Politics Anyone?

The November elections had barely ended before the political ramp-up to the 2008 presidential election began. Our former governor actually started it, kicking off his presidential campaign by early December, but many of the other candidates soon followed.

By this time (less than 300 days before the caucuses!) you can pretty spend every weekend attending political rallies, town meetings, lectures, or "home visits" if you really want to, though some of them are invitation-only. The local news broadcasts keep us up to date on when which candidates will be where, and on any given weekend there are probably at least three different ones to choose from. And of course the ever present political commercials have already begun (an anti-McCain ad from moveon.org and a pro-Romney ad so far)

Barack & Hillary have already been to this area several times, as has McCain. Edwards has practically lived here for a year or more already, and now the others are starting to catch up. Biden was here last weekend, and Guiliani's first visit is scheduled for early April.

In some ways it's exciting to have the opportunity to get to know the candidates so well. It's exciting to feel like your opinion and vote matter so much, to be courted so obviously. But it's only March. I have a feeling that by the time the caucus rolls around I'll be over the excitement that's currently in the air.

There's another side to it though. In many ways it feels so insincere for the candidates to be pandering to Iowans so obviously and so soon. Since moving here I've learned all too well that our state is practically invisible to the rest of the country. Most states at least have some kind of reputation, even if it isn't a good one, but I would argue that lots of people from the coasts and many states in between would have a hard time pointing Iowa out on a map, let alone knowing anything else about it. I suppose it's a positive of our electoral system that we have such a large impact on the presidential races, but it's hard to take the candidates' promises too seriously when we know that the only reason they spend any time here at all is because we have the first caucus slot.

How much time do you think the candidates spend in North or South Dakota? Montana? Utah? Kansas? I'm sure they'll all make an effort to stop by at some point, but our timing is the only thing that makes us so special. Once they have the nomination or the office, how much attention do we get then? I realize that the more populous areas of the country often demand more attention, and that's fine, but it's often hard to believe that any of the national politicians will think much about Iowa unless it's election time.

So in addition to my firm refusal to belong to any political party, I'm viewing the flurry of political activity with a large dose of scepticism. I know you need me now, but where will you be when I need you?

Another time I'll talk about the caucuses themselves, which rock! I'd rather caucus than vote in a primary any day.