Iowa's Finish Line

Thank you, Iowa.

For more than a year, the people of the Hawkeye State attended a graduate seminar in presidential politics while the rest of us got to sleep in and borrow their notes. They took their responsibility seriously, braving suffocating heat at the Ames straw poll in August and near zero temperatures during caucus week to meet the candidates and study their records. They attended town meetings, rallies, coffee klatches and house parties, and they interrupted their family festivities over the holidays to hear two or three more political speeches in large auditoriums and crowded diners across the state.

Despite the flashes of glamour and star power provided by visitors like Oprah Winfrey (for Barack Obama), Bill Clinton (for his wife) and newly popular cult hero Chuck Norris (for Mike Huckabee), most Iowans came out not to celebrity-watch but to ensure that the candidates addressed the issues facing a troubled nation. They asked questions--often worthy of a doctoral defense--and refused to accept bumper-sticker answers.

As always, Iowa condensed the presidential campaign to a human scale, something that is simply impossible almost anywhere else in the country. Yes, there were mind-numbing and endless sleek television ads, hyped rallies and forceful phone calls and mail pieces. But an extraordinary number of Iowa voters made their decisions because of face-to-face contact with the candidates. They listened to the contenders speak and told their own stories. With the candidates unable to hide behind consultants or façades, their worry lines, hoarse voices and unguarded reactions were on full display. And in the end, Iowans used their heads and their guts to make their decisions.