Ignore the National Democratic Party and just announce Iowa is going first. We don't need their permission anymore than Trump needs the mainstream media. We don't have enough delegates to make any difference later and if our delegates do make a difference, the candidates who needs the votes will fight over those delegates and Iowa will have a second power play in addition to the Iowa caucuses. Under the leadership of the National Democratic Party, Republicans control everything. They cost Hillary Clinton the election and gave us Trump by driving Bernie Sanders voters away.
If Iowa makes it clear it is going first, candidates will be here. I don't care what the National Democratic Party says. I don't even care what the candidates say. At the very least the Iowa caucuses will be the mother of all straw polls. If you build it, they will come. Seems like I've heard that somewhere before.
Iowa is one of few states with competitive House races that can't be gerrymandered. When we had active caucuses, Iowa elected Democrats and lots of them. I also don't care what the census says about where voters are located. Anyone who has driven around the Des Moines area lately knows we have more voters in one of dozens of new apartment complexes and housing developments than rural Iowa has in their entire county. Furthermore, why can't Democrats get votes in rural Iowa where their schools are threatened, wages are low, hospitals are closing and they are drinking poison water and contracting or dying of cancer at alarming rates?
Don't count on the National Democratic Party to do what is best for Democrats. It is an organization that is struggling to stay relevant. When you think of organizations in the fight to save democracy or elect Democrats in Iowa or anywhere, who has the National Democratic Party at the top of their list? Nobody is coming to save us. This resistance starts and ends with individuals who just aren't going to take this crap anymore. If that requires trampling the National Democratic Party when it gets in the way of the resistane, so be it.
It seems like you are assuming the top presidential candidates will campaign here, even if Iowa defies the DNC calendar. I don't think any of them will risk sanctions (e.g. being excluded from televised debates) in order to come do the old-fashioned Iowa caucus campaign events.
The glory days of the Iowa Democratic caucuses are not coming back, even if we try to make it happen.
ALL of them will eventually campaign here if it serves their interests. Being excluded from a debate isn't much of a sanction. I doubt it will actually happen. Gavin Newsom isn't going to be excluded from a debate if he campaigns in Iowa. Have you watched any of those debates with a dozen people on stage? :). Trump blew off some debates and it did nothing but help him.
It would be worth going first even if none of the candidates came here. Does anyone seriously think the candidate who finishes first or second in the Iowa caucuses isn't going to mention that in New Hampshire or when polls show a close race in Iowa candidates aren't going to try to win here? The media isn't going to cover the first state wide election event of the cycle just because the NDP doesn't sanction it? The fact we go rogue makes it even more of a story. We have all seen candidates spend thousands of dollars in Iowa over a straw poll at a chicken dinner. There is no chance the first contest is going to be ignored by overzealous horse race journalists.
I don't see a downside in going first. What influence does Iowa have if we don't? I'm also not convinced having South Carolina early in the process just because Joe Biden did well there makes much sense when we are losing presidential elections with swing voters in the rural Midwest and Republicans who do go first in Iowa are talking to those voters for a year or more.
Wow, so much detailed information. Thanks again, Laura.
Thanks for reading and sharing! I try to pack as much as possible into 30 minutes.
Ignore the National Democratic Party and just announce Iowa is going first. We don't need their permission anymore than Trump needs the mainstream media. We don't have enough delegates to make any difference later and if our delegates do make a difference, the candidates who needs the votes will fight over those delegates and Iowa will have a second power play in addition to the Iowa caucuses. Under the leadership of the National Democratic Party, Republicans control everything. They cost Hillary Clinton the election and gave us Trump by driving Bernie Sanders voters away.
If Iowa makes it clear it is going first, candidates will be here. I don't care what the National Democratic Party says. I don't even care what the candidates say. At the very least the Iowa caucuses will be the mother of all straw polls. If you build it, they will come. Seems like I've heard that somewhere before.
Iowa is one of few states with competitive House races that can't be gerrymandered. When we had active caucuses, Iowa elected Democrats and lots of them. I also don't care what the census says about where voters are located. Anyone who has driven around the Des Moines area lately knows we have more voters in one of dozens of new apartment complexes and housing developments than rural Iowa has in their entire county. Furthermore, why can't Democrats get votes in rural Iowa where their schools are threatened, wages are low, hospitals are closing and they are drinking poison water and contracting or dying of cancer at alarming rates?
Don't count on the National Democratic Party to do what is best for Democrats. It is an organization that is struggling to stay relevant. When you think of organizations in the fight to save democracy or elect Democrats in Iowa or anywhere, who has the National Democratic Party at the top of their list? Nobody is coming to save us. This resistance starts and ends with individuals who just aren't going to take this crap anymore. If that requires trampling the National Democratic Party when it gets in the way of the resistane, so be it.
It seems like you are assuming the top presidential candidates will campaign here, even if Iowa defies the DNC calendar. I don't think any of them will risk sanctions (e.g. being excluded from televised debates) in order to come do the old-fashioned Iowa caucus campaign events.
The glory days of the Iowa Democratic caucuses are not coming back, even if we try to make it happen.
ALL of them will eventually campaign here if it serves their interests. Being excluded from a debate isn't much of a sanction. I doubt it will actually happen. Gavin Newsom isn't going to be excluded from a debate if he campaigns in Iowa. Have you watched any of those debates with a dozen people on stage? :). Trump blew off some debates and it did nothing but help him.
It would be worth going first even if none of the candidates came here. Does anyone seriously think the candidate who finishes first or second in the Iowa caucuses isn't going to mention that in New Hampshire or when polls show a close race in Iowa candidates aren't going to try to win here? The media isn't going to cover the first state wide election event of the cycle just because the NDP doesn't sanction it? The fact we go rogue makes it even more of a story. We have all seen candidates spend thousands of dollars in Iowa over a straw poll at a chicken dinner. There is no chance the first contest is going to be ignored by overzealous horse race journalists.
I don't see a downside in going first. What influence does Iowa have if we don't? I'm also not convinced having South Carolina early in the process just because Joe Biden did well there makes much sense when we are losing presidential elections with swing voters in the rural Midwest and Republicans who do go first in Iowa are talking to those voters for a year or more.