Caucus Byte: Hey Candidates, Free Advice

From 2007 to 2014, Vickie Guerrero was a main character on the wrestling program WWE Smackdown. 

She was first known because she was Eddie Guerrero’s widow, but she ended up being one of the biggest heels (wrestling term for “bad guy”) and hates performers of her time. This may sound like an insult to a non wrestling fan, but it’s a tremendous compliment to a wrestling heel. 

Vickie with her shrill voice, would show up to heckles and boos, and her signature sentence became “EXCUSE ME!” which was said loudly and caused an even bigger uproar. 

The post I am writing today is not about Vickie Guerrero.

My last post about the 2024 election was about particular hecklers. I don’t think people should heckle politicians, but more than anything, 

I think politicians should be exposed to large crowds. The Iowa Caucus, as confusing and hated as it might be, seems to be one of the few times left that politicians don’t communicate via a screen. The Iowa State Fair is probably the most prominent place where people can get close to politicians. This is where Mitt Romney’s famous “corporations are people” line came from. It is where Elliot Page confronted Ted Cruz. Both of these events happened on the Iowa State Fair soapbox. 

This year, there was an additional chance to hear from Presidential candidates, the governor hosted “Fair Side Chats”. And once again, hecklers were there for Ron DeSantis 

The protesters used a cowbell and whistles to disrupt DeSantis, who has a close relationship with (Iowa Governor Kim) Reynolds and said he would consider her as a running mate. Two of DeSantis' rivals for the GOP nomination, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, were also interviewed by Reynolds, ahead of DeSantis, and neither faced any vocal opposition from the audience. 

Which led to “Hey, you know what, you know what? We’re in Iowa,” Reynolds told the protesters. “And in Iowa, we’re Iowa nice. So, let’s give everybody the opportunity to hear our candidates.” 

I can guess how that ended up, but I don't need to.  There's video.  The hecklers did stop and/or removed, but the headlines were all about the heckler and the response.

Not his zinger about Biden.  Did you hear it?  Of course, not.

Not about (and I am not making this up) his family cleaning up at the midway.  The New York Times reported:

All the while, Mr. DeSantis and his family reaped a prize bounty at the fair games, including a milk jug toss and balloon popping. They walked away with at least two oversize Pikachu stuffed animals and what appeared to be a giant koala.

Not even that DeSantis was having the time of his life playing Bumper Cars

Which 1) goes to show Gov Reynolds never watches Pro Wrestling and 2) Politician campaign managers should have their clients watch Pro Wrestling.

Whatever you think of Reynolds, she has incredibly bad judgment when it comes to thinking on her feet.   

In acknowledging the hecklers. That only is going to encourage them. 

John Cena was one of the most heckled wrestlers- a throwback to the days of clean cut champions.

He was so good at working the crowd that he elevated his career and everyone around him. 

When you saw someone going at Cena, he was always going to end out up on top

The average wrestler might ignore the crowd when it is an unwanted reaction. 

The best will embrace it. The Rock Duane Johnson started as that squeaky clean grappler the crowd was supposed to love. 

When the crowd didn’t, he used his quick wit to turn around the insults at the audience. 

It is hard for people to insult you when your words are causing them to erupt in laughter. The best loved wrestling personalities are those who can turn a heckler on a dime.  Ric Flair was a "bad guy" but like, the Rock, he became an icon, whether it be a classic line like "My shoes cost more than your house" or in his seventies, telling a heckler that he knew their mother.

Show no weakness.  They heckle you.  You attack them.

Whether it is Kevin Owens inviting them to come on stage and see how courageous they are; or Paul Heyman with a simple pause to shred someone by saying “No, you go ahead, because people are paying to see YOU” or even something as simple as Stone Cold Steve Austin stopping to ask "WHAT?"; politicians should learn a trick or two from Pro Wrestlers (or stand up comedians) on how to best work a crowd.