An Iowa caucuses tradition worth keeping: Conversations among neighbors
"First in the nation" status isn't the last word in what matters most about our grassroots political legacy.
Iowa caucuses math is notoriously cumbersome, but let’s focus on just one figure: 50.
For 50 years, Iowa has basked in our prestige as the starting line of presidential nominations.
A half century of tradition is difficult to let slip away, especially for a flyover state that has clung to our responsibility of vetting candidates for the world’s most powerful job. By requiring presidential hopefuls to sit on a straw bale before they take a seat behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, sometimes we convince ourselves that we’re able to peer into their very souls.
As a native Iowan, I’ve spilled as much ink as anybody extoling Iowa’s practical wisdom rooted in our agricultural heritage. I also appreciate a political landscape that emphasizes rural retail politics over giant ad buys in a major city.
But ultimately no state necessarily deserves to be the quadrennial starting line for the presidential race—especially as a legacy crown jewel handed down for generations.
The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee on Dec. 2 voted to reshuffle its nominating calendar. More ethnically diverse South Carolina goes first, and Iowa isn’t even among the early states. This ushered in the apparent end of an era. The caucus tabulating trials of 2020—Google “2020 Iowa caucuses,” and “debacle” is a popular word choice in headlines—sealed our fate, however you allocate responsibility among state and national party officials.
Meanwhile, Republicans have pledged to forge ahead with Iowa as first in the nation. And we can expect plenty more jockeying among states before 2024. But the strict DNC penalties for candidates who defy rules may be a game-changer.
For decades I covered the caucuses—watching Democrats scatter into separate corners for their headcount or Republicans (in their simpler primaries) toss slips of paper into 5-gallon buckets.
Two years ago, one of the more colorful caucus sites was the Hayloft, a folksy bar and grill in the small southwest Iowa town of Grant, population 85. This was the Hayloft’s political debut—its first and likely last moment in the caucuses spotlight. I’ve visited the Hayloft in my travels but wasn’t there in 2020. But my mind drifted to the Hayloft this past week during the furor of commentary from all sides.
The rural barroom was showcased as a model of bipartisan goodwill because owner Zelda Swartz happens to be a Republican.
“I wasn’t in the back mixing with them as they were doing their thing,” Swartz clarified earlier this week, but she was happy to have provided space for 23 fellow Iowans and their democratic ritual.
Barb Nelson of rural Stanton was among the local Democrats in the back room (where, no, Joe Biden wasn’t viable). She and her husband, Chris, live on a farm in rural Stanton where they tend to a breeding stock of Simmental and Angus cattle.
She’s been thinking a lot about the caucuses, too, dwelling most of all on neighbors “sitting down and talking about issues and candidates.”
Those conversations are what I cherish most about this Iowa tradition: We tend to get pigeonholed as a passive-aggressive state that seethes beneath a fake veneer of “Iowa nice.” But with these party events we managed to make civic disagreement and debate a worthy centerpiece.
Consider how much all of us now complain about the hyper politization and extreme polarization of local issues. We often feel hapless as so many of our civic bodies—school boards, city councils, etc.—get caught up in the national culture wars, letting algorithm-driven outrage thwart local progress.
In my experience, the best of the caucuses made us uncomfortable in all the right ways so that we confronted issues and came to terms with each other as neighbors who could still work together.
True, we probably focused too much on the celebrity of the caucuses. I met everybody from Wayne Newton to Leonardo DiCaprio because they visited Iowa to campaign. I witnessed how the causes were at least a modest tourism draw beyond the national media and campaign workers: I encountered European political tourists at a rural Iowa coffeeshop who showed up for then-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum as if taking their seats at an off-Broadway show.
“It really was fun to meet all those people and get involved and talk face to face with those candidates,” Nelson said. “But it really sapped the energy from local races.”
That thread has been highlighted in multiple caucuses post-mortems: Whatever energy and cash infusion the caucuses represented, maybe they’ve also warped sensibilities to the detriment of Iowa’s grassroots politics.
Obsession with the presidential horserace arguably hasn’t helped. No matter who designed or deployed the Democrats’ app in 2020, it was yet another tool applied to a system built around local deliberation, not around instant results provided to a global audience perched on the edge of its seat.
The caucuses were inconvenient by design. When people say that the caucuses should be more accessible to Iowans, I agree: I want to see the public conversation enabled by the caucuses become more accessible—not only the vote.
As it was, the conversation often got lost in the din. In 2016, the State Historical Building in downtown Des Moines saw multiple precincts swarm into various corners of the building—including more than 400 people crammed into the auditorium. The atmosphere ended up more circus than substantive discussion.
Looking ahead, Nelson is among a group of local Democrats brainstorming ways to get back to the roots of clear caucus conversations—with or without first-in-the-nation status. She meets weekly with a group called Southwest Activists.
“Those neighbor-to-neighbor, person-to-person conversations are so important,” she said.
“We’re hoping we can become more tuned in to Iowa.”
No state necessarily deserves to be the starting line on the road to the White House, but every state in a healthy democracy deserves good civil discourse among neighbors over issues.
One way or another, caucus conversation is a tradition worth keeping.
Read and hear more about the shifting Iowa caucuses calendar:
Laura Belin: “How Iowa Democrats could have saved the Iowa caucuses.”
Art Cullen: “Democrats to Iowa: Drop dead.”
Robert Leonard: “Leave the Iowa caucuses alone.”
Barry Piatt: “Iowa Democrats should ignore DNC on caucuses.”
Dan Piller: “Musings from a first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus critic.”
Ed Tibbetts: “Biden’s move to replace Iowa.”
“Hacks on Tap” podcast: Hosts David Axelrod and Mike Murphy were joined by Mo Elleithee, a member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee, for a discussion of both the Georgia Senate runoff and the reconfigured presidential nomination calendar that demotes Iowa.
Worth keeping and wroth sharing. What virtues or benefits have Iowa caucuses offer other states' primaries? What is so special?
Iowa offers campaigning without having to invest millions in TV ads.
Kyle wrote how Iowa emphasizes rural retail politics over giant ad buys in a major city. Ms. Gammack wrote " It’s sad to think about how much more money it will take to be competitive in a primary state. Art Cullen raisied issues about rural America being ignored. Will new primary (mostly) systems ignore rural America.
What is worth keeping and sharing? The organizing 'virtue' of Iowa caucuses is important because grass roots organizing has been erratic in recent years in Iowa, maybe most of rural America. .
Will primaries be just as thoughtful? Candidates are asked in Iowa about national and international issues, from war and hunger to human rights and civil rights. Somehow people who never attended a caucus think all we do is talk corn and bean prices. I would compare our caucus platforms against any of those other early states, including our clarity, strength, and history on diversity issues.
Caucuses talked solutions. Here are three of mine: 1. Iowa should offer to change to Nevada caucus system, or at least adopt its strengths. 2. Iowa should recommend rotational early states, while we are it. 3. Going forward, Iowa must focus on values and virtues in whatever direction the caucuses take.
Kyle, thank for this thoughtful summary of the caucuses. I think of all the Iowans who ended up working in Washington because they became involved early with a relatively unknown candidate who made it to the top job or a coveted cabinet post. It’s sad to think about how much more money it will take to be competitive in a primary state. It’s a loss for the state and small ‘d’ democracy.