Thread: Iowa Candidates Deploy Snow-Shovels, Stars to Lure Caucus-Go

Iowa Candidates Deploy Snow-Shovels, Stars to Lure Caucus-Goers Heidi Przybyla
Thu Jan 3, 12:12 AM ET



Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The outcome of the first U.S. presidential contest today in Iowa may hinge on voters like Russ Johns, a 43-year-old car-parts assembly worker who has never participated in a nominating caucus.

Johns signed a pledge in Keokuk on Dec. 31 to caucus for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Whether he shows up to support the New York senator, he said, depends on his work schedule.

Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, locked in a three-way race with former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, are stepping up efforts to lure inexperienced Iowans to the churches, school libraries, kitchens and living rooms that host the town-hall-style caucuses.

Edwards is betting on a different strategy: seasoned caucus-goers. ``These are hard-core people for us,'' said campaign manager David Bonior. ``They're very mature, they're politically skilled, they've been to a lot of these things.''

In the Republican race, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney also diverge over how to muster voters. Romney, 60, has blanketed the state with television advertising, while Huckabee, 52, is relying on supporters to round up friends and neighbors.

Working against the candidates is the typically small turnout at the caucuses -- about 125,000 Democrats and 88,000 Republicans in a state of about 3 million -- and the winter weather. That, plus the need to commit perhaps several hours to caucusing, makes get-out-the-vote drives in Iowa a far bigger challenge than in most states.

Weather Watch

``The caucus turnout is going to be affected by the Iowa weather more than anything else,'' said Kevin Larson, 54, a farmer who waited to see Clinton speak at a Story City event and said he may miss his caucus if there's a big snowstorm.

With 60 percent of Clinton's Iowa supporters being caucus neophytes, according to spokesman Jay Carson, the campaign created a video to teach Democrats the rules: Voters must stand up for their candidate and, if their pick fails to win 15 percent, make a second choice or go home.

Clinton's campaign is also pairing newcomers with experienced participants. ``The whole idea of a caucus is to build the party,'' said Clinton backer Christine Vilsack, wife of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. She plans to accompany her neighborhood bank teller, a younger woman, to the caucuses.

Rides, Pizza

The campaign has 5,000 drivers to help voters turn out. It also bought more than 600 snow-shovels and delivered salt to field offices to clear driveways and precinct sidewalks, said Teresa Vilmain, Clinton's Iowa state director. Obama's campaign is offering rides and organizing pizza parties.

Clinton, campaigning with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, drew about 800 people to an event in Mount Pleasant on Dec. 26. Still, a random sampling of a dozen participants yielded four who planned to caucus -- and only two of them for her.

``Caucus-goers in Iowa are like a needle in a haystack,'' said Iowa House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy backs Senator Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat. Biden, like Edwards, is relying on past caucus-goers, whose average age was 54 in 2004.

Edwards, 54, who casts himself as the champion of the working class, has courted white males and rural voters in northeast and northwest Iowa, said Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant who isn't aligned with any candidate.

Urbanites

Obama, 46, is appealing to more educated voters, young people and residents of bigger cities and university hubs such as Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. Clinton, 60, wants to inspire women to help elect the nation's first female president.

On the Republican side, Romney's supporters include 60 paid ``super volunteers'' who are canvassing in Iowa, and drivers in all 99 counties, focusing on the party's traditional suburban voters, said Tim Albrecht, Romney's state spokesman.

Huckabee said last week that Romney has outspent him in Iowa 20 to 1. Huckabee said many of his supporters have connected with each other through the Internet. ``We have so many people that are going to their very first caucus,'' he said in an interview. ``They really now believe the political process is about them.''

Huckabee is also using star power, appearing at events around the state with action-film star Chuck Norris and flying to Los Angeles for a taping of Jay Leno's ``Tonight Show.''

Passing Up Iowa

Two of the leading Republican candidates, Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have largely bypassed Iowa in favor of New Hampshire's primary next week and larger states that will vote on Feb. 5.

While Republicans face less complex caucus rules -- the winner is chosen by an anonymous popular vote -- candidates still must motivate the party faithful to show up.

Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator, told about 150 Iowans in Newton on Dec. 29 that he was most worried that voters would stay home to watch the Orange Bowl football game that's being played the night of the caucuses. He urged the women in the audience to hold off on dinner and sports until after they attend the meetings.

``Ladies,'' he said, ``lay down a rule in your house.''

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/aexbbu3lwe28

I think people will be shoveling something different than snow if they caucus for Hillary.

This is all such a sham when you think about it! It's like some kind of parlor game!! Everybody is looking at 125,000, or so, people to see who can twist whos arm the most.

Bulldogger wrote:

I think people will be shoveling something different than snow if they caucus for Hillary.

Too funny!

"We have had a Bush-Clinton crime spree in America that has lasted 27 years and we know it is all about oil, money and power." ~ Keith Olbermann