Have you read Art Cullen's latest Op Ed about the DNC decision? Ouch.

[progressoid]

Democrats to Iowa: Drop dead

December 06, 2022
Art Cullen | Storm Lake Times Pilot


President Joe Biden’s orders to put South Carolina first on the presidential nominating calendar, and to displace Iowa, are perfectly understandable. Biden owed Rep. Jamie Clyburn, dean of South Carolina Democrats, for his seminal endorsement in 2020. Biden owes Iowa nothing, having placed fourth in the caucuses with a feeble effort. Iowa does not reflect national demographics. The caucuses are not fully accessible; they are cumbersome and fraught with confusion. We appreciate all that, except for two predicates that the Beltway talkers repeat ad nauseam:

-That Iowa is too White, with the implicit (and often explicit) suggestion that we are racist.
-That the Iowa Democratic Party messed up reporting results in the last cycle.

These are two frauds cooked up to put the caucuses to rest, a campaign underfoot since they rose to prominence 50 years ago. The big money that controls politics has never wanted the nomination to begin on a level playing field where candidates are actually forced to meet voters, and where an outsider like Barack Obama could vault to the White House.

Which brings us to the first predicate: How is it that lily Iowa can put Jesse Jackson in the front of the pack, and see Obama put a wrench in the gears of the Clinton Machine? That’s the real issue. Iowa allowed Black candidates to challenge the White corporate Democratic power brokers. It allowed Bernie Sanders to rise to the top with a call for Medicare for all — a huge threat to the Wall Street funders of Democratic leadership.

Those same brokers, acting through the Democratic National Committee, forced the Iowa Democratic Party to use a flawed system designed by pals of the DNC and the Clintons. The Iowa Democratic Party took the fall because it does not control the message to the East Coast media — the corporate Democrats do. The party did the best it could with a confusing process built to fail by people outside Iowa. The DNC rejected a plan drafted by John Norris and other Iowa Democrats that would have provided accurate and timely results. That Iowa failed to do its job is a deception concocted by those who were committed to seeing some other state go first.

more...https://www.stormlake.com/articles/democrats-to-iowa-drop-dead/


Art Cullen is the publisher and editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot. He won the the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing in 2017 and is the author of the book “Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper.

[Scrivener7]

1. Oh bullshit, Art.

[onecaliberal]

2. Iowa told Americans to drop dead long ago.

[Effete Snob]

3. No one said the Iowa Democratic Party is racist

"That Iowa is too White, with the implicit (and often explicit) suggestion that we are racist."

That is an idiotic conclusion. That's not what is being said at all.

Certainly, the entire slate of candidates can be selected by a small group of white men, as long as they are not racist or biased against women. But that is not an affirmative reason to say, "Okay, well, then we will let this set of fairminded white men decide for everyone else." They may indeed be the most fairminded white men, but they are simply not representative of the electorate.

[StClone]

9. What could I call it?

I visited my Iowa family over Thanksgiving and likely won't be back in my home state again for years. I didn't talk politics but all I heard was how those "people at the border were coming!" and "Biden has opened the border!"

Racism? These views seemed to definitely affect the voting. Though I didn't hear it in this visit they often have slanded views of "athletes," "inner city people" and "welfare." To me all code words for blacks and other minoroties.

Apparently, the R candidates themselves played this fear.

[viva la]

4. Caucuses are generally problematic

Ability to participate is very limited compared to walking into a precinct and casting a ballot.

I think a caucus night can be exciting and fun if you are very involved in participatory politics and that's a big part of your life. For most of us, though, we want to vote and be done with it.

Personally, no matter what state, I think primaries are better to keep the base involved without forcing them to get TOO involved by a required full-day or evening in-person participation.

[bottomofthehill]

5. caucuses are the worst

they take too long, are not a secret ballot, they disenfranchise shift workers and the poor in short, they are a disaster.

[IA8IT]

6. I like being in a room full of Democrats. It feels good.

Iowa State Democratic Conventions are pretty darn diverse.

I like slow food and slow caucuses.

[viva la]

7. Single parents, elderly, disabled, carless

Generally can't attend caucuses. Maybe if there was a mail option....

The more people who vote in a primary, the more who will feel invested in the party.

[rurallib]

8. Been mulling this over for a bit. Cullen's reaction is not much a surprise

My thought is that the Dems current process of picking a candidate is quite flawed. What looks to be the national committee's answer to a flawed process is another flawed process. I don't think their answer will solve perceived problems. When New Hampshire was the first it was a problem.

As for Cullen's criticism I can't help but to take it with a giant grain of salt. Iowa's first in the nation status brings in a lot of money and notoriety to Iowa no matter whether the method of selection was a caucus, a primary or a giant convention.

Simply because we have a caucus system as first in the nation, many Iowans with any kind of a megaphone have built a lot of myth and defense for it. When I was growing up I heard similar stories about New Hampshire.

Three particular industries in Iowa do really well during the caucus season - restaurants, hotels and motels and news outlets. When the first in the nation status goes so goes much of the money and notoriety. It will be a big hit for many in those industries. The caucus season in Iowa starts a year+ before thee actual meeting night.

For those in the news industry, the caucuses have been a time to create a reputation or to burnish a reputation.

As for me, for a long time I have felt that the first in the nation status ought to be shared among several states at a time and that it rotate every 4 years. For instance, let's say Michigan, Georgia, New Hampshire and Oregon have first in the nation primaries this year. Four years from now four different states get the nod.

My first two caucuses had three and five attendees. It has only been in the past two decades that the importance of first in the nation has become such a big deal. That is mostly thanks to media hype.