Most Iowans Are Caucus No-Shows

DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 3, 2008 — -- Walking the streets of Des Moines on caucus night, you run into plenty of Iowans who aren't caucusing.

At the Court Avenue Brewing Company in Des Moines' trendy East Village neighborhood, John Ferguson, 27, watched television coverage of the caucuses.

"Double Grey Goose and cranberry, that's why we're not at the caucuses," laughed Ferguson, sitting at the bar with a friend.

Down the street, at the Royal Mile, Christy May, 31, and Steve Frederick, 35, sat at the bar having post-work drinks.

"I'm just not that much into it," May said of the caucuses. "I don't know a whole lot about it."

For months, presidential candidates woo Iowans, pollsters delve into their preferences and the media camp out in the state with the coveted first-in-the-nation status.

However, the vast majority of Iowans are too busy, uninterested or disillusioned to show up on caucus night.

Tired of Being Bombarded

In a state of 2.9 million people, only 59,000 Democrats and 87,000 Republicans actually voted in 2000. In 2004, 124,000 people turned out for the Democratic caucus, while the Republican caucus was uncontested.

While more voters were expected this year, some Iowans got fed up with the campaign.

Tom Uitermarkt, 60, decided to skip the caucuses to go to the movies with his girlfriend.

"All these months of political ads, you get tired of being bombarded," said Uitermarkt, outside Des Moines' Fleur Cinema.

At the nearby Aspen Athletic Club, almost 40 people were working out on treadmills and lifting weights.

Deanna Graves, 31, a radiologist, was just finishing a session with a personal trainer.

"I just got off work at 5 p.m., came here, and now I gotta get home to feed my little girl," she said.

Other Iowans say they don't caucus because it's too complicated.

"I'm just not clear on how it all works," said Steve Wolter of Clive, Iowa, who also decided to hit the gym instead of caucus.

Caucus Commitment

With a too-close-to-call contest, the campaigns tried to woo first-time voters like Jennifer Stewart, 38, who moved, with her husband, to West Des Moines from Buffalo in the summer.

But Stewart was dissuaded by the caucuses' almost two-hour time commitment.

"My husband has to work late, so I'm here alone with the kids, and I'm just not willing to drag them down there for that long," she said. "That would be too crazy."

Some campaigns offered free babysitting for moms who wanted to caucus, but Stewart said another reason she decided not to go was that she couldn't make up her mind between Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"I want to wait and see who pulls ahead," she said.

Other Iowans who wanted to caucus, couldn't.

Staff Sgt Todd Saffell of Ottumwa is one of 800 troops from the Iowa National Guard deployed to Iraq.

Not long after he arrived in Iraq, he contacted Iowa's secretary of state to see how he could participate in the caucus. But the rules state a voter has to physically show up to a caucus.

"I am disappointed to miss out, but I do understand the unique nature of the caucus," Saffell said in an e-mail from Iraq. "I would like to see a system put into place that would allow for voting."

The fact that so few Iowans actually turn out to vote, fuels the argument of critics who argue the state is too small, too white and too rural to be representative of America.

"Demographically, Iowa doesn't represent America as a whole," said Rebecca Caufield, professor of political science at Iowa's Drake University.

"But any party's selection process is really more about the party faithful, than voters as a whole," she said.

Caufield said that while the vast majority of Iowans forgo the caucus, the people who do show up are heavily engaged.

Ben Goff, 24, a graphic design major at Grand View College in Des Moines, said he just doesn't care enough about politics to caucus.

"I asked my mom the other day why everyone makes such a big fuss," he said. "I'm just not super into politics."