A friend returning from the winter wonderland of Iowa provides details of the political landscape outside of the Big Media Bubble there. (Full Disclosure: He was campaigning for Obama.)
No Wonder She’s Losing: Hillary’s ground game in Iowa was staffed by regiments of ‘alpha females’ — upper middle-class white women who were described as rude and pushy — the kind of tone-deaf “you there, do it now!” people accustomed to getting their way. They were nearly as bad as the gloriously bored and spoiled-rotten representatives of the Big Media (BM). None of this went over well with the polite and laid-back Iowans; Hill’s obnoxious advance team cost her votes among the pork-fed peasantry. It was also difficult to have a conversation with the Hillary Army, as they only spoke in Talking Points: “Want to get some coffee?” “Sen. Clinton has a program to control coffee importation and help the American worker while preserving international free trade!” Worst of all, for reasons known only to themselves, the Clinton campaign was PAYING people to show up at her events. My friend encountered several Iowans who were given money to listen to Hillary speak. None of this looks good if she expects the Hillary the Candidate pilot to one day become The Truman Show.
Lowdown on Edwards: He’s less impressive in person than on TV and the man sure do blink a lot. (He and McCain should have a showdown.) He is often angry when he speaks, but, up close, it seems insincere and manufactured. (Of course, he has given the same stump speech hundreds, if not thousands, of times.) He also has the tendency to occasionally stick out his tongue and lick his lower lip, which makes him look like a frog trolling for flies. While he was attracting enthusiastic Iowa audiences, they mostly tended to be middle-aged white men who appeared to eat every super-sized lunch at Burger King. Edwards has been running for president for about six years now, and the strain is beginning to tell on both him and his wife. Campaigning on a shoestring budget, he’s been basically living in Iowa for four years and probably knows half the population by name. He did better there than the BM predicted — they were all but ignoring him in the closing days, focusing on the Obama/Clinton horserace — but was bitterly disappointed he didn’t win. But he’s an optimist — on to New Hampshire!
Dennis the Menace to Himself: Kucinich has a great progressive voting record, respect for the Constitution, and a bunch of good ideas, but a tendency to sabotage himself by doing wacky things in public events, like babbling about being a vegan (no one asked) or breaking into Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons” during a speech. Also should have handled Russert’s ‘gotcha’ UFO question better by turning it back on Rusty’s Boy Timmy and exposing it for what it was — a trick to make Dennis seem crazy and his policies irrelevant. Some of the BM have frozen him out because they were ordered to do so by their employers; others ignore him because they think he’s nuts. Either way, he’s not getting any free media and can’t afford the kind you pay for. His biggest problem is he doesn’t seem to take himself seriously as a presidential candidate — and it shows.
Finally, The Obama-Rama: Rock star Barack didn’t have to pay anyone to show up to hear him speak — he’s a bona fide Oprah-sanctioned Celebrity, so even those who didn’t vote for him hung around to take pictures. He was pulling in crowds from every strata of class and income, but he especially excited the under 30 demo. The GOP secretly wishes Barack would nail down the Dem nomination, since they think they can beat him easily, but they may discover the truth of that old axiom about being careful what you wish for, because it looks like he’s going to get it, and the Obama landslide rolling in right behind it.
The Tattlesnake — Iowa Confidential: Final Notes Edition
A friend returning from the winter wonderland of Iowa provides details of the political landscape outside of the Big Media Bubble there. (Full Disclosure: He was campaigning for Obama.)
No Wonder She’s Losing: Hillary’s ground game in Iowa was staffed by regiments of ‘alpha females’ — upper middle-class white women who were described as rude and pushy — the kind of tone-deaf “you there, do it now!” people accustomed to getting their way. They were nearly as bad as the gloriously bored and spoiled-rotten representatives of the Big Media (BM). None of this went over well with the polite and laid-back Iowans; Hill’s obnoxious advance team cost her votes among the pork-fed peasantry. It was also difficult to have a conversation with the Hillary Army, as they only spoke in Talking Points: “Want to get some coffee?” “Sen. Clinton has a program to control coffee importation and help the American worker while preserving international free trade!” Worst of all, for reasons known only to themselves, the Clinton campaign was PAYING people to show up at her events. My friend encountered several Iowans who were given money to listen to Hillary speak. None of this looks good if she expects the Hillary the Candidate pilot to one day become The Truman Show.
Lowdown on Edwards: He’s less impressive in person than on TV and the man sure do blink a lot. (He and McCain should have a showdown.) He is often angry when he speaks, but, up close, it seems insincere and manufactured. (Of course, he has given the same stump speech hundreds, if not thousands, of times.) He also has the tendency to occasionally stick out his tongue and lick his lower lip, which makes him look like a frog trolling for flies. While he was attracting enthusiastic Iowa audiences, they mostly tended to be middle-aged white men who appeared to eat every super-sized lunch at Burger King. Edwards has been running for president for about six years now, and the strain is beginning to tell on both him and his wife. Campaigning on a shoestring budget, he’s been basically living in Iowa for four years and probably knows half the population by name. He did better there than the BM predicted — they were all but ignoring him in the closing days, focusing on the Obama/Clinton horserace — but was bitterly disappointed he didn’t win. But he’s an optimist — on to New Hampshire!
Dennis the Menace to Himself: Kucinich has a great progressive voting record, respect for the Constitution, and a bunch of good ideas, but a tendency to sabotage himself by doing wacky things in public events, like babbling about being a vegan (no one asked) or breaking into Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons” during a speech. Also should have handled Russert’s ‘gotcha’ UFO question better by turning it back on Rusty’s Boy Timmy and exposing it for what it was — a trick to make Dennis seem crazy and his policies irrelevant. Some of the BM have frozen him out because they were ordered to do so by their employers; others ignore him because they think he’s nuts. Either way, he’s not getting any free media and can’t afford the kind you pay for. His biggest problem is he doesn’t seem to take himself seriously as a presidential candidate — and it shows.
Finally, The Obama-Rama: Rock star Barack didn’t have to pay anyone to show up to hear him speak — he’s a bona fide Oprah-sanctioned Celebrity, so even those who didn’t vote for him hung around to take pictures. He was pulling in crowds from every strata of class and income, but he especially excited the under 30 demo. The GOP secretly wishes Barack would nail down the Dem nomination, since they think they can beat him easily, but they may discover the truth of that old axiom about being careful what you wish for, because it looks like he’s going to get it, and the Obama landslide rolling in right behind it.