By Alex Boles

A reporter does not expect to walk into a caucus location and be reminded of a family reunion, but I was.

The home of Gary and Mary Weaver was welcoming and homey. Snacks and drinks were set out on counter tops and tables. Pictures and artwork decorated the living room and people were busily working in the kitchen. Color flooded the room – from the carpets and lamp shades to the candy apple red pots hanging in the kitchen. It did not seem like a political activity.

Caucuses inside the home accounted for less than 10 percent of all the caucuses in the state and it was thrilling to be able to experience one. Our media was set up on the landing of the steps leading up to bedrooms. The caucus-goers were able to sit on couches and comfortable chairs instead of bleachers. Everyone breathed in warm, brownie-scented air instead of muggy gymnasium or dry auditorium air.

As a first-time caucus reporter, I was ignorant of the actual process. The number of people, 90, was multiplied by 15 percent to get the amount of people it would take to give the candidate one vote. Representatives from the leading candidates would venture out to the undecided or to the candidates with less people representing them and attempt to persuade them to cross over to their territory. It was an exciting process to watch. Young men, women, seasoned veterans and first-timers all took part in the event. Mother and daughter sat on opposite sides of the room, and neighbors stood together. One of the most surprising bits of information we received is that most of the 90 caucus-goers knew each other or at least knew Gary and Mary. They were able to take a potentially completely hectic and argumentative process and turn it into a family friendly environment. I was part of the press and still felt like I would be asked to stay for dinner and a movie. Having a caucus location in the home is a great way to bring a rural community together. These people start as a support system and know that they are able to walk into a comfortable environment where they can speak their mind.

The food continues to be passed out as the procedure begins to settle down. The numbers were final, delegates for committees were selected and exhaustion set in due to the contagious intensity, stress and pressure. Coats were taken out of the closet and given to friends and neighbors. The press packed up their supplies and food was left on the counters. This was Gary and Mary’s second year hosting the caucus. Hopefully they will continue to create the warm and comfortable atmosphere that I experienced at my first caucus event.

I write to draw parallels between the just concluded causes in Iowa and the post-election violence in Kenya. Somebody has to.

At the back of my mind is the following question: How can Americans go through a bruising campaign period and conclude this vital electoral exercise without anybody being killed for casting a vote for a candidate another American doesn’t like?

If Mike Huckabee pulls through this evening as the Republican nominee from Iowa, it’ll be the alligator skin boots that gave him the boost.
Forget their stances on national issues, it’s the meticulous clothing choices of the candidates that characterize their campaigns.
For his campaign stop in Grinnell this afternoon, Huckabee chose the alligator skin boots — tough, waterproof, so the grayish snow-turned-slush slid off the tops of his shoes like the negative television advertising rolled off his back in the last month.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, strolled in with a red silk tie to his rally Wednesday morning. The tie was bright, a stark contrast to his plain black suit and white shirt. Black, white and red, eh? We know that it was a subtle reminder of his background in civil rights litigation and his mixed ethnic background.
Still, it looks like he’s still trying to convince voters he’s serious enough to be viable — and experienced enough to know how to wear a tailored suit. We’re pretty sure the tie wasn’t a clip-on
John Edwards is still trying to shake off the $400-haircut story — he knows how unforgiving the media can be in scrutinizing his appearance. Maybe that’s why he put on his blue jeans. Levis wear well — one cycle in the washing machine only makes them stronger. Maybe Edwards wanted to remind caucusgoers that despite last presidential election’s disappointing results, he’s up for another go-round. He is the everyman, after all. Or maybe after 36 hours on the road, any material besides denim would have succumbed to wrinkles.
If you choose to host an event in an unheated airplane hangar, you’d better wear layers. Mitt Romney donned a collared shirt and a bright blue sweater. Not so bright as to be obscene for a staid fiscal conservative, but blue enough to bring out his honest eyes. Sweaters are Christmas. Sweaters are family. Sweaters go with just about everything, which is who Romney hopes to appeal to in the general election.
Bill Richardson was your average absent-minded professor on Wednesday night, when he took the microphone in a room no bigger than a crowded lecture hall in a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches. Richardson is counterculture but smart at the same time. His clothes appealed to the academics-turned-activists that have rallied around him. And just as if elbow patches got too popular, they’d no longer be cool, if Richardson won the nomination, he’d lose his base.
Whoever said the clothes don’t make the man (or at least the presidential candidate) had never been to the Iowa caucuses.

Laura Prather

We are only hours away from the beginning of the Iowa caucus, and it still is up in the air about which Democrat will claim first. Obama, Edwards and Clinton seem to be running a six-legged race, and the polls can’t be trusted considering the margin of error. 

After visiting events of all three of the top Democrats over the last two days, the candidates’ supporters are all saying the same thing: They are endorsing the best candidate – the candidate who will win and become the next President of the United States. Each of the three has a distinct demographic they are attracting and each group seems to be equally accounted for across Iowa. 

Clinton focuses mainly on health care and reels in voters with personal and sentimental stories. Obama’s vocabulary circles around three main ideas: hope, believe and change. And Edwards interests voters by promising a rise of the middle class. 

But Clinton, Obama and Edwards do have one thing in common. Everywhere they go, their fans chant their names.  

And although the race is close now, fans will still be chanting their favorite candidate’s names once the caucus is over. Supporters won’t give up because they want their candidate to be the next president, and thus the chants will continue long into the night and well into the new year.

A huge bus. Blue and yellow. Windows tinted. Following me around Iowa as I follow presidential candidates. It’s the FairTax bus … again.  

I first saw the FairTax bus at the Reagan Dinner sponsored by the Republican Party of Iowa in October. Many of the candidates there talked it up, so I thought perhaps it was a Republican issue. And then I saw the bus not far from a rally for Chris Dodd, who is certainly not a Republican.  

So, my main question has been, what is the FairTax anyway? I’ve got my answer now.  

According to its Web site, FairTax is non-partisan and “a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll-based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax.” The FairTax further includes a repeal of the 16th amendment through companion legislation.

The plan also enables workers to keep their entire paycheck, allows American products to compete fairly, closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation and abolishes the IRS, among other things.

Republican presidential candidates Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee and Mike Gravel have stated they would sign the FairTax into law if it were passed by Congress.

The FairTax bill was introduced into the House of Representatives in 2005 and remains there today.

For further information, visit http://www.fairtax.org.

By Alex Boles

Heading into Fred Thompson’s speech this morning, I was not expecting to see elementary school children with press badges and notebooks.

The Scholastic Kids Press Corps, a group of promising journalists, attended the event and other candidate events throughout Des Moines today. They all gathered in the back of the conference room inside the Marriott Hotel in West Des Moines in their matching red press shirts with completely unbiased reactions. They were hard at work writing in their notebooks to go back and write their stories. Their advisor said they were up until midnight the night before writing stories. 

I got the chance to interview some of the kids, and let me say I was just as happy to interview them as they were to get interviewed. They all seemed completely professional, in the we’re-ten-year-old-journalists type of way. Most of the kids were from Des Moines and did not say which candidate they supported. Naturally. These kids definitely have a great future ahead of them in journalism if they stick with it.

If you want to learn more about these young journalists, you can go to their Web site at scholastic.com/news and watch the full interview on our Web site. (To be added at a later time.)

Students working inside several presidential campaigns in Iowa are blogging their thoughts at http://2008caucus.blogspot.com/  Join them for the conversations.