Category: Fear and Loathing in Iowa

Debbie’s Very Bad Day in Iowa

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During my Iowa trip, I got lots of photos and videos I wasn’t able to upload at the time due to connectivity issues and the very hectic schedule. One of the items that never made it to the blog was an incident at the Iowa State Fair where DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz got heckled offstage by an angry liberal. I was able to phone in a report to The American Spectator, but never got around to uploading video of the incident.

The video is about two minutes, and at about the 40-second mark, you see Wasserman-Schultz say, “The difference between Barack Obama and congressional Democrats and all the Republican presidential candidates is that all of them committed to end Medicare as we know it . . . and privatize Social Security.” This elicits a predictable chorus of boos from her Democratic audience, but it also inspired the angry liberal heckler – you’ll see him in a yellow T-shirt — to start yelling that the debt deal “put Medicare on the chopping block!” He also yells: “Stop caving in to Wall Street!” Watch:

As you see, at the 1:15 mark, Democrat loyalists try to shout down the heckler by chanting, “Debbie! Debbie!” But at the 1:30 mark, Yellow Shirt starts heckling again, which prompts Wasserman-Schultz to cut straight to her peroration – something about the great “victory” that awaits in 2012 – and end her speech well before her allotted 15 minutes were up.

Following her offstage in hope that she would hold a brief press conference, I then caught the denouement as other angry liberals – the first one wearing a “Catholic Worker” T-shirt – interrogated her about the same basic issue. Wasserman-Schultz evidently knew this guy, addressing him as “David.”

The exchange was interrupted periodically by the congresswoman’s entourage, but as much as was audible went like this:

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ:  “As someone who represents a district in South Florida, there’s nobody who fights harder to protect Medicare . . .”

FIRST LIBERAL: “You voted for the debt-ceiling bill . . . . Why don’t you have five minutes to sit down and talk?”

ENTOURAGE WOMAN:  “Because, David, it’s not built in. Don’t act like this is — you know how . . .”

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ:  “I’m happy to talk to you . . .”

FIRST LIBERAL: “You talk the talk, but your actions don’t back up the talk.”

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ:  “Oh, you know, with all due respect . . .”

FIRST LIBERAL: “Obama was the one that put cuts to Social Security and Medicare on the table.”

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ:  “That is simply not true and you know it and that is an unacceptable …”

SECOND LIBERAL: “He said everything was on the table.”

FIRST LIBERAL: “And you voted for the debt-ceiling bill, Debbie – you voted for that bill.”

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ:  “Because we needed to come together to address our deficit …”

SECOND LIBERAL: “Why is it always Democrats compromising with other Democrats?”

WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ: “Call me, David. We’ll talk later.”

It was a very enlightening glimpse at how a powerful Democrat – herself a leader of “progressives” in Congress – cannot satisfy the implacable demands of her own party’s left-wingers. Just something to keep in mind, next time someone tries to tell you that Republicans are the party beholden to fringe extremist wingnuts.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!

And Ed Driscoll readers, too! (I’m sure the Trotsky reference was a just a coincidence, comrade.)

UPDATE II: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s Left-Wing Iowa Antagonist ID’d as David Goodner.


Fear and Loathing in the Airport Lounge: The Final Wisdom of My Iowa Journey

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The National Affairs Desk, Atlanta Airport, 8:30 p.m.

HARTSFIELD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Atlanta
My flight home starts boarding in about an hour, so this will have to be quick. There is no deadline quite so final as the call for final boarding, so I’ll have to jam this together without thinking about it too much.

Michelle Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty quit and Rick Perry jumped in. All of this transpired in a single weekend, and so we have to ask ourselves — here in third week of August — exactly what it all means, if indeed it means anything at all. And I’m trying to think about this in a crowded airport lounge where the music is way too loud and is currently blaring Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.”

Who were those political geniuses who thought Tim Pawlenty was the man to carry the Republican Party banner in 2012? Someone needs to make a list of their names, so that henceforth, whenever these people support any other candidate, we can immediately declare that candidate doomed beyond all hope of redemption. The geniuses who assured us that America was on the verge of T-Paw Fever are now tainted and discredited by their guy’s multimillion-dollar flop.

Why has Bachmann’s Straw Poll victory made no difference to her perception by the mainstream media? She won the doggone thing, after all, and yet the media evidently believes that Rick Perry is the de facto front-runner. Why else would they be attacking him so furiously?

How will the Perry campaign deal with this laser-like scrutiny? He’s only been in the race four days and already stands accused of making up facts, to say nothing of Paulistas trolling for evidence of extra-marital hanky-panky.

Also: Guy Huntsman. WTF? This guy is an even bigger dud than Pawlenty and the only people who take him seriously are the liberal media. Huntsman represents the GOP of Arlen Specter, Charlie Crist and Dede Scozzafava. At what point will “Governor Asterisk,” as I’ve dubbed him, take the hint and stop overcrowding the stage at these televised debates, when everybody knows he will arrive at Tampa with exactly zero delegates?

Likewise: Newt Gingrich. That Titanic long ago hit its iceberg, and the only reason Newt hasn’t quit is because he knows he’ll get 10 minutes of TV time every time there’s a Republican debate.

By contrast, although they finished fourth and fifth respectively in the Ames straw-poll, it looks like Rick Santorum and Herman Cain are prepared to go the distance — win, lose or draw. Changes in the delegate-apportionment rules, which limit the winner-take-all process that has in earlier years pushed the GOP primary campaign toward an early decision, are likely to encourage Santorum and Cain to stick it out. Even if they never actually win a primary or caucus, they can pick up delegates all the way to the convention. The same is true of Ron Paul and . . .

Is it too early to float the prospect of a “brokered convention”? Yeah, I know: That’s every political journalist’s fantasy, and therefore I’m probably engaged in wishful thinking. But if none of the top-tier candidates can score an early knockout, it is entirely feasible that none of them will arrive at Tampa with enough delegates to score a first-ballot victory. And I’m not ruling it out at this point.

Prognostication is way above my pay-grade, of course. Those of our readers who hit the tip jar to fund this trip were paying for reporting, and I hope you got your money’s worth. In the space of a single week, I filed six articles for The American Spectator:


My unexpected Alabama detour — road-tripping down to Huntsville with Ladd Ehlinger and spending four days at the Hartselle, Ala., home of my buddy Stephen Gordon — was a function of the fact that I’d booked my flight to Iowa one-way, and had to wait for the tip-jar money to clear the bank before I could afford a plane ticket home.

And I’m damned near flat broke now, but I’ll be home in a few hours, and back in the arms of my wife and children, so I’m feeling good.

Well, time for final boarding. Wish me luck, and hit the freaking tip jar!





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Michele Bachmann and the Media Scrum

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Michele Bachman is surrounded by media as she greets
her supporters after the GOP Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa
Yesterday, I was updating my post about the Iowa Straw Poll results when word came that the winner, Michele Bachmann, would be holding a press conference at her campaign bus in 15 minutes. By the time I got there, she was surrounded by a crowd of news media so thick I couldn’t get near her. Then she did a “rope line” — greeting supporters behind barricades. It was a huge mob scene, and I thought you might appreciate this glimpse of what it was like:

Remember: When I went to cover Bachmann in the mud and rain in West Des Moines on Aug. 5, there were only three or four reporters present, including me.

Well . . . no more Iowa media scrums for now. I had originally planned to go to Waterloo to catch Rick Perry’s Iowa debut, but constrained financial circumstances required a change of plan. Now, I’m riding to Alabama with Ladd Ehlinger, and hoping that by the time I get to Huntsville, there will be enough money in the tip jar for me to buy a plane ticket home from there.

Crazy? Of course. But what did you expect? “Hit the freaking tip jar!

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Tim Pawlenty Quits!

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NEWTON, Iowa
I was sitting here at breakfast with Ladd Ehlinger just an hour ago when he said, “Pawlenty’s quitting!”

Tim Pawlenty told supporters on a conference call Sunday morning that he is ending his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination after a disappointing third-place finish at the Iowa straw poll.
Mr. Pawlenty thanked his supporters in an early-morning call, two participants said, but acknowledged that he had decided overnight that his candidacy could not proceed.

That was quick, wasn’t it? I landed in Des Moines on Aug. 3 and, eleven days later, Pawlenty quits the race. Some people will say this is merely a coincidence.

Perhaps it was the “neo-Confederate sex panic.” Perhaps it was those rumors that Pawlenty was behind those vicious smears against Michelle Bachmann. And, of course, perhaps the sudden implosion of the T-Paw candidacy had nothing to do with anything I did.

Plausible deniability. “No fingerprints,” IYKWIMAITYD.

Let’s face it though: Any Republican praised by David Brooks is pretty much doomed.

By the way, you may be wondering why I’m having breakfast with Ladd Ehlinger. He was up here in Iowa pitching his work to  certain potential clients, and no he’s driving back to Alabama. He’s going to have a passenger — me.

It’s a long story. But it’s going to take a whole lot of explaining to make my wife understand my unexpected Alabama detour with the world’s most notorious political filmmaker. Hit the freaking tip jar!





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Santorum: ‘We Feel Very Good’

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NEWTON, Iowa — One of the most unexpectedly pleasant dividends of this trip was getting to meet Rick Santorum and his family. It was unexpected because I hadn’t really planned to cover the Santorum campaign, but just happened to notice that he had an event Aug. 6 (a day when I otherwise had nothing to cover) and decided to try to squeeze it into my schedule. Partly, this was a favor for Lisa Graas, who is a huge Santorum fan. And when I went to the event, featuring a candidate whom nobody gave a chance, my instinctive sympathy for long shots and underdogs kicked in.

After the votes were counted Saturday Santorum (whose fundraising amounted to about $600,000) got more straw-poll votes (1,657) than Mitt Romney (567), Newt Gingrich (385) and Jona Huntsman (67) combined. So it’s a pretty good bet that the people who contributed that first $600,000 will be willing to pony up a few thousand more — and thus his low-budget campaign will keep going.

Here’s the video of my brief interview with Santorum shortly after the results were announced:

Can Rick Santorum possibly win the GOP nomination? No political prognosticator would give you odds on that. But crazier things have happened and, in fact, who ever imagined I’d ever make it to Iowa to cover the debate and straw poll?

As far as getting back home . . . Hey, you remember I bought a one-way ticket here, right? So now I’ve got to figure out how I’ll get home, and it’s time for those five famous words: Hit the freaking tip jar.

LIVE! AMES STRAW POLL COVERAGE: Fear and Loathing at Hilton Coliseum UPDATE: BACHMANN WINS!

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UPDATE 6:41 p.m. ET: AMES, Iowa – Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann has won the Iowa Republican Straw Poll of 2012 presidential candidates.

UPDATE 6:47 p.m. ET:

Bachmann 4,823 (28.5%)
Paul 4,671 (27.6%)
Pawlenty 2,293
Santorum 1,657
Cain 1,456
Perry 718 (write-in)
Romney 567

Quick analysis — obviously, Pawlenty’s toast. He spent more than a million bucks to finish a distant third. Santorum gets a real boost from his 4th-place finish. Herman Cain made the top five, but not as strong as he had hoped.

Rick Perry — as a write-in — out-polled Romney, who was on the ballot.

UPDATE 7 p.m. ET: Just interviewed Frank Luntz: “Rick Perry, who wasn’t even on the ballot, got more votes than Mitt Romney, who was in the debate 48 hours ago. Wow.”

UPDATE 7:11 p.m. ET: Also interviewed Mike Huckabee, who said: “I think it was a great day for all the Republicans — a big win for Michele Bachmann. But, it was probably not a day that takes Pawlenty completely out of it. It’s going to be tough for him, but on the other hand, I don’t think he’ll quit right away.” On Rick Santorum’s fourth-place finish: “I think it shows that he’s beginning to get some mommentum. Rick’s got a strong message and he’s a strong candidate. He’s a good guy.”

I’ve got more, but I was just told that Michele Bachmann will give a statement in five minutes at her bus.

UPDATE 7:40 p.m. ET: So much for the “statement” — she was surrounded by a giant media scrum, and I could barely see her. Readers who’ve followed this campaign trip from the start know that, last Friday, I covered Bachmann during her appearance at a muddy rain-soaked Christian music festival in West Des Moines. There were only three or four reporters at that event, including me. Now? Everywhere she goes, she’s surrounded by reporters and cameras.

And I just scored an exclusive video interview with Rick Santorum, who’s feeling very optimistic about his chances. You remember his visit to the barn in Roland, right?

I’ll upload that video — and many, many more — later on. But not on this craptastic WiFi connection. So I’m getting out of here and heading back to the hotel. Tomorrow, Rick Perry’s coming into Iowa, and I may cover that, too. Please hit the tip jar.




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In front of T-Paw’s tent at the Ames Straw Poll

AMES, Iowa
“No parking for miles around,” they said. But I drove right up to within 100 yards of the Hilton Coliseum here on the campus of Iowa State University, then drove over a curb and pulled up on the grass in the shade of a tree. Is this legal? Is it moral? Is it permitted by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics?

I dunno. The SPJ never asked me to join.

Just as I don’t know whether illegal parking constitutes an ethical violation, neither am I sure what the SPJ Code of Ethics says about scarfing up free barbecue provided by Republican presidential campaigns. But I’m not here to teach an ethics seminar. I’m here to report the news.

UPDATE: Currently experiencing a WiFi bandwidth suckage issue here in the Coliseum. Struggling to maintain a connection while I upload photos. Uploading video? Fuggedabout it!

An Iowa family for Rick Santorum.

UPDATE II: Just heard Ron Paul’s speech. It’s amazing, really, that this cranky old coot could inspire such a fanatical following among youth. He is a lousy speaker. His voice is not pleasant to hear, especially when boomed over the P.A. system in a basketball arena.

The Paulistas representin’ the man.

David Gregory is interviewed by a reporter for a local NBC affiliate.

UPDATE III: Tim Pawlenty is now speaking. His campaign clearly has a strong turnout, and I’d be very much surprised if they get fewer than 3,000 votes.

UPDATE IV: Inside the T-Paw tent, where supporters chowed down on Famous Dave’s BBQ:

UPDATE V: Just figured out why the WiFi is so craptastic today. Fifteen thousand people in the Coliseum are using their iPhones to update their Facebook statuses and check their e-mail.

UPDATE VI: Herman Cain just finished speaking — his basic stump speech, but it really fired up the crowd here. You can see why nobody ever wants to follow him onstage.

What comes next: The straw-poll balloting is open until 4 p.m. Once the votes are tabulated, they’ll be announced from the stage here.

The craptastic WiFi prevents me from uploading photos and video right now. Grrrrrrr.

UPDATE VII: OK, now the Coliseum is clearing out for a minute, so I have a bit of bandwidth:

Young Herman Cain supporters cheer his speech.

UPDATE VIII: The voting has now closed and we await tabulation of the vote before they announce the results. The WiFi connectivity issues got so frustrating a few minutes ago that I threw my fedora on the floor, shouted a string of frightful epithets and went outside to smoke a couple of cigarettes to calm down. When I returned, the WiFi connection had slightly improved, so apparently the cussing worked.

UPDATE IX: While I was out having my smoke, three of Rick Santorum’s kids wandered by — evidently unrecognized as such by anyone else but me.

Of course, if their Dad should get the GOP nomination, they’ll be constantly surrounded by very serious armed men with wires in their ears. At this stage, however, everything is kind of informal and it’s possible to get to know the candidates personally. This is why the early part of the campaign is so much fun — at least when the #$%& WiFi is working.

UPDATE X: The rumor here is that 16,000 ballots have been cast in the straw poll — substantially up from 2008, when 11,000 ballots were cast — and that Michele Bachmann paid for tickets for 6,000 of her supporter. One nationally known journalist said to me: “If that’s true [i.e., about her buying 6,000 tickets] Bachmann’s gonna clean Pawlenty’s clock.”

We await announcement of the totals.

UPDATE XI: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is going to be on the grounds here at Iowa State University to share her reactions to the results of straw poll. Hope it turns out better than her speech Friday at the State Fair.

UPDATE XII:  Just talked to a Bachmann adviser who says they are “very confident” at this point.”

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