JOHN LENDMAN writes:
Standing in the Bettendorf Middle School gym, where the caucuses were being held for the Democrats of the 22nd precinct, I couldn't help but notice the unorganized manner in which this state held its long-awaited, first-in-the-nation caucus. Other than the fact that many caucus-goers weren't even familiar with the process, one very short man (who took his job entirely too seriously) was in charge of counting the room of 200 or so people surrounding their viable candidates' support tables.
After calling the people in his precinct to order, they held an archaic town-hall-meeting vote of who would head the counting, where he elected himself to a room of no objections.
The friendly precinct captains joked about all the attention they had personally received in the past months, even from the Republican Party. They laughed about the immense number of phone calls and candidate-promoting mailers they had been receiving.
I still don't understand why Iowans need to continue with this outdated practice, but they'll tell you it's tradition, that they wouldn't have it any other way.
What I learned from this trip is just how exciting this tedious (and somewhat pointless) political tradition could be. The whole class got along really well, and it was fun to be among fellow political-news buffs; more then anything it was interesting to share our experiences in dealing with our various candidates and their campaign offices. (I did feel sorry for those assigned to cover Obama, whose campaign was unfortunately unresponsive, and anyone covering the majority of Republican candidates, who showed little to no interest in Iowa's caucus.)
I come out of this experience with much-needed confidence in reporting under a deadline on a story that basically materialized a few hours before we had to turn it in. The stress was worth it to report next to students and instructors that were so easy to work with, and it was invigorating to be surrounded by such great writers and photographers during this trip. Even though this is the shortest class I've ever taken, it was the most organized and put together as well, thanks to Suzanne and John's curriculum. I was truly impressed.
John Lendman is an undergraduate journalism student from San Antonio, Texas.
