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Why, oh, why, Iowa?
Except for savage political opportunists, and those vile wretches
in the 'media' who are doomed to cover them, few sensible people
would ever visit the state of Iowa in the middle of winter. The
food is often terminal, the cold is piercing. We're not talking
about playful chilliness that numbs your fingers and fogs your
breath. Iowa's deep freeze paralyses your ears, and kills camera
batteries. We were two minute away from going live into the 6 pm
News last night when, after 30 minutes in
nine-degrees-below-zero-cold, the camera battery died.
Then my cell phone battery died.
Sadly, I survived. I'm getting in an apology early if we fail again tonight. Blame General Winter. Hitler's Wehrmacht couldn't beat him, so how can I?
Cold, and poor diet aside, we're all here to find out who the next Republican presidential nominee might be. How? By attending caucuses. What's a caucus? It's a group of registered Republicans, one of many spread through Iowa's 99 counties. They say the pledge of Allegiance to the flag, then vote in a secret ballot. The votes are tabulated. A winner is announced.
Dunedin-born Naomi Thomasee of Des Moines is a Republican. She's confused by some of the social conservatism that is associated with Republican politics. Robo-callers with voice messages from candidates keep phoning her house, and announcing they're pro-life. They weren't doing this a couple of weeks ago. It's a clear pitch to the conservative Christian voters that make up a sizeable bloc in Iowa.
"Why is abortion an issue?" Naomi asks, "isn't the economy the issue?"
This shows the breadth of the Republican party. It's always been
a widely-pitched tent.
Is a caucus scientific? Not really. Does it work? Always, except
when it fails. In fact the caucuses have had some mixed success.
Generally regarded as being good at picking Democrats, the belief
is that it's less accurate at finding successful Republican
presidential candidates. The last time a bloom of Iowa flourished
in the White House was George W. Bush. To be fair to Iowa, he did
stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for some time.
Although Iowa may not always pick winners, it does pick losers. You can guarantee that Mitt Romney will be at the next caucus in New Hampshire. He's picked to win it comfortably. Perhaps those in the lower half of the results in Iowa will make brisk pugnacious speeches and then head home, their presidential hopes extinguished.
"It's not like last time," growled Ratko, his face a mask of tiredness and Glenlivet, "it's boring!" Ratko was referring to the 2008 contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Ratko's the Serbian shooter I've written about before. He has legendary status amongst connoisseurs of poor behavior. Earlier in the evening, he'd ticked off a maître d' for fawning over a cable news king while his glass went unfilled.
After a shouting match, he decamped, clutching his pork chop in
a paper bag. He'd had enough.
"It's the principle," sniffed Ratko. "It was cocktail hour."
The consensus in the bar of the Holiday Inn where Ratko and journalists, producers, and shooters gathered to commiserate after a day in the trenches was that the real winner so far has been indecision. The local paper reports that 41 per cent of Republicans, as of yesterday, hadn't made up their minds.
We could have stayed late, but after the battery failure we begged off and headed to our own digs. Ice crystals had formed on the roof of our car in a matter of hours. They lay about the grass at the hotel, and the paths. They looked like a shower of diamonds.
Read more Tim Wilson opinion here.
What do you think of the US Presidential race so
far? Have your say on our messageboard below.
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Add a Comment:
Post new commentjohnnybravo said on 2012-01-10 @ 18:40 NZDT: Report abusive post
As a Kiwi, I thought Tim Wilson would give a non-bias toward the candidates of the GOP race. But even here, in little old New Zealand, we have no mention of the real candidate, who is for real change: Dr Ron Paul. All Tim Wilson does is push the mainstream media agenda! Shame on you One News! Shame on you Tim Wilson for failing to see the real story! RON PAUL 2012!
laurielozza said on 2012-01-05 @ 21:58 NZDT: Report abusive post
you ommitted to mention Dr Ron Pauls success as the only candidate for real change (for the better) to be head to head with Romney. Santorum had taken a late leap but his limited funds and weak campaign may well see him out of the picture. With Ron Paul earning over 20% in the polls, he has a very good chance in becoming the next President so far.
kotiromaori said on 2012-01-04 @ 22:55 NZDT: Report abusive post
Listened to Tim Wilson on One News earlier today. Couldn't help but sense he had a leaning towards a particular nominee. I guess he now wishes he could take back what he said about Romney. Obviously, even when 99% of the votes have been counted with Santorum ahead, one just never can tell in US politics, now can one? Thought Tim would have known that.