Nov 01, 2011

Protesters want to 'occupy' ahead of Iowa caucuses

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY Updated 1h 19m ago

Occupy Wall Street is trying to get protesters to descend on Iowa ahead of the Jan. 3 presidential caucuses.

The Des Moines Register reports that the plan is to "occupy" the campaign headquarters of President Obama and the GOP candidates -- shutting them down if necessary -- in the week leading up to the leadoff caucuses.

"You go inside or if they won't let you in, you shut 'em down. You sit in front of their doors," organizer Frank Cordaro told the Register.

The Occupy Wall Street protests began in September, built around what its website says is the "greed and corruption of the 1%" that controls the nation's wealth. There are now Occupy-themed protests across the country, and there's an encampment near the Iowa state Capitol in Des Moines.

Cordaro told CNN the idea is not to block people from taking part in the actual Iowa caucuses, in which voters get together at schools and other community places to stand up and be counted for specific candidates.

"We're not against the actual electoral process. We're against the people who own it right now. And we're trying to reclaim it," he is quoted as saying on CNN's Political Ticker blog.

Iowa Republican Party chairman Matt Strawn told the Register that the state's presidential caucuses are the epitome of grass-roots action. "It's ironic that this group would choose to disrupt the most grass-roots-oriented process in national politics – the Iowa caucuses," he said.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... aucuses-/1