I knew we were close when the bus started crawling along at 5 miles per hour and candidate sign wars stretched out as far as my eyes could see. I was fortunate enough to have caught a ride from my Drinking Liberally friends so when the bus slowed to a crawl most of us decided to disembark and walk the rest of the mile down the road to the Indianola Balloon Field. The excitement was palatable as Fry attendees 15,000 of them according to the Des Moines Register, streamed through the parking lot at times dodging candidate volunteers as they tried to hand you stickers much like the perfume spritzers you have to dodge in department stores. As I walked along I was happy to see a piece of Bay Area art, the Topsy Turvy bus was there espousing budget priorities.

Once inside the main gates I decided to visit the candidate and issue tables that were set up along the perimeter. Every table had swag to give away, from buttons to bumper stickers to placards and cowbells. I remarked to my friend that it was like a Democratic Christmas. As I was inspecting the goods a ripple of excitement ran through the crowd, the first candidate had walked through the gates. There was Senator Barack Obama surrounded by his supporters as they were chanting “I-O-W-A, Barack Obama all the way!” This is what I had been waiting for, the opportunity to see Presidential candidates up close and in person practicing retail politics. Unlike in California, where candidate events have price tags starting from $250 and up here in Iowa, if you’ve caucused before and are undecided, getting a personal phone call from a candidate or their spouse is not unexpected. And for only $30 you can see and shake hands with all the candidates at Harkin’s Steak Fry. I came to Des Moines to see candidates engage with Middle America and hopefully come away with my own choice for President. Senator Obama did his part by working his way through the crowd with the help of his Secret Service agents and a few staff members. Throughout the process he was genial and would happily stop for a photo, and plenty of handshakes.

My next stop was over to the food tents to get a plate of Iowa steak, beans, potato salad and a bread roll. I was disappointed to see all the food being placed on thousands of Styrofoam plates. I hope next time around Senator Harkin will consider using a more environmentally friendly option. The steak itself was very well done and after a few tough bites I decided that I’d be better off sparing my digestive system. Luckily enough at the same time another ripple of excitement was coursing through the crowd and I looked up to see boom mikes, cameras and supporters surrounding Senator Hillary Clinton. I proceeded to hustle my way to the throng of folks to snap a photo. Her supporters were chanting “H-I, H-I-L, H-I-L-L-A-R-Y, Hillary our nominee!” They were brandishing Hillary for President placards and ringing their blue cowbells. Unfortunately for the attendees Sen. Clinton did not walk through the crowd because there was a 3-foot plastic fence separating her from everyone else. The fence had been erected earlier for the photo opportunity by the grills where the candidates had a chance to greet volunteers and flip a steak. I thought it was an odd choice for her to make and an unfortunate one that differentiated her from how the rest of the candidates were able to network with the Fry crowd. She spent about 20 minutes till she was escorted away by her staff and Secret Service agents.

Senator John Edwards came through the crowd next, his supporters were brandishing placards and more than a few handmade signs some of which read “Iowa Loves Edwards” “Labor for Edwards” and “Iowa is Edwards Country.” Much like the other candidates, he seemed happy to be there and would , sign autographs and of course shake plenty of offered hands. 

By this time it was around 2:30, the scheduled time for the candidates to start making their speeches so I cut through the field and made my way to the stage for a good view. Suddenly, cheers and chants from all the campaign supporters and staff rose up from the crowd of viewers. All of the candidates and Senator Harkin and his wife Ruth were making their way towards the stage. Edwards, Obama and Richardson were walking side-by-side behind them were Dodd and Biden and behind them were Clinton and the Harkins. An attendee told me that Mrs. Harkin was endorsing Senator Clinton while Senator Harkin had decided to remain non-committal. Once all the candidates made it to the stage, the National Anthem was sung and then the candidates took their seats on stage in the order that they would be speaking which had been decided earlier by a random draw. This meant that on stage right it was Obama, Richardson and Clinton and on stage left it was Dodd, Edwards and Biden. It was an inspiring visual to look at all the candidates on the right. It made me proud to be a Democrat to see an African American, a Latino and a Woman vying to be President. All of these candidates represent change in American politics just by virtue of their birth.

Each candidate was allotted 15 minutes of time to make their case for why Iowans should caucus for them. Ruth Harkin was the first speaker and she stepped to the mike to introduce her husband. After Senator Harkin said his piece he welcomed Senator Obama who took the mike and made his case. Some of his key quotes include, “Fundamental change, that’s why I’m running for President.” And most importantly, “We are going to bring an end to this war and I will fight hard in the United States Senate to make sure we don’t pass any funding bill that does not have a deadline.” This was his most important statement to me and it helped distinguish himself from Clinton who has remained silent on the issue. As far as I’m concerned if you are in a position to lead against the war you should. Obama also came out strong in the visibility wars, his staff turned out 2,000 people and a marching band. 

Governor Bill Richardson was next and made the most impressive and electric speech of the day. He crammed as much policy as he could in his 15 minutes as he outlined what he would do if he were President. Highlights include: no residual troops in Iraq, 50 mph fuel standards, a Hero’s Health Card for Veterans to use any medical facility if their VA hospital is too far, $40,000 minimum salary for all teachers and a 1-year community service requirement for graduating college students so that their loans would be offset. He also gave the best joke of the day when he said that he is the Presidential candidate who offers caucus goers both change and experience, a riff on Obama and Clinton’s tedious speeches that focus on “experience” versus “change”.

Senator Clinton went third and hinted at the health care policy that she would reveal the next day. She also spoke about the mothers and daughters that she saw on the campaign trail and how she was happy when the mothers would tell the daughters that they too could be President one day. Her best line that afternoon was when she said that if she was elected in November she would immediately send envoys with both party members “around the world with a very simple message: The era of cowboy diplomacy is over. America is back.” She was also the first candidate to reference the Field of Dreams movie, when she spoke about “What we’re doing today is building a new ‘Field of Dreams'”. Chills ran up my spine when she said that line because as I looked at all of the qualified candidates on stage, I realized that they do represent a ‘Field of Dreams.’ The dream that hard working American’s will take their country back in 2008.

Senator Chris Dodd was next and unfortunately I felt like he spent half his time talking about how great Senator Harkin was, he even mentioned as he was wrapping up “Now having successfully pandered to Tom Harkin..” It seemed like a waste of a good opportunity to distinguish himself from the top tier candidates. He did have a good line when he said, “Politics of fear is what destroys our country. And the other side engages in it every day, and we need to fight back.’

Senator Edwards took the mike next amid chants of “Go John Go!” After the crowd quieted down he gave a shout out to his wife Elizabeth who was in attendance and said, “I don’t know about you, but I kind of enjoyed it when she went after Ann Coulter.” This of course erupted into another loud cheer from the crowd. He continued on his populist message and came out strong for working families and union labor. Some of his best lines of the day started with “You can’t sit at a table with lobbyists, drug companies, ect., and come away with a good health care plan. If you give them a seat at the table, they’ll take all the food!” He also said that we couldn’t replace ‘corporate Republicans’ with ‘corporate Democrats’.  On healthcare he said he would “Outlaw pre-existing conditions,” and asked “What man, woman or child is not worthy of healthcare?” He mentioned unions explicitly and he also called organized labor “the single best anti-poverty movement in history.” He thanked Congress for raising the minimum wage but said it wasn’t enough and as President he would raise it to $9.50 an hour and have it  indexed to rising inflation. He closed with stating, “You can’t just declare yourself the change candidate,” and asked caucus goers to “trust your heart.”

Senator Joe Biden was on last and opened with a joke, “I’ve also seen Field of Dreams and if I’m not mistaken, this has taken longer than 9 innings.” He went on to say that this “election is as serious as a heart attack folks.” He stated that it is obvious to him that Bush is not going to end the war and that the “responsibility is going to fall on one of the candidates sitting on stage and that is deadly serious.” After listing his foreign policy goals he wrapped up his speech by calling for an end to “the obscene amounts of money that is being spent” and advocated for public funding for elections along with a “Supreme Court that recognizes individual and civil rights.”

As the day came to an end the PA system blasted out September by Earth, Wind and Fire. Each of the candidates clasped hands and raised them in celebration as the crowds cheered on their choice. I walked away from the field knowing who I would vote for in February and proud that each of the individuals that spent their Sunday afternoon in that balloon field did so because they

I don’t know how many people picked up on this, but there was a tidbit in Obama’s speech that may be important, and I’m hoping somebody will ask him to expand on it (and I plan to dig through his website later to see if there’s more info)…

He said that he would launch a carbon cap-and-trade system, and that he would auction off the credits.  One of the big arguments in regard to cap-and-trade, is whether to allow businesses that currently emit to start off in the system holding credits — “grandfathering” them in.  (This is tied up with Bush administration’s efforts to make expanding an existing dirty business not trigger “new source review”.)  If folks know that in a year or two they’re going to have to bid in an auction for the right to continue their current businesses, we’re going to see much faster reductions in CO2 emissions.

In other global-warming news, Chris Dodd came out foursquare in favor of a carbon tax.  I guess an advantage of having no chance, is you can say things like that…

[Originally published at The Political Dogfight as part one of four this is a slightly edited version.]

I seriously question the value of the new Primary System developed by the DNC then jumped on by other opportunistic states. February 5, 2008 looms large as a result of these changes.

David Brooks recently had a column about the advice he had for Republican candidates. It was his contention that all the primaries on Feb. 5, 2008 wouldn’t be the decisive ones. He still thought the traditional first three primaries would set the media tone. And he thought the Media tone would set the race on the first Tuesday of Feb.

While I don’t agree that the first three primaries will decide the race, and I don’t agree with Brooks in general, I think he is absolutely right about a slightly different topic: Media Tone

Think of the situation today as seen in the daily papers and on the news programs! According to them there are only 3 real candidates in the race: Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and John Edwards…and John Edwards is coming in a weak third in terms of media coverage. (Or his was until the unfortunate announcement of his wife’s recurring health issues.]

This issue of Media Tone/Media Noice is the real problem.

A few candidates are sucking the Media Oxygen out of the atmosphere and leaving other truly qualified candidates without the ‘free’ media (news) that they need to become more widely known. If this is happening to John Edwards think of the others.

Think of Joe Biden or Chris Dodd. Whether they are your favorites or not, they deserve to be heard and considered. Each of them has substantive experience and each is just as substantive as Hillary Clinton, Obama and John Edwards.

  (More on this topic another time: Rhetoric vs Substance and Goverance in the Election of 2008. )

Will candidates that aren’t getting the ‘free’ media of the Clinton’s etc., have even a fighting chance in 2008? Will they be able to raise the $25-$40Million they need by the fall? If they can’t will this silence voices that should be heard?

I think that forshortening the race does the country and the party a diservice. Now we have an Invisible Primary already in progress with people being labeled winners and losers….and it’s all in the media’s programming…..it’s pure Media Noise.

Since it has no actual voting today, this Primary, since it’s all in the Media and nowhere else, I call ‘The Invisible Primary’. And that Invisible Primary is in full swing.

I despair that we will again nominate people who seem great in short primary seasons,(Gore who was annointed and Kerry who came from nowhere in the most unusual Primary in memory), and then we saw they didn’t have an Authentic voice on the campaign trail! They didn’t know how to remove the Political Mask.

I believe that the American people hunger for an Authentic Voice, not the politicians mask that so many wear and use to speak. My desired outcome would be to have a nominee with an Authentic voice that is backed by large scale experience and augmented by roadmaps to tangible goals with benchmarks built in to those roadmaps.

Rhetoric, however seductive, will not win. Fundraising shouldn’t be a qualifier either for the nominee.

  This is Part 1 of more to come on ‘The Invisible Primary’. Stay tuned for more parts and metrics on the numerics of February 5, 2008.