On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

(9:30 a.m.) Can’t help but wonder how many Iowans are watching what’s going on in Nevada, Michigan and South Carolina and feeling a bit of longing.

The caucuses have been over for less than two weeks. The presidentials have moved on, and the race is just getting interesting.

In both parties.

The above mentioned states are weighing in, and they’ll be followed by nearly two dozen more on Feb. 5. And, yet, this thing could still be up in the air on Feb. 6.

This, from the Iowa perspective, can’t help but be a good thing. After all, it’s not in Iowa’s long term interests for the state to be seen as ”picking” the nominees. We essentially did that in 2004, and it looked — until New Hampshire — like Iowans might do it again in the Democratic Party this cycle.

Then came the upset — and for the first time in a long time we’re talking about who’s going to win the most delegates, not whose momentum will clear the field.

Reminds me of the 1976 GOP race between Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford that went all the way to the convention. It was a great race I followed, while in high school, like a pennant race.

If more states get a say then there’s going to be less rationale for people like Carl Levin and other Iowa-despisers to upset the current system. Doesn’t mean they won’t try, but this race will give them less ammunition.

That said, it’s an interesting thing to be watching a debate like last night’s Demo forum in Nevada from the sidelines.

There’s less pressure to watch the whole thing, to listen intently for the differences in nuance, to debate the results with friends.

Less pressure. But less relevance, too. Kind of an odd feeling, I think.

This isn’t a complaint. Iowans had the candidates mostly to themselves for months. If it were a Thanksgiving dinner, we’d have had second and third helpings. Now, the rest of the country is being served, too.

After the 2000 and 2004, the dinner was over not long after we were served and a lot of other folks were left wanting.

What’s happening now is a great thing for Iowa. But, more importantly, for the rest of the country.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 8:44 am and is filed under On The Campaign Trail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.