and yellowknife, reindeer, northern lights, inuit, -40

living in japan gave me an even greater appreciation of diversity.

trump's sniffing more than usual....sort of like Pinocchio's nose when he's lying, i reckon.

bruce

George

2/6/2020 08:49:06 pm

Bruce:
Adderall.
GV

bruce

2/6/2020 09:04:36 pm

george,

ah, i'm not sure i'd want to try it it, eh....

can't be true for trump....he doesn't drink or do drugs.

you could look it up.

it was quite a performance.

doesn't get much more christian than that....must be one of those american exceptionalism things.

bruce

Alan Rubin link

2/7/2020 04:20:40 pm

Trump personifies the saying, “Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.” I can not give him credit for having accomplished much good so far during his presidency, but he does know how to reach an audience.

Although it did include many tacky and manipulated introductions to people in the House Chamber, his speech was surprisingly upbeat. It included several positives even after disallowing all the obvious lies.

Trump was also wise not to mention the Iowa caucus as the Democrats self-inflicted enough damage on their own.

bruce

2/7/2020 04:28:14 pm

alan,

grimaced a bit when i read this.....

.....It included several positives even after disallowing all the obvious lies....

that's what it's come to after almost 37 months of all trump all the time.

standards have been lowered so much that all the obvious lies are taken into consideration when his performance/content is considered.or analyzed.

bruce

Alan Rubin link

2/7/2020 05:20:05 pm

Bruce, I may not have expressed things correctly. Trump's speech served as a kickoff for his re-election campaign. It had potential appeal for moderate Republicans, undecideds, disillusioned Democrats and offended fundamental Christian women. (There is actually evidence of a backlash among younger Southern religious women who are angered by his approach to women.)

Now that Trump is taking his verbal and vindictive “victory lap”, I have a sense that he will over do it and create a backlash.

bruce

2/7/2020 05:35:58 pm

alan,

he's been so appalling on any level i can think of that it's hard for me to comprehend that he could say or do anything that would make him lose his followers.

the cult is strong within them.

i was at the supermarket today and a guy had been hired to give away the local daily to try interest people who weren't subscribers into being interested.

he asked me what i thought about justin trudeau.

l laughed. told him what i thought of our federal conservative party who are #2 of our three major political parties.

however, per usual, we thanked our lucky stars that we weren't living under the disgraceful humin been elected by our southern neighbours.

bruce

Comments are closed.

QUOTES

Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online.
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal….

After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness.

The progress stems mostly from three factors:
First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot.
Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.)
Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year.
“Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.”

That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.”

That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data.

One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines.

Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks.

Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths.

The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.

Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately
Republican and white.

Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.)
***

From the great Maureen Dowd:

As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop.
But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels."

--- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing.
***
"Putting out the paper," we called it.
Much more than nostalgia.
---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html

Poor Iowa: Great Host, Stuck With This Caucus Thing

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