Caucus Stuff

While the caucuses in Iowa are somewhat different than we have in Minnesota, it was enlightening to watch some of the news coverage during the early evening yesterday. We saw the national media interview some of our Iowa neighbors who were planning on attending the caucus last night. The questions ranged from nuts to bolts, but one question stood out.  "Mr. Smith, you are from a different state and you attended a previous caucus; why are you going back?" (Name and state withheld from this narrative.) His answer was enlightening. To paraphrase, he said, I like the fact that I can go and openly discuss my views about the candidates with my neighbors. We can have a debate about what we like or do not like about the candidates and about what we feel are their good qualities and why we feel they would be good representatives of our views and why they would be good leaders. We did not have that where I came from.   We do not realize and value the openness we have in our process here in the Midwest. end