Adrienne Grunwald for M le maga
ReportageThis Monday, February 3, Democratic voters in this rural Midwestern state will be the first to vote to nominate Donald Trump's future presidential opponent. A tradition which, every four years, gives them a spotlight.
Thursday January 23, welcome to Iowa. The straight road sinks into blur. Snow or rain, dawn or fog, you couldn't say. From time to time, abandoned vehicles, covered with a white coat, wait on the wide aisles where they ran aground after learned arabesques. Who knows if they are not those of a future president of the United States.
In 2008, on a probably similar route, a Barack Obama campaign volunteer found himself trapped around midnight. Now a candidate for the Democratic nomination, Pete Buttigieg was saved by a pick-up truck. It was that of the "Farmer Daughton", of the silent type, equipped for winter in the Midwest, according to the autobiography of the ex-mayor of South Bend, in neighboring Indiana, Shortest Way Home (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2019, untranslated). Applicants, volunteers, the "Farmer Daughton " no doubt had already had its share. Those who pass in gale. And those found under a pile of snow in the spring.
Iowa is a rural state where corn is grown mainly and corn is grown mostly (did I tell you it is famous for its corn?). We transform it into all kinds of things, including fuel for vehicles that escape their drivers in winter. The rolling of its hills is reasonable. Its highest point, Hawkeye Point, about 510 meters above sea level, is a former grain elevator. The state, with 3.1 million people, is moderately populated for its area. And yet, every four years, for a few hours, Iowa becomes the center of the world.
On the Republican side as on the Democratic side, this is where the very first voters give their voice, nine months before the presidential election. Almost by accident, according to Kedron Bardwell, who teaches political science at the flirtatious Simpson College in Indianola. It all started from the almost uprising of the Democratic base during the nomination convention held in a climate of civil war in Chicago in 1968, when the quagmire of Vietnam deeply divided the party. If vice-president Hubert Humphrey became the candidate without having participated in the primary system, the militants wrested from their leadership a real control of the selection for the next presidential election, in 1972.
Republican dissonance, democratic connection
But then you have to organize staggered consultations across the country. Democratic leaders in Iowa looked at their calendar. By counting on their fingers, they felt that it was better to go ahead in order to be ready on time and they fixed this vote at the very beginning of the year, propelling their State at the head of this electoral marathon . Republicans in the state will do the same four years later.
