Campaign 2004: How to Cover the Iowa Caucuses: January 19, 2004

 MR. DENIG: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Foreign Press Center. Welcome, also, to journalists assembled in our New York Foreign Press Center. I know that with a predicted temperature today of eighty degrees, it's rather difficult to think of next January in Iowa where I know from personal experience it will be quite cold and quite snowy. So I congratulate all of you journalists for coming out today to start thinking already about going out to the Iowa caucuses, but -- I suppose it's never too early to start thinking about elections. Politicians certainly don't think so.

We're delighted today to have as our first briefing for the 2004 election year a presentation by members of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, and they will talk to you about covering the Iowa caucuses out there. I will introduce their leader first, and she will then take over. So I welcome to the podium Susan Ramsey from the Greater Des Moines Partnership.

Susan.

MS. RAMSEY: Thank you very much, Paul, and thank you for those journalists who chose to be with us here this morning rather than out with the Concorde arriving out at Dulles. We appreciate your interest in the political spectrum in Iowa.

It does seem early to be thinking about the political process, but I can assure you the candidate visits are increasing every week in coming in through Des Moines, so we are really gearing up, and we wanted to come here to Washington to assure you that we are ready to handle the onslaught of reporters, writers, journalists and candidates who come to our state every four years as the presidential process and the campaign begins.

I am Susan Ramsey. I am the Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing for the Partnership -- and the Partnership is an economic development group. We are basically looking out for the quality of life in our community and trying to grow the economy in our community. And part of that is also to make sure that the rest of the world knows about Greater Des Moines.

While we are from a primarily farming state, we are quite a metropolis. We are a home base of many insurance industries, of financial services, many agribusinesses, publishing, and a variety of advanced manufacturing. And we're a population of about 460,000 throughout the metro area and we have a lovely cultural life, an active sports and recreation life, and it really isn't freezing like it is in January all year round in Iowa.

So we welcome the opportunity to show you around if any of you travel out, either with the Foreign Press Center's delegation, or by yourself to Iowa in advance of the caucuses. We hope you'll contact our office and let us know you're in town. And we want to be a resource. We want to be able to provide you with contacts or interviews locally, tell you where you might be able to get your audio equipment or your video equipment fixed, where you might be able to pick up some extra copies of something -- even where you can get your suit dry cleaned if necessary.

In order to do that, we have created a website which is basically a "Gateway One-Stop Shop," is what we like to call it, and I have a handout that I hope most of you picked up on your way in. We will leave copies here, both at the Foreign Press Center and at the one in New York so that -- for those reporters or writers who are not here with us today --will be able to pick up copies here. Or, of course you can always go to the website and request that we have one sent to you and we would be happy to do that, as well.

The website: www.iowacaucus.info. And on that site you will find links to the state's offices, the election offices in Polk County, the candidates, all the local headquarters with their addresses and phone numbers, some information about the process in general and also links to a variety of local services -- whether it be services that are directly related to your industry or simply some great restaurants that you might want to visit while you're in town or some other attractions -- for the off chance that you have some off hours while you're in town.

I'm joined here today by a number of our member businesses who are also interested in the process. We're a very political community and we like to have the voice -- having the caucuses be the first in the nation opportunity for presidents to send up their trial balloons and see which issues are really important to American families.

They start the process here in Iowa, and that gives us a wonderful opportunity to have an early voice in telling them what is of primary concern to us whether it's the economy, whether it's Medicare reform, whether it is Homeland Security. We have an opportunity that many other states don't have to have a very early relationship with those candidates and many times, one-on-one contact with them to tell them what's important to us, and we value that privilege a great deal.

Joining me up here is Representative Wayne Ford, who is the representative from Iowa. He's going to be talking to you a little bit later, along with Mary Compos, about a forum that they will be hosting just one week prior to the caucuses to talk about minority issues of concern. They'll have a date that they'll need you to save.

Also joining me is Libby Jacobs from Principal Financial Group, and she'll be up here to talk with you about the overall process and how it works, and she'll give you a quick primer, if you will, about what that process is.

I also have some other members: Stan Warner, also of Principal Financial Group, and Ryan Hanser, who represents our young professionals committee and also Hanser and Associates of Des Moines, who can answer questions related specific to their industries or just to the voting public.

And with me -- we brought a huge delegation here today -- we brought the staff who will be answering those questions that you might have coming, and whether you're asking them by e-mail, by telephone or if you were actually in Des Moines. I just wanted to be able to identify them so that you would see the faces that we have, and that is: Tricia Garton, who works in my office, Parady Sok-kim, who is also fluent in French -- so if there is any translation issues that might need to be addressed -- and Alba Bassett-Armijo who is also fluent in Spanish. And I have Mike Irwin, who's my photographer, in the back. So this is my staff and the people who will be actually working with you to answer any questions or concerns or helping you find the things that you need to do your job properly.

Now, in order to give you an idea about the overall process and get you a little bit familiar about how we do things in Des Moines -- it's a little different than the primaries that are done in the rest of the states around the country -- I would like to introduce Libby Jacobs.

MS. JACOBS: Thank you, Susan. And I would like to echo Susan's comments. We're glad that you have interest in the Iowa caucuses. I know it's a ways away until January, but the candidates, as you know, have already been storming our state. It's pretty common to have somebody who has presidential aspirations to be in the state of Iowa just about any day or at least once a week between now and our caucuses.

The Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses have proven to be a real crucial first step towards the race for the American presidency. Since their emergence in 1972 as the first caucus of each presidential season, our caucuses have played a major role in the presidential nominating process.

It's also viewed as a very significant opportunity by central Iowans to provide an early voice in the political process that few other states really enjoy. And I think a lot of our residents take it for granted that they are going to be able to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, maybe a cup of coffee, with someone who most likely will be the next President of the United States.

It's also very interesting. As residents, we often get phone calls from the advance teams of the presidential candidates asking if we could host them for a coffee in our house. It's just a totally different relationship-building opportunity than something that is for the masses with large -- 1,000, 2,000 people in attendance. It's often built neighborhood by neighborhood -- 25 or 30 people in your home -- where you're hosting presidential candidates or their spouses or other members of their groups that have interest in promoting them, as well. So it's something that's really unusual, and by the time the caucuses actually roll around, most of us have had the opportunity to shake hands with somebody who will eventually be the President of the United States.

This year's caucuses are slated for January 19th, 2004, and each of the 2,144 precincts in the state of Iowa will host caucuses to elect delegates, alternates and convention committee members to their local county conventions. And we have 99 counties in the state, so the precincts roll into those counties. Each delegate elected represents a percentage of support from their precinct for a presidential candidate.

And the caucus system is a little different than our primary election system. A caucus is strictly a political meeting at the local precinct level, usually held at schools, or churches or public buildings where people tend to vote. So it would really be at their usual precinct location. And at that time, as I indicated, delegates are selected to represent the sponsoring party at the county convention.

County convention delegates, in turn, elect their representatives to the state convention and then on to the national convention -- and that's the Democrat or Republican National Conventions -- select their nominees for their -- the president and vice president. So the local caucus is really the first step in nominating the president and vice presidential candidates for office.

And I think the question that always people ask is, "Why are Iowa's caucuses so important?" Well, they are important because they are really the first place to gauge the popularity or the approval rating of the people who are throwing their hat into the ring and saying they have interest in being this country's president. It's kind of the first popularity test. If people do well in Iowa and then do well in New Hampshire, it's really a boost to their campaigns.

On the flip side, if people don't have such a good showing in Iowa, it does cause some heartburn, and then it depends how they do in New Hampshire and elsewhere. But it's really the -- an opportunity to build the relationships with voters at a local level that are very intense and let people, then, express their votes as terms of popularity in electing the delegates to the conventions.

To campaign in Iowa for this election cycle, the candidates must file their nomination papers between July 26th and August 13th of this year. So the 13th is an important date to reporters, as it signals whether or not a candidate will compete in Iowa or if they will withdraw from the race.

A lot of them are getting their grassroots organizations in place now, trying to really gauge whether they should enter the race in Iowa or not. So August 13th is a critical date. A lot of people's eyes are focused on Iowa at that time to see who the candidates will be.

With that, I will turn things back to Susan for introduction of Wayne and Mary.

MS. RAMSEY: Thank you, Libby, and I should have gone on to identify her. She is also an Iowa State Representative.

Now, for that "save the date" event that I think that many of you will want to be paying attention toward because a lot of the issues that are important to minorities in Iowa, in Greater Des Moines and across the nation, will be central as part of this forum.

Representative Wayne Ford and Mary Compos.

MR. FORD: My voice can carry. It's a pleasure in being here.

MS. COMPOS: Okay.

MR. FORD: Okay?

MS. COMPOS: Thank you.

MR. FORD: As you notice -- I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mary. As you notice, we don't do anything without each other because the "Brown and Black" truly means the brown and black. I will give it to you, Mary.

MS. COMPOS: Well, I wouldn't say that, exactly, but (laughter).

MR. FORD: Okay.

MS. COMPOS: I'm a little short, but that's all right.

(Address in Spanish.)

Good morning to all of you. It's an honor and a pleasure to be with you, the press, the reporters that bring all the news to the world.

MR. FORD: Okay. Thank you, Mary. And my name is Wayne Ford and I'm a state representative. What's so unique about me? As a young kid, I used to drive past this building. I'm originally from Washington, D.C., and I left D.C. in 1969 on a football scholarship. And so this is very historical for me because you can come back home.

Me and Mary started this organization, "The Brown and Black Presidential Forum" in 1984. And we're going to take you back in the country in 1984. In 1984 me and Mary got together because I said, "Mary, you know what? One day there will be more Hispanics in America, number wise, than blacks." I said that to Mary in 1984. We could easily have said "Black and Brown." Hear me well. I clearly want you to understand how we got this thing together. But I said, "One day, if this country evolves, there will be more Hispanics in America." Right now it's "Brown and Black," and that's how we got started in 1984 -- to make sure that minorities' issues are heard, and here are the reasons why:

Iowa is the fifth whitest state in America. If you want to start a presidential election, you must involve all Americans -- not just whites. Me and Mary got together. The minority community in Iowa was very, very small. At that time, we probably -- in 1984, there were 30,000 blacks and how many Hispanics in the state of Iowa, Mary, in 1984?

MS. COMPOS: Probably about 18,000.

MR. FORD: About 18,000.

MS. COMPOS: Probably.

MR. FORD: Right now there's about 50,000 blacks in the state of Iowa and how many Hispanics, Mary?

MS. COMPOS: About 85,000.

MR. FORD: About 85,000. So you see the history of a very small minority community to a still small minority community. But we said a long time ago it's very important that we show the world that if you're truly going to come to Iowa and want to president, you must speak to all Iowans, not just the farmer, but the urban Iowans, the minority, the poor white on welfare. Me and Mary did that thing in 1984. And that's how we started the "Brown and Black Presidential Forum."

In your package here you'll see the chronological order of the history. You'll see 1976, when I did a minority forum by myself. In 1976, I was the Minority Education Coordinator for Jimmy Carter. But when I came out of Drake in 1974, again, I grew up in Washington, D.C., so you see how political I was reading The Washington Post and The Washington Star -- I used to deliver The Washington Post and Star -- so I went to Jimmy Carter in 1976 and said, "Jimmy, you're from Atlanta. I'm just recently out of Drake University. I want to get involved in your campaign."

He made me the Minority Education Coordinator in 1976. At that time I thought then -- there wasn't a black and brown coalition. I had a group called 'The Concerned Citizens for Minority Affairs,' and you see in 1976, Jimmy Carter, Birch Bayh, Fred Harris -- anybody that ran for president at that time -- sent their circuits to the first minority forum in Des Moines, Iowa. You'll see that in 1976.

And then me and Mary got together in 1984. I will give it back to you, Mary.

MS. COMPOS: At that time, we began to see a growing number of interests in the Hispanic population. I want you to know that I've been a resident of Polk County, Des Moines, Iowa, since I was five years old. So I've seen our city grow, and I tell you that the organization that we're with today is what's making it so great.

When you come to a country from the other countries, the Latin American countries, you come with a lot of fear. You come because you're not at ease to participate in this wonderful system that we have: the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and the freedom to give a vote.

I felt that it was very important, since I was the daughter of migrant workers and we had come from Oklahoma to northern Minnesota and Iowa to work in the fields, it was very important for me to be part of this process. I was raised in Des Moines. I was educated in Des Moines. I have a family. My mother and father were very sincere about the voting privilege. My grandparents were from Mexico.

I have retained my bilingual, my bicultural assets because of my grandparents and I love being bilingual and bicultural. But I wanted to educate because when I had problems with the school board, it would always be, "You don't have the numbers." Well, folks, we have the numbers. And I feel that it is because of the interest that we had at the very beginning to bring all of us together, black and brown, brown and black, to educate our people, that there was nothing to hold us back from going into a voting booth and pulling the lever or pulling the curtain and doing what we had to do to elect someone that would have my interests at heart and have good, honest, reputable politicians that would give me a future for my children and my children's children. And that was the beginning of our interest in the "Brown and Black" coalition.

MR. FORD: Mary, if we look at our logo, the logo says it all. There's the state of Iowa, there's the American flag.

In 19--, in 2000, we had the fourth "Brown and Black Presidential Forum." It was held on a very emotional day for me -- January 17th, Martin Luther King's birthday was recognized in 2000 -- and we had at North High School, Democratic candidate Al Gore and Bill Bradley participate in the forum. The event was carried by MSNBC, C-SPAN and other national media. That date means a lot because in 2004, the fifth "Brown and Black," which me and Mary co-chair, the Iowa caucus will be held on what day, Mary?

MS. COMPOS: On January the 19th, Martin Luther King's birthday.

MR. FORD: That sends a strong message, not to just America, but to the world because King fought for everybody's rights -- not just in America, for the world. And so we're very happy that the Des Moines Chamber of Commerce got together with us and said, "You know what? You two, is an example of what can happen in Iowa," an inner-city young man who grew up in the ghetto of Washington, D.C. who became the tenth black legislator in the history of Iowa. Mary's family, she's from Iowa, so we bring a unique situation.

Many of you all will be looking for other stories. And I know your traditional stories. I've been around a long time. We have a classic example of other stories. She can take you into her community and let you meet people that you normally would not see. I can take you to places in Iowa, we do have inner cities in Iowa, and you will talk to people that you normally would not meet as you begin to cover this story.

So I'm very happy to be here. And I don't know, Susie, you want us to answer questions now?

MS. RAMSEY: No, we'll wait for you.

MR. FORD: Okay. And also, and Libby, you know, it's ironic about strange minorities, not only does me and Mary have a unique one, because many blacks and browns in America do not get along. We're beginning that, but we've got some issues to work on. Me and Libby -- I'm a Democrat, she's a Republican -- but on this issue of the Iowa caucus we come together. I thank you a lot.

(Laughter.)

MS. COMPOS: Thank you.

MS. RAMSEY: Well, as you can see, we are anticipating a very exciting season as we approach January. And as the caucuses come down upon us, we're excited about the opportunity to have you in our community and we welcome you there. We want to be your resource, so please feel free to contact us with your questions.

We did provide some handouts that are both available here in the Washington Press Center and also in the New York Press Center. This packet, you will see, will just give you a lot of information about the community in general -- a lot of materials in there including maps about how to get around town, a map about how to get around downtown, our skywalk system, which is a climate-controlled skyway connecting about three and a half miles of buildings in the downtown area, so when it really is frigid in January you don't actually have to go outside, and so there's a map to find your way around those, as well. And again, our website - www.iowacaucus.information to be your resource so that you have access to a lot of those influencers, a lot of those contacts in the central Iowa area that you'll need to be completing some of your stories.

Also, Margaret Halwell will be our point person here in Washington and your contact so that you can pick up packets here. But please feel free to contact us directly. We're anxious to invite your questions, your visits, your interest in the political process as it begins every four years in Greater Des Moines.

Thank you for your time. I very much appreciate it. We would welcome questions. We can extend questions to any of our delegation that are here present today, so please feel free.

Yes.

QUESTION: I know because of the geography, right now in the polls Gephardt is leading in the polls, and -- do you think that most likely Congressman Gephardt will end up winning Iowa because of that, or is there a chance that there will be a more competitive race, or does geography play that much of a factor?

MS. RAMSEY: Well, I would invite any of my colleagues to respond, but I will say initially that as a rule, Iowans aren't quick to make up their mind about candidates. They like the process. They like the opportunity and take advantage of it to hear a lot of different ideas before they decide who they are going to latch onto. So while he certainly is the frontrunner at this particular point in time, my experience is that the race can change very dramatically -- even before Labor Day. So that's my initial response. I don't know if anybody else has anything they would like to add to that?

Yes.

QUESTION: Yes, my name is Jyri Gaivio. I work for Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in Finland. Can you tell me why Iowa is the first one and what do you thing about Washington D.C.'s idea to have some kind of shadow caucus before you get yours?

MS. RAMSEY: We've been very competitive in the past about keeping our caucus first in the nation, and that is honestly because we covet the opportunity that it gives us to have that early voice in the process. And Wayne or Libby might be able to respond a little more accurately than I can on that about -- we actually have some legislation that keeps us so that if someone did have one move up, we would try to continue to move ours up to be first.

MS. JACOBS: Right. We -- actually, the legislature passed legislation saying that our intent is to always be the first in the nation, and obviously both parties set different dates and we have to finesse that, as well.

I think one of the reasons Iowa is first is from a cost standpoint. It's a smaller state. You don't have to spend millions and millions of dollars in media buys to reach a huge target audience. It's a well-educated state. It's a state that has taken to heart its role in the caucuses and really enjoys kind of being the first group of people to winnow down that group of candidates. But I really think it comes down to a dollars and cents piece of not having to make the major media buys.

Yes, there is advertising that's done -- both print and broadcast -- but it's certainly not at the cost magnitude. If you tried to do something on a more national level or at the larger population states, I think that's one of the appeals. It can be really a grassroots effort for those campaigns when they are first, possibly strapped for a little cash as they are in the start-up mode. It's a good way to reach 2.9 million people, 2 million of whom are registered voters, and a very thoughtful process that goes into play, as well.

MR. FORD: That's real personal because originally I'm from Washington, D.C. and I understand that. And I got a lot of phone calls about, "Wayne, why don't you come back and help us here?" Bottom line is Iowa, as Libby said, you can run a campaign very cheaply. But more than that, some years ago there was criticism that Iowa was just too white. I mean, it was -- how can you start a whole process in the country when the country is becoming diverse? You all seen the census in 2000. But what the state of Iowa has used, the thing that me and Mary created many years ago, although we might be perceived as a mostly white state. But there's sections of our community that have accessibility.

We are the only "Brown and Black Presidential Forum" in America. And it's in Iowa, so hear me out. How many other states have that? None as of right now. So although we might be perceived as a state that's small and just one color, the reality of it is is that Iowa gives people like me and Mary accessibility to the national media. Why you think me and Mary is here right now talking to you all? So the bottom line is this: we're small, I'm being kind of -- we're cheap (laughter) and we are visible.

MS. RAMSEY: Yes.

QUESTION: I'm Lisa Lane with NHK. I had a question for Libby about the local level. Can you -- you kind of rushed through that a little bit. There's 2,044 districts? And then there is 99 counties. And I got -- I'm with you for the political meeting at the local level but then you went into county and then you're up to state.

MS. JACOBS: Okay. All right, I will slow down. I didn't know what the timeframe was.

There are 2,144 precincts in the state of Iowa. That is where the -- those are the political subdivisions -- the neighborhoods where you would go vote in a regular election. It's all broken out by precinct, and then districts are, kind of, legislative districts are merged off of those.

The way caucuses work is that they are held in each of the precincts. Each political party has its own caucus, so the Democrats have a caucus in that precinct and the Republicans have a caucus in that precinct. It's open to anyone who is eligible to vote. If they aren't registered, they can actually register that evening. And they then, as a group, cast their votes for those individuals they would like to have move on to the county political convention -- the county Republican convention and the county Democratic convention. That is the first step as you ultimately elect the delegates and alternates to go to the National Republican Convention and the National Democrat Convention.

It's the first test for the candidates to see what kind of popularity they have at that very local level. So you -- it depends on the size of your precinct -- we've just gone through redistricting the whole country, so you may -- if it's a hotly contested race like the Democrat race will be -- you may have several hundred to 400, 500 people in attendance at that neighborhood precinct, and they cast their votes for the delegates that they want to move to the county convention.

Typically, the delegates are given the opportunity to speak in front of their peers, and most likely they are going to be asked which candidate do they support. Some of the candidates actually try to get a slate of delegates put together and call up their -- they've done a lot of phoning, a lot of grassroots effort to identify their supporters precinct-by- precinct, and so they will call all of the, you know, candidate A or B's supporters get in there and say, "We don't want to splinter our votes. Here are -- your precinct is allowed to vote for -- whatever the number is -- eight people to go to the county convention. Here are the eight names we would like you to cast on behalf of candidate A."

So that's really how the process starts: very heavy grassroots, the organizational effort is very strong for those where there are a lot of candidates running. The whole idea is to get their people to the precincts that they know support their candidate and will vote for their delegates so that when you look at the rankings of the votes, they want to be in, you know, the top one or two of the candidates winning those votes for those delegates going to the county convention.

Then at county, you end up voting for district. District is congressional district. So you go from county to district to our state conventions, and then your delegates for the national conventions are elected at the state conventions, which ultimately select the candidates for president and vice president.

Does that help clarify it?

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MS. JACOBS: One evening. It is usually around seven o'clock on January 19th, this year, which -- it's always on a Monday. And as Mary and Wayne noted, that is Martin Luther King's birthday.

I will note that last year in January we had 50-degree weather, so it's not always nasty in Iowa. But it's -- often if it's caucus night it typically tends to be more snowy than not. And people, they are not required to go. It's all a volunteer effort. All the precinct locations -- meeting locations are noted in the newspapers. The candidates are sending out postcards and reminders that their people need to turn out, but it's very localized and it's one night. It's -- all your work for a candidate for the last 12 months focuses on who you get to be in that room at seven o'clock at night. You cannot vote absentee. You can't vote a proxy. You have to be there in person.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)