It is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. — Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
As an Iowan and political junkie (back before constantly drowning in covfefe), I have a collection of obscure-candidate items from the past three election cycles that would make Jake Tapper jealous. From my vantage point, I have seen enough of the sausage factory to know that I don’t want any part of it.
There’s no better encapsulation of this than the last three days of 2007 (thanks, Florida), when a bit of fortune and a bit of strategery enabled me to do something few Americans get the chance to do. Through my own notes, pictures, and contemporary coverage, here’s a journey with five presidential candidates in five counties in three days.
December 29, 2007: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani stops at his campaign headquarters in Clive.
In the five months preceding the caucuses, Rudy Giuliani was in Iowa six times, and only three involved Polk County. My merely getting into the building for his last was a victory. People wanted to see him, but he didn’t really want to see Iowans; he had staked everything on winning Florida (see intro). I found myself standing shoulder-to-shoulder with political columnist David Yepsen, nowhere near the front, trying to get a glimpse of what turned out to be Giuliani mostly signing a few things and saying very few words. (This was a blessing because a small, packed room with everyone in winter coats is no bueno.) Rudy finished sixth in Iowa and his campaign cratered in Florida.
December 29, 2007: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee talks with an Iowan at Signature Bar and Grill, Indianola (Warren County).
After the Giuliani appearance I drove to Indianola in time to see most of a media availability with Mike Huckabee. See this short story from a CBS reporter who also made both those events for more background. Huckabee, neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney in the polls at the time, defended his new aggressive stance against Romney. In the 2008 campaign cycle, authenticity was a thing on the Republican side, and Romney supposedly didn’t have it. C-SPAN had a 25-minute session with him shortly afterward. Huckabee would score an upset victory in the caucuses, propelled in no small part by Iowa social conservative voice Steve Deace. The eventual winner of the Republican nomination, though, would be John McCain, who I saw Sept. 12 shortly after his campaign was left for dead (NYT) and he was testing his “No Surrender” theme in front of veterans.