Iowa Caucus Guy’s Presidential Election Blog

Life has been strange, of late, but I always intended to write at least three (and heck, maybe four) posts covering the Iowa Libertarian Party Presidential Forum. It was very exciting to have something like this in my backyard, and I feel obliged to write about it, since I didn't see anything about it in the Des Moines paper (Not to worry, they barely cover the Democratic and Republican races either, these days). The Libertarian Party, of note, has established itself as America's third party- in 2016, appearing on the ballot in all 50 states, gaining over 3% of the vote, and receiving in the neighborhood of Four-and-a-half million votes. There has always been a strong contingent for a Third Party.  In my lifetime, the Reform Party made a strong impact, but seemed to be tied to the personality of Ross Perot.  The Green Party under Ralph Nader similarly was able to get the nation's attention, but has become something of a boutique party for Jill Stein, and now, Howie Ha...

The Libertarian Party of Iowa Presidential Forum may have been the most fun I have ever had in politics.  The Gazette's Adam Sullivan was a fantastic moderator. I will get to that at some point, but today, I want to focus on my big three takeaways. First, I was amazed at the fraternity and camaraderie that I observed before and after the debate. Contrast this to the Democrats who have slowly aligned behind Joe Biden. If you are reading my log, you likely watched at least part of one of the Democratic debates this cycle.  I mean, there were like, a dozen of them. Can you picture any three of the candidates onstage having a cordial conversation afterwards?  Could you imagine Bernie and Elizabeth laughing together?  Did you feel the tension when Tulsi Gabbard, Mike Bloomberg, and even Tom Steyer were on stage?  Would John Delaney be welcome in a crowd? That's all speculation, of course.  The Dem Crowd of 25 may have been 'thick as thieves' off camera...

The 2020 Primary Season in Iowa ended not for me with the February Caucus but with the Iowa Libertarian Party Convention on February 29. I went as a non-Party attendee with friends in the Party and real interest to see a Presidential debate in my backyard.  I hope to share some of my thoughts over the  next few days, with today's focus on the candidates themselves. There is no clear frontman for the 2020 Nomination like Gary Johnson was in 2012 and 2016.  Indeed, though all share the same principles, the candidates sometimes come from different directions themselves. The current Libertarian Presidential field is quite large with the Party recognizing 19 candidates under their set of criteria, and there are easily a dozen more candidates with what can be considered serious campaigns. With Libertarian party conventions in every state seemingly every weekend, it is likely a costly proposition to try to attend them all.  It also makes debates unwieldy (for exampl...

You probably figured with me a political buff and in Iowa, that I couldn’t sit on the sidelines. So in conjunction with my last post as I talk about that weekend of January 25-26, ( I will focus on the last political rally I attended of the Caucus season) it is worth mentioning that I did my part in supporting the Buttigieg campaign. My role was minimal. As I have mentioned at various points, there are competing interests for my time, but I did do what I could. My greatest 2020 Caucus memory will be getting a text on a weekend afternoon from Chasten Buttigieg. Getting communications from candidates are not isolated incidents and what is awesome is hearing stories from staffers how Elizabeth Warren called them from out of the blue. While the caucus might be flawed, there is an element of it that puts the candidates face to face with their possible future constituents. Nobody can argue that isn’t a good thing. I only hope we don’t get completely Television studio campaigns. ...

As we get under 45 days until the Caucus, all systems are go! Elizabeth Warren looks like she may have a head-to-head battle with Pete Buttigieg, so she's changing up her strategy. Essentially going from a planned stump speech of 45 minutes to a quick 8 minute intro and open up for questions . It has its risks, but the major advantage is getting to talk to people, and that is really how the Caucus gets won. Similarly, Klobuchar's endgame is to interact with Iowas. For years, Senator Charles Grassley famously makes a stop in every county in Iowa, to the point, that it has become called "The Full Grassley" and Amy is going to do it . The news isn't that she is going to do it (she planned to do it before the caucus), but will do it by year end. John Delaney, to date, is the only candidate in this cycle to accomplish that. Indeed, this is shaping up to be a campaign coming down to a close finish to the wire. I must make mention of some of the sparring betw...

How many candidates are there? This campaign has so many candidates that even the candidates don't know all of the people who are running. This blog's primary focus has always been the lighter side of the Election of 2020, and with that, let's go! 21 candidates were at the Iowa State Fair, and the Des Moines Register decided to quiz fairgoers (and candidates) if they knew who was in the race. At that time, there were 24 who were considered "major candidates". Fairgoers could, on average name 7 or 8. Candidates interviewed could name on average 16.5. No surprise, Joe Biden was the most well-known, and Wayne Messam the least well-known. Andrew Yang was the most in tune, remembering Messam and all the others, forgetting only Steve Bullock (and he got Julian Castro with some help). Pete Buttigieg and Michael Bennet also took part and named 16. Bill DeBlasio named 11. Anyway, I talked about the State Fair Kernel Vote before, one of the many questi...

I have talked a bunch of Iowa politics this year with very many interesting people. One story that sticks out was from someone who would know.  When Donald Trump flew to Iowa to campaign for President in 2015; everywhere, he went, Democrats (as well as Republicans, of course) would line up to have their pictures taken. This seems like the wrong week to bring up that memory, but I think it illustrates a fact.  The caucus is weird. I try to focus on the weird side.  Occasionally, I get sidetracked with serious content.  Anyway, let's clear some of this out. One of the funnest stories was that the Iowa Cubs, the Des Moines based Triple A minor league team re-branded one night as the Iowa Caucuses. I would have loved to gone, but it was the team's last home-stand for the season, and sold out, standing room only. NBC reported:  The team’s jerseys will feature blue sleeves with white stars in the style of the American flag. The name “Iowa Cauc...

For years, Iowa's longtime Senator Tom Harkin had a fundraiser called the Steak Fry. Harkin has retired, but the Steak Fry continues. In 2007, it was the moment where Obama launched a meme, even if standard practice for years, it was that you hold your hand over your heart for the Pledge, not the National Anthem. For the last couple of years, it has featured a host of people who were speculative Presidential candidates or considered future Party stars- Cheri Bustos, Tim Ryan, Seth Moulton, Jeff Merkley, Pramila Jayapal, and an actual bonafide 'first in the race' candidate John Delaney. This year, as those made their mind up, there were 17 actual candidates.  In fact, the only major candidate not to attend was Delaney, whose daughter was getting married that weekend. I called it "Democratic Wrestlemania" I thought it was clever, until the local NBC affiliate called it Caucus Coachella. That's a good one. It should be remembered, of course, ...