In Defense of Iowa Being First

Out here beyond Iowa's borders, some Americans betray an impatience with Iowa being first in the nation. They ask, Why can't we have our primaries all on the same day? and, Why should the candidates spend so much time vying for the votes of a state with such a small population?

The quick and honest answer is that a same day primary for all 50 states would ensure that the candidate with the most money and best campaign ads would win. It would also prevent very capable candidates from running against the richer candidates. Establishment candidates would forever be granted an insuperable advantage over reformers and outsiders.

What Iowa affords to the rest of the country is the challenge to each candidate to spend time meeting extensively with the people--not in 10 minute bus tour stops, but in extensive townhall meetings, in personal discussions in intimate diners, and at potluck dinners after church services. The old story is true: one Iowan asks another, "Are you going to vote for Candidate Bob?" to which the reply is given, "I don't know yet. I've only met him twice." This kind of vetting goes so much further than the Madison Avenue imaging that the dollar can buy.

Stumping in Iowa town by town and county by county, candidates cannot hide behind slick marketing. They appear face to face with the voters, warts and all, as friends and neighbors come together to meet them, toting their children along in this great American process. There are no teleprompters to stand between candidates and the people, no handlers, no makeup artists, no canned mood-setting music; there are no re-takes of the camera. Here is the best way to find out who the candidates really are.

One of the great advantages of this kind of old fashioned campaigning is that there is genuine dialog between the candidates and the people. To be sure, candidates give their stump speeches, but there is always the inevitable question and answer period afterward. Politicians who rely on slick television advertizing never hear a word that the voters say. They come across as arrogant--as if they have all the answers, as if they don't need to hear anything else except their own voices, as if they don't care about the concern of Iowans. In contrast, candidates who wear out their shoes in Iowa are so much better informed about the real needs of real people. They know the name of the manufacturing plant that closed last month in the next county over, and how many laborers lost their jobs, and why.

Another significant good that comes out of traditional campaigning in person is that presidential candidates get to know elected officials at every level of government. In this particular election year, down-ticket Republican candidates benefit from appearing with national candidates; Republicans will capitalize on these promotional events at the general election. Madison Avenue campaigning not only denies down-ticket candidates this benefit, but also short-circuits the relationships that are forged between national candidates and local candidates.

Perhaps the biggest problem with politicians who rely on mass market advertizing is that they resort to such negative campaigning. In ad after ad, we hear menacing music as it introduces the hit piece, and see the scene merge from a delapidated school yard, into an unseemly picture of the opposing candidate who is portrayed as eating baby kittens, or some such. Real candidates talking face to face with the voters can't get away with such bafoonery. There's something de-humanizing about attack ads that does not translate when the candidate comes face to face with the community. Consequently, candidates who do the hard work of holding town meetings and shaking hands are able to carry on a civil discourse about their respective differences, knowing that decent citizens depict their opponents fairly.

Let us be thankful that Iowa is first. It brings out American idealism of community, honesty, and hard work. Candidates who do the hard work in Iowa are the type of people who keep elections from being bought by the almighty dollar.