Word: iowa
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...take one more step and you'll be sorry," Jimmy Hogan, a precinct caucus captain for Jimmy Carter in Monticello, Iowa, bellowed across his living room at his daughter. And with her prompt pirouette, all hopes of seeing Ted Kennedy elected President died. The year was 1980 and Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist for Ted Kennedy, had learned a crucial lesson: The Iowa caucuses are as much about group psychology - and sometimes the deference of a child to her parent - as they are about politics...
Then fresh out of college and eager to tackle his first presidential race, Trippi - who has worked on every contested race in Iowa since 1980 - had organized all of Monticello's youngsters to caucus for Kennedy. His rival, Hogan, host of the county's largest caucus, had likewise organized the precinct's parents to caucus for Carter. When none of the kids dared defy their parents' wishes, Kennedy lost the precinct - and the county. "I remember being in the kitchen a few weeks before that when Ethel Kennedy came to visit our house, campaigning for Ted," James Hogan, Jr., Jimmy...
Carter had forged the model on how to win the caucuses and the White House. He was one of the first politicians to realize the importance of winning in first-in-the-nation Iowa and he invested heavily in the state back in 1976 - and again in 1980, winning the caucuses that year 59% to Kennedy's 31%. Iowans appreciated Carter's personal investment in the state, the time he spent pressing the flesh with as many caucus-goers as possible. These days the top three Democratic candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards (for whom Trippi is working...
Iowans have come to realize that their choice holds enormous sway over the rest of the country, and they place a premium on electability, Bender says. "There are candidates who will spend $15 million to $20 million in Iowa before this is over and you're talking about the difference of maybe two, three, four thousand people. TIME magazine [is] going to put somebody's face on the cover versus somebody else's face because of a difference of maybe 6,000 votes...
Because of this hyper-awareness, Iowa's Democratic caucus-goers have become genuine wonks, able to query presidential hopefuls on the smallest details of their policies. As a group, they're also able to temper their own liberal inclinations. "Jimmy Carter was not liberal. He was probably one of the most moderate candidates," Bender says. "Even though caucuses are somewhat liberal, the focus on electability somewhat mitigates their liberal orientation...