Here’s some political news from a different angle. Roughly 92 percent of the Democrats of Iowa did not support Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in his triumphant victory in the Monday caucuses. We’re not making it up.
The math: there are 576,725 registered Democrats in Iowa and Kerry collected the support of roughly 45,980 of them. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards collected even less support, about 38,700 votes, and was hailed as the triumphant winner of second place. Poor Howard Dean got only 21,780 votes, roughly four percent of the state’s registered voters.
It looked a lot more weighty than that in the headlines, where Kerry was awarded 38 percent, Edwards got 32 percent and Dean got 18 percent. But any way you measure it, those are slices from a very small pie, however tasty.
Why is this venue hailed as such a revealing celebration of democracy when such small numbers dictate the outcome? Could it be this gains weight because the news media determine that everything we look at closely must, because of our presence, be weighty?
Exhibit A: The New York Times on Monday published a seating chart of where the big-name pundits and politicians sat for dinner Saturday and Sunday night at the 801 Steak and Chop House in Des Moines and declared that the restaurant “really comes alive only once every four years.” (That is, when we hit town.)
Even after the news media argued quite passionately that Iowa would be a big one, four out of five Democrats didn’t bother to participate. It wasn’t that the candidates failed to pay attention. Most of them were pandering for weeks.
Fortunately, it’s now over. No more speculation about what these Iowa people will do to the Democratic field. “Something unexpected” should have been the real answer, instead of all that projecting.
On to New Hampshire, which, it should be remembered as the game plays out, has a grand total of 176,634 registered Democrats. Unquestionably, its decision will be hyped in the extreme. Let’s hope some people actually show up.
