Dusky Terry is the latest in a series of aides to former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s presidential campaign to sign up with Hillary Clinton, the Democrat’s campaign announced today. Terry, 31, was the caucus director for Vilsack’s short-lived presidential campaign after working in Vilsack’s administration, first as a policy adviser and subsequently policy director. He also ran […]
Two new surveys of likely Iowa caucusgoers show Democrat John Edwards and Republican Mitt Romney leading their respective party’s for the 2008 presidential caucuses. The polls, touchtone responses to automatically dialed telephone numbers, were conducted by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C. The Democrat survey showed Edwards, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, with support from […]
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver launched a new Web site today that focuses on the reasons why Iowa is the first presidential caucus state. Iowa Caucus 2008: First in the Nation at www.IowaCaucus.org is a statewide, non-partisan resource for news media, campaign staff and the general public on the Iowa Caucuses. The Iowa Caucuses give us an opportunity […]
Republican presidential candidate John McCain held a narrow lead among Iowa caucusgoers, according to a poll published today by American Research Group. The Arizona senator was the choice of 25 percent of Iowa’s GOP caucusgoers, followed by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 23 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was in third place with 16 […]
Former state Sen. Jeff Lamberti has endorsed Republican John McCain’s for president, and will serve as co-chairman of the Arizona senator’s campaign for the Iowa caucuses, aides said today. Lamberti, of Ankeny, was a two-term state senator and former Senate president before running unsuccessfully for Congress last year. Lamberti joins former U.S. Rep. Greg Ganske of Des […]
Former President Jimmy Carter, in Iowa last week, told an Iowa City audience about his rise from obscurity to victory in the 1976 Iowa caucuses. Carter recalled that his campaign was too broke to afford hotel rooms, so he and his staff members slept in supporters’ homes. “When I came to Iowa, nobody knew who I was […]
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani’s campaign manager declined to say today whether the former New York mayor would compete for support in the Ames straw poll, scheduled for August. “We’re 100 percent committed to playing in the caucuses, at this point,” Giuliani manager Mike DuHaime said during a conference call when asked if competing in the […]
A gaggle of Republican presidential candidates is headed to Iowa for the Republican Party of Iowa’s Abraham Lincoln Unity dinner this weekend. It’s a big deal in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. But don’t expect to see U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the state’s senior member of the GOP. Asked today by reporters what his role will be in […]
EASTERN IOWA POLITICS– Iowa’s population is much smaller than New York, California, Florida or Texas.
But, for more than 30 years, presidential politics have made our state their top priority. Now, some fear that may change.
Iowa’s tradition of hosting the first-in-the-nation caucuses has benefited our state for decades. On Saturday, Nevada announced plans to move up its caucus.
A string of other states are also threatening to move their primary or caucus before Iowa’s. Nearly every major 2008 presidential hopeful has already set foot in Iowa this year.
“It’s a good cross-section of all of America. We’re the heartland of America,” Mike Robinson, chair of the Linn County Democrats, said.
The main reason candidates come here is because they want to do well in the Iowa caucuses.
“Iowa has a very diverse political population. It gives a good sampling,” Janet Johnson, executive member of the Linn County Republicans, said.
Other states say they have just as much to offer. As many as 20 states are trying to move up their caucus or primary.
“People are more aware of the importance of the elections. We have more of a world economy… more of a world community, and America is a very big player in that,” Johnson said.
Now, Iowa must play defense. The caucuses generate tens of millions of dollars for Iowa every four years. They also benefit people in the state personally because almost everyone has a chance to meet the presidential candidates.
Of course, there’s a political plus, too.
“We’re worried people would not campaign here if we’re not number one. If we become a secondary state, they might just say we’re going to campaign in Florida, New York, California, where all the voters are,” Robinson said.
Republicans and Democrats are uniting to ensure Iowa’s number-one rank remains the same.
“We’re working together just because we all recognize the importance of what Iowa has to offer,” Johnson said.
“You have an engaged voter. You have a more savvy voter. They’re great to campaign to for those reasons,” Robinson aid.
Both parties promise they won’t let any other state steal the number-one spot.
Iowa has a state law that requires our caucuses to be held before New Hampshire’s primary.
But now that Nevada has moved up in front of New Hampshire… Iowa may have to adjust its law to remain first.
Notre Dame students are voicing strong political opinions as the 2004 campaign opens in Iowa today, reflecting an unusual contingent in an era when a high number of college students and their peers are not registered to vote.
According to the Federal Election Commission, 18- to 24-year-olds have been significantly under-represented in presidential elections. However, many Notre Dame students are registered to vote and are actively following the 2004 campaign. The first caucus takes place in Iowa today, where the College Democrats are currently working on behalf of Sen. John Edwards.
Casey Fitzmaurice, president of the College Democrats, organized the trip to Iowa to support Edwards in association with Nick Smith from Purdue.
“There’s a group of 34 of us from Indiana,” Fitzmaurice said Sunday. “We’re going door-to-door campaigning, handing out literature and talking to [caucus voters] about why John Edwards should be the next president.”
Fitzmaurice said that interest in participating in the caucus came from a variety of campus sources.
“There was a huge response from students at Notre Dame - the College Democrats, political science students, John Edwards fans and people who just wanted to see the caucus,” she said.
“[The caucus] is going to be exciting, anything could happen,” she added. “The Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest paper, is calling it a four-way dead heat between [John] Kerry, [Richard] Gephardt and [Howard] Dean.”
For Notre Dame students who are Iowa natives, involvement in the caucus can also include casting a vote.
“I’m a registered Republican,” said Christopher Disbro, a freshman from Waukee, Iowa. “I did my own research, decided what I liked and what I didn’t, and registered accordingly. It was an independent decision. I haven’t gone to [the Iowa caucus] lately, but living in an important area has made me more politically aware.”
Freshman Steve Cartwright pointed out the caucus’s vital role in foreshadowing the campaign’s coming months.
“It’s actually really important to support a strong candidate in Iowa, as the caucus tends to set the tone for the entire election,” Cartwright said. “If a strong front-runner emerges, the country’s undecided voters tend to lean in his or her direction.”
Cartwright is in the process of registering to vote via the non-profit Rock the Vote! initiative.
“I should be a card-carrying Democrat by the time the 2004 presidential election rolls around,” he said. “With any luck, I’ll be voting in the Pennsylvania primary via absentee ballot this April.”
Rock the Vote! is one of many programs in place to register young voters.
“I went to renew my driver’s license when I turned 21, and they asked me if I wanted to register [to vote],” said junior Chris Henschen. “I never really made an effort to do it. I’m not following anyone yet, but I’ll probably start watching the election this summer.”
For freshman Ryan Iafigliola, the registration process was relatively simple, but actually voting has proven more difficult.
“They came to my high school, set up a both, and I registered,” said Ohio native Iafigliola. “It’s tricky to vote [while in college] because I don’t live at home and have to request an absentee ballot.”
Freshman Clare Charbonnet also registered at her high school when her government teacher passed out registration forms. “[My teacher] said that anyone who didn’t vote didn’t have the right to complain about the government - and I complain a lot,” Charbonnet said.
Despite these students’ efforts, the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement (PACE), affiliated with Salisbury University, reports that on the average, the voter’s registration level of college students is 16 percent lower than that of the total voting age population. In 1972, the 26th Amendment granted suffrage to 18- to 24- year-olds for the first time. However, in recent years the media has emphasized a decrease in social activism among young adults.
Even with this negative stereotype, Notre Dame students remain involved in the political process. Fitzmaurice and the College Democrats, in association with other organizations on campus, are planning a Rock the Vote! initiative on campus later this semester.
“I am registered to vote [because] I want to have a say in the political system, even though sometimes the most votes doesn’t equal the winner,” said sophomore Matt Frey. “I am not following a candidate as of now, but I do think some of the preliminary Democrats are more qualified than the others.”
Senior Jessica Leibowitz remembers the 2000 election as a big event on campus.
“My friends and I really cared about the election, but it really depended on where you were from, what kind of family you were from, and who your friends were,” she said. “We watched the debates, which were really important, and left the TV on all night, going to bed thinking Gore had won.”
Leibowitz, who voted by absentee ballot, said she thinks television exposure and campus voting drives also contributed to the 2000 election’s publicity.
This year, some potential voters remain unsure if they will participate.
“I’m not registered to vote - I didn’t turn 18 until I got here,” freshman Carolyn White said. “I really don’t know if I’m going to vote yet, and if I do, it will not be for Bush. I think the Notre Dame student body election is more important at present, but whoever gets elected as the U.S. president will still be in office when we graduate, and his [or her] presidency will greatly shape the economy and job market.”
White said that campaign platforms in 2004 will greatly affect the lives of Notre Dame students as they look forward to the future.
“At the national level, students should be interested in candidates who support increased federal aid to college students, take gutsy positions on protecting civil rights, and address the problems that we saw in high school and that our children will see - like aggressive positions on drug and gun control,” Cartwright said.
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