Iowa's decision huge, until maybe tomorrow
DES MOINES -- It's caucus day, the day when hundreds of thousands of Iowa voters, finally getting their chance to respond to months and months of campaign rhetoric, will stay home.I'm hoping for a tie among the "big four" so that the comedy can be prolonged up to the last possible moment!
I'm not kidding. Officials here are predicting a ''record turnout,'' but it turns out that ''record turnout'' means ``at least 75 percent of the voters will not be turning out.''
I blame the political attack ads. Every time you turn on the TV out here, there's an announcer saying something like: ''What do we REALLY know about Howard Dean's role in the JFK assassination?'' You watch 17 of these ads in a row, and the LAST thing you want to do is caucus. You want to crouch in a closet, whimpering.
But those Iowans who are strong enough to get out and caucus this year will be rewarded, because they will be helping to make a decision that will reverberate throughout the annals of American history, loud and clear, until about noon tomorrow, at which point all the candidates, pollsters, media, etc., will have gotten the hell out of here, headed for New Hampshire, leaving the Iowans safe, at last, to turn on their televisions again and start following the Michael Jackson story like everyone else.
