When I covered the Iowa caucuses in 2004, Bill Teaford and his wife, Jane, were in their glory – running clinics on caucus rules, meeting all the candidates and holding forth among the media and the party faithful on all the important issues like they’d been doing ever since Iowa rose like a phoenix (or maybe just a stubborn cornstalk) to presidential nominating pre-eminence in 1972.
Now this time, they’re not about to relinquish all that influence just because some jealous Southerners want a bigger piece of the primary action.
No way.
Like the rest of the earnest Iowa caucus-goers who have been entertaining 2008 presidential hopefuls for more than a year, the Teafords take deadly serious this quadrennial opportunity to bask in the national spotlight.
So, if it means canceling parties and holding the 2008 caucuses on New Year’s Eve, well, Teaford said they’ll just perk another pot of decaf and carry on.
“We’ll be there.”
He recalled one caucus during a gubernatorial election year when there was a monster blizzard and it was bitter cold.
“My wife and I were the only ones there,” he said.
It happens.
“But for a presidential caucus, that’s another thing. People are going to be there, no matter what.”
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has said he’ll resist any move to hold the caucuses in 2007 before the actual election year even begins, but the math isn’t working in his favor.
State law requires that the caucuses be held at least eight days before any other votes are cast in the nominating process. With Florida moving its primary election to Jan. 29, South Carolina Republicans setting their primary for Jan. 19, and New Hampshire responding by scheduling its “first in the nation” primary on Jan. 8, Culver will have to do some maneuvering to avoid an inevitable December caucus night in Iowa.
Meanwhile, Coloradans can only dream of such problems.
Less than 1 percent of eligible voters here attend the caucuses, which usually are held in April after the thrill of the nominating process is long spent.
Given our tradition of irrelevance, presidential candidates rarely bother to come here for anything more than fundraising events until after the party conventions are over.
In contrast, Teaford said Iowans already are getting sick of campaign ads.
“You’d think the general election was next Tuesday,” Teaford said.
The advertising blitz was relentless last week before Saturday’s Republican straw poll, he said.
“We’ve seen a whole lot of Gov. Mitt Romney. And Ron Paul has an absolutely atrocious commercial about abortion on day and night.”
Teaford, a Democratic Party stalwart, describes himself as “the lowest form of political life – a precinct committeeman,” but his wife is a former four-term Iowa state representative, so the couple usually meets all the Democratic hopefuls in the early days of their campaigns.
“So far, I think the only one we haven’t met is (Sen.) Mike Gravel,” he said.
The caucus season began in Iowa on June 14, 2006, when Sen. Joe Biden came to town. By the time Sen. Barack Obama arrived last winter, the frenzy already had snowballed.
“We picked a place that would hold 1,000 people, and 2,000 came,” Teaford said. “We had to park and walk a long way through the snow to sit behind the man on the dais.”
By the time the Iowa State Fair opened this weekend, the politicking had reached a fever pitch. “It gets crazy,” he said. “A few years ago, the fair board had to start allotting people appointed hours for their speeches. Otherwise, if there was something going on in the grandstand and all anybody could hear was a candidate, we’d have to pull the plug on them.”
Iowans do have their limits.
Still, the 73-year-old retired John Deere engineer said when it comes to picking a state to test the early field of presidential candidates, the country could do a lot worse.
“We take it very seriously.
“Iowa’s judgment is studied and honest,” he said. “Although I still don’t know how John Kerry won” in 2004.
“I didn’t support him,” he added a bit defensively.
“We’re still fallible, you know. Very fallible.”
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 303-954-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
