Thursday, January 03, 2008 - Posts
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Have Obama and Richardson entered into an unholy vote-trading alliance? In Eldora, Iowa, where I am reporting on tonight's caucus, precinct chair Ed Bear says that Richardson is his first choice and Obama his second, but not because anyone told him to go that way. There has been "coffee shop talk" about which candidates would make good president and vice president pairs, Bear says. He likes this team, though he doesn't think his first choice Richardson would be at the top of the ticket, because Obama has the charisma-and the height.
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With all this confusing chatter about Iowa polling numbers (seems like every poll says something different, except when you account for the margin of error, in which case they all say the same thing: "Who knows!"), I think it's worth pointing out that many voters don't vote with their heads or their hearts, but on impulse. We've all heard the "I voted for him because I'd have a beer with him argument," and here's some more food for thought: according to a study published in Science magazine "inferences of competence based solely on facial appearance predicted the outcome of U.S. congressional elections better than chance (e.g. 68.8% of the Senate races in 2004)." The subjects had no previous knowledge of the candidates, and based their predictions solely on a 1-second exposure to a photograph. I don't think the study proves that people don't give a damn about the issues, but it certainly suggests that unreflective, knee-jerk reactions influence political races more than we'd like.
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I have been in Iowa for all of two hours, and so far everyone I have talked to (newspaper vendor, rental-car agent, fellow traveler, minimart saleswoman) is planning to vote. Probably a fluke, but it makes me feel like I am in the Land of the Voter. The minimart saleswoman is the one with the most decided-sounding preference. She is caucusing for Hillary at her church tonight to set an example for her daughters, who she says now aspire not to be doctors or lawyers, but president.
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Dearest Mickey,
You have done all you can for the good people of Iowa, but it's up to them now, because anyone interested in the undernews got the point the first 97 times you wrote about it. I have heard "confirmed'' sex rumors - all or none of which may be true - involving most of the presidential candidates (and you're not going to believe this, but in one case, a candidate's spouse!). So if a scandal-free general is the goal, should we go with Kucinich and Romney and be done with it? Or insert a V-chip in all suspected action pants? I know my own capacity to be shocked by power affairs is not all that it should be; after Stephen Hawking left his wife for his nurse in 1995, I concluded no marriage is immune. Except perhaps that of George W. Bush, home every night with his wife and his favorite pillow. But, as they say in French-founded Des Moines, ca ne me regarde pas.
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