The first substantive shots of presidential skirmish 2016 have been fired. The Iowa caucuses are comparatively meaningful; up till now, the American public has had to subsist exclusively on oversized portions of rhetorical fluff, especially from the remarkably insignificant spectacles that are the candidate debates.
The first substantive shots of presidential skirmish 2016 have been fired. The Iowa caucuses are comparatively meaningful; up till now, the American public has had to subsist exclusively on oversized portions of rhetorical fluff, especially from the remarkably insignificant spectacles that are the candidate debates.
To quote H.L. Mencken (referring to Warren G. Harding), said debates have so far reminded me “…of a string of wet sponges…of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights.” One desperately hopes these discussions become more consequential as the number of office seekers is whittled down, but I ain’t holding my breath.
In any case, the Iowa caucuses took the form of the state’s 99 counties each having a convention to select delegates for Iowa’s Congressional District Convention as well as the State Convention, which, according to Wikipedia, “will eventually choose the delegates for the presidential nominating conventions” both Democrat and Republican.
Nothing could be simpler, except maybe particle physics.
Though Democratic candidates Clinton and Sanders came in at a virtual tie, the process of these caucuses was described by the Des Moines Register as a “debacle,” with tales of unreliable tallies, lack of voter registration forms, and rooms filled with bewildered voters and baffled volunteers. Nevertheless, both front runners came away claiming success.
Things seemed more organized on the Republican side of the aisle, though the outcome was not widely anticipated. To the surprise of pollsters, the winner was not Donald Trump, but Ted Cruz.
The Senator spent a lot of time in Iowa. In a triumph of hand-to-hand politics, Cruz made campaign stops in all 99 of the state’s counties, speaking at town halls, coffee shops, unheated barns, and hotel lobbies, earning almost 28% of the total vote.
Since then, the Press and Punditry have breathlessly speculated on whether this victory will vault Cruz to prominence in upcoming primaries. While it is clear his campaign organization had some serious skills, I’m not sure the American public will be willing to embrace this ambitious Texan.
Let’s face it, the presidential election is, at its core, a popularity contest. And even among those who agree with Cruz’s politics, there are an awful lot of folks who hold him in contempt.
According to Mother Jones magazine, establishment Republicans who dislike Ted include former Sen. Bob Dole, senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, former Speaker John Boehner, and George W. Bush.
The article also anonymously quotes people from Cruz’s past who harbor a lingering distaste, if not abhorrence, for him, including his colleagues on W.’s 2000 campaign, former clerks at the Supreme Court while Cruz was clerking there, and former Harvard Law School classmates.
Cruz’s freshman year Princeton roommate Craig Mazin labeled his roomie “a nightmare of a human being” and asserted that the man who would reignite the promise of America was “…widely loathed. It’s his superpower.”
With 10 months of campaigning left, perhaps the Junior Senator from Texas can shake his detractors’ labels of smug and smarmy. Iowa Caucus delegates were charmed enough; we’ll see if he can serve up something palatable – and meaningful – to the rest of the country.
Pat Grimes, a former South Bay resident, writes from Ypsilanti, Mich. He can be reached at pgwriter@inbox.com
