On caucus night, Iowans may not always do the best job of identifying the eventual presidential nominee for each party, but one Iowa State University professor says Iowa does serve an important role in the nomination process — Iowans help weed out the candidates unfit for the office.
“We do a good job of knocking people out who would not be a good president,” said Mack Shelley, chair of political science at Iowa State.
Shelley was part of a four-person panel Tuesday night at the Ames Public Library, featuring experts from Iowa State discussing the importance of the Iowa Caucuses with less than two weeks until the big night. About 20 people attended the forum.
Shelley, who does interviews with media outlets from across the country, says he is often asked why Iowa is the first caucus in the nation, when the state is often labeled too white or too rural to give a good representative of the country.
“In the end, it was kind of an accident that Iowa was first,” Shelley said. “Somebody has to be first.”
Because of Iowa’s important role, Associate Scientist with the Department of Economics David Swenson said agriculture policies and ethanol become more important issues for candidates to address.
“We got ag issues predominately attended to. If you came (to Iowa) you had to kiss a pig and you had to go out on a farm,” Swenson said.
Angie Hunt, Communications Specialist with ISU News Services, shared her stories from her time as a reporter with KCCI covering the Iowa caucuses.
“It’s an experience like no other for a reporter,” Hunt said.
In 2008, Hunt said she was allowed to travel on Hillary Clinton’s campaign bus for a 10-minute interview during a campaign trip through Iowa. What Hunt didn’t know was after her 10 minutes was up, her crew had to get off of the bus so Clinton could speak with donors and other waiting to speak with her. The campaign bus stopped and Hunt was left out alongside the side of the highway until an intern picked her up.
“My time was up, so it was time to go,” Hunt said.
Overall, Hunt said national coverage of the Iowa Caucuses this year has cast a positive light on the state, showing respect for the voters and the caucus process.
Also contributing to the campaign messaging are campaign ads, which Dianne Bystorm, director of the Carrie Chapman Center for Women and Politics, said have been mixed this year.
From a research prospective, Bystorm said she thought highly of the Ben Carson ad “These Hands,” which includes no dialogue but messages written on people’s hands.
“I think that is one of the best ads I’ve ever seen,” Bystorm said.
For other candidates, Bystorm said Sen. Ted Cruz is good at the traditional, speaking directly to the camera ads, and Hillary Clinton offers the most variety in style of ads.
“The (Donald) Trump ads are not good, but his supporters don’t seem to care at all,” Bystorm said.
Heading into the Iowa Caucuses, the panel outlined the differences between the Democrat and Republican caucus systems, answering questions for curious first-time caucus-goers. Bystorm said while the Republican caucus is similar to a straw poll, the Democrat caucus is a very public process and much more interactive.
“This makes the democratic caucus very difficult to determine by polling,” Bystorm said.
By Sarina Rhinehart, Ames Tribune, Iowa
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