On Tuesday night, as I looked around the Ottumwa High School cafeteria, there were excited faces of first-time caucus goers. Then there were veteran caucus attendees like Dan Smith and Steve Eaton, who had come because they are concerned about the direction the country is heading, and see the caucus as an opportunity to have a voice in changing that direction. Dan Smith shares that he is here to support Michelle Bachmann. Why? “Because she seems real. What you see is what you get”, Smith believes. “There isn’t any artifice about her”.
Eric and Charity Reyman brought their elementary aged children to their first caucus. The children were bug-eyed with the political chaos around them. However, with Republican County Chair, Trudy Caviness at the helm, it’s organized chaos, and caucus goers quickly recognized the system.
Ever-present press was scoping the room, and I had only begun to interview Mallory Ogbomo, and Stuart Murray, volunteers from Truman University, when a reporter with a bigger camera nabs Murray for a television interview. So I turn to Mallory and ask her why she’s here. She’s young and new to the Iowa political process. She glows with excitement. There are already more than 300 people milling the large cafeteria and a line reaches out the door as voters line up to register.
In the last three weeks, I’ve met Gov. Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Ann Romney and Rick Santorum. I regret that I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney to date. At every turn in this political road, voters have mentioned one of these names as one of their top two favorite candidates.
Those who’ve met him, call Ron Paul different, more centralist, not afraid to make a few waves, not necessarily the traditional conservative candidate. I’ve heard Mitt Romney referred to as an Obama clone, Newt Gingrich referred to as a Washington insider who can’t be trusted.
If I were going to choose my favorite contender based simply on personal charisma and personal character, I have truly been most impressed with Michelle Bachman. She looks you in the eye when she shakes your hand. She doesn’t let the press of scheduling intrude on that moment of personal contact with a potential voter. She tells you what she believes in, what she stands for, and that she’s real. “What you see is what you get.”
I regret that Bachman’s campaign surged in the beginning and floundered in the end. One could wish it had been the other way around. After Bachmann, I’ve connected most with Rick Santorum. Santorum’s political agenda seems to be rooted in the reality of what it’s going to take to get the job done. Problems in Washington D.C. didn’t happen overnight, and they won’t be fixed over night.
Tuesday night was a historic moment in Wapello County with more than 1,000 voters filling the Ottumwa High School Auditorium as the caucus gets under way. I can’t help but reflect on the young me, who back in 1967 attended her first presidential caucus here. With stars in my eyes, I had enthusiastically climbed on Robert Kennedy’s campaign wagon, only to experience my first political ‘bucket of cold water’ when Kennedy was assassinated at a campaign event in California.
After I’d shed my tears, Kennedy’s assassination on the heels of his brother’s, actually energized me. I was galvanized to dive into the political process and to the best of my ability, stand up for what the Kennedy’s stood for. I’m still energized, galvanized, enthused by the political process with all its rich tradition 40-plus years later.