The Morning After

Well, so much for all of that. There were nearly 600 people at my caucus, well over the 200 or so who were there four years ago.

Sadly, my guy (Biden) was not viable so I had to make an agonizing decision about what to do next. My heart was with Obama, but my head knew this one fact: There is no dirt left for the Republicans to dig up on Hillary Clinton. But Obama? He's still relatively unknown and they could, as one of my neighbors said last night, slice him into hash during a general election.

Plus, I'm worried that he'll get elected and pull a Jimmy Carter "El Foldo." That he won't be up to the task. Whatever other complaints I have about Clinton, I KNOW she can do the job. So I leaned toward Clinton, except for one other thing: The annoying precinct captain who was there working the floor on her behalf.

I had three complaints:

1. her bullying tactics. The assumption at a caucus is that people arrive with a game plan in hand, and campaign representatives don't start wooing people until after the first division. Then, if a candidate isn't viable, candidate reps can start trying to persuade the non-viables to join their camp. Not this woman. She was in people's faces before they even got in the door. And she was loud. So loud, that I discovered, by over-hearing her hectoring a young kid.....

2. .... that she wasn't even an Iowan! She was a New Yorker. Which means she shouldn't have been serving as a precinct captain and she was supposed to leave the floor and stand in the observers' corner.

3. She kept referring to "the Clintons." In the plural. I got news for her: only one Clinton is running for office. So thanks to this loud out-of-stater, I am wondering what kind of campaign Hillary Clinton is really running. Worrisome. But in the end, my two fears (see above) won out and I stood for Clinton.

Which, in the bright light of the sunny winter morning, I now regret. But whaddya gonna do? I am also sad that a decent, honorable man like Joe Biden never stood a chance. It's baffling. On the other hand, it was nice to know that there WERE so many great choices. So it's on to New Hampshire, and may John McCain win there. Seriously. Huckabee's been scaring the shit out of me since he first moved on to my radar last July.

With those dimples and doe-eyes, and "aw shucks" charm, he could easily win a general election. Now THAT is a scary proposition!

Here In Iowa.............

....... politics are, well, what we're doing. Or at least what my house is doing. And talking. And thinking. And watching. Random observations after spending the past month trying to make up my mind who I'll stand for on Thursday night:

1. The media are annoying. They spend all day, every day following candidates around, so, no surprise, they've heard the speech and the questions and they're bored. So they spend the events talking to each other or talking on their phones. If you're unlucky enough to be in the back where they are, lotsa luck trying to hear the candidates. I went to an Obama event Sunday, and mostly what I heard were two cameramen one-upping each other about their equipment.

2. Tim Russert is one of the exceptions to the above. He's so unassuming that he goes almost (but not quite) unnoticed. He leans against a wall and watches the candidate as if he, too, were trying desperately to make up his mind. Doesn't talk; doesn't check his cell or blackberry incessantly. Just watches and listens.

3. Andrea Mitchell doesn't stop talking.

4. The phone calls are maddening beyond words. On Friday, December 28, we got fifteen calls. On Saturday, December 29, we turned off each phone's ringer and turned the volume down on the answering machine. Relief. Should have done it a month ago.

5. The TV talking heads make caucusing sound so......... complicated. It's not. Plus they keep yammering on about how if your candidate isn't viable, one representative from each of the other groups will come and try to persuade you to join their. I'm here to tell you: that doesn't happen. I've gone to every caucus since the first one in 1972. I've never supported a viable candidate, and I've never had someone from another group try to woo me. The assumption is that everyone has a second choice and they'll just wander over to that group on their own. Or, as I often do, the non-viables will sit out the proceedings.

6. The weather sucks and I wish we could do this in February or March.

7. Why why why do we have to do that on a weeknight? Why the HELL can't we do this on Saturday? (Yeah, okay, I know the answer: it's because the candidates want one last weekend in New Hampshire. Where the weather is no doubt just as shitty.)

8. It matters. And it's thrilling. I go to an event and see other ordinary people like myself listening and thinking as if it's the last chance we'll ever get in our lives. People ask great questions and the candidates (mostly) work hard to provide thoughtful answers.

9. We appreciate how hard these candidates work. And it IS hard work. They may appear at four or five events every day. They get up early , stay up late, and travel hundreds of miles each day. And did I mention how crappy the weather is?

10. Listen to the TV or read the paper and it sounds and reads as if only three Democrats are running. There are actually six. Two of whom (Dodd and Biden) deserve a hell of a lot more attention than they're getting. It's a bit heart-breaking to see such smart, dedicated, thoughtful men be so utterly ignored.

11. Don't believe the numbers. According to today's NY Times, 750 people showed up for Clinton event today here in Ames. I was there. There weren't that many people. 400, maybe. 750? No.

12. Bill Clinton could talk someone into believing in the Easter Bunny. He's smartand perhaps the finest public speaker I've ever heard. I suffered Hillary-passion for three days after hearing him. Happily, I'm old and cynical and eventually I came to my senses. (Don't get me wrong. She's also VERY smart and immensely capable and would make a great president. I just don't think she can win in November.)

13. Joe Biden is perhaps the most sincere politician I've ever heard. I get the distinct impression that he's decided that life is too short for bullshit, posturing, and posing.

14. And that's why on January 3rd, I will stand for Biden. He probably won't be viable, but in my heart I think he's the best person for the job. I think ALL the Democrats would do a fine job, even a superb job (okay, maybe that's going a bit far). But Joe Biden has an incredible grasp on how things connect. He gets how soil chemistry, health care, nuclear power, the situation in Pakistan, and university research are all connected to each other. He gets it. He gets me on January 3rd.

Mothers for Social Drinking

Coming out of the cave for a moment to affirm my support for Mothers For Social Drinking. (Thanks to Jay Brooks for his blog about this. It's his entry for December 8, 2007.) You can read about the group here and here.

Writing A Book = Not Much Blogging

I've spent most of the past ten months researching my new book and now, finally finally finally, I've started writing it. Well, okay, I've started writing the first chapter. I've plunged into what I call my Quiet Zone. Or maybe I should call it my Shutting Out the World Zone. I'm concentrating my mental energy on this book. Shaping the narrative. Working and re-working the prose. And, most important and most difficult, trying to figure out what the research adds up to. What do all those facts MEAN? What's the connection between this fact, that idea, and this event?

I know it will all come together; it always does. But only if I shut out the rest of the world. So if there aren't many or any new blog entries, that's why: Book in process. Writer at work.

Things I Hate

Blogs filled with clutter but lacking essential information. You know what I mean: the pages where you canNOT tell who owns the damn thing or what he/she does or is. Blog pages where the blogger rambles on and on and on in loooooooooooooooooooong paragraphs, which of course are single-spaced so they're incredibly hard to read on a screen. Plus there's usually fifty-five kinds of shit running down both sides: Links to other bloggers. Links to this. Links to that. Links to other sites. None of which I give a rat's ass about because I don't know anything about the whys and wherefores of the blog itself!

Ugh. I cannot be bothered. Not naming names, although I'd love to. But being a polite midwesterner, I'll keep my mouth shut. Plus, why generate traffic for ungainly, poorly designed and conceived bytes o' nuthin'?

Beer and Chocolate -- Ancient Companions

Okay, so we already know that some beer styles are sublime when consumed with chocolate. Turns out the connection is older than we knew! A piece in today's New York Times reports on new archaeological research about fermented cacoa in Mesoamerica.

Addendum two days later: As usual, Jay Brooks and Stan Hieronymus are MILES ahead of me on this. Check out their takes and links to lots more info. Stan is here. Jay is here. What's NOT to love about those guys????? (Answer: Not much. They're two of my favorite people.)