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Des Moines Diary  Jan. 2

The day before the caucus we journeyed to Winterset, Iowa , about an hour from Des Moines . Iowa is primarily a rural state. Most of the 1700 or so caucus meetings tomorrow will be held in small communities or even rural homes and schools and on January 19^th, many Nevada caucuses will be held in places like Fallon, Eureka and Austin . We want to capture some of that atmosphere, and Winterset and the surrounding countryside have that atmosphere in spades.  It’s hard to imagine a more iconic location.

Winterset looks like a Christmas card illustration or a Norman Rockwell painting. A picturesque downtown, locally owned stores in well preserved brick buildings a century old or more. All built around a classic courthouse and town square. This is John Wayne’s birthplace. His family home is a museum located just off the square. Turn left off

But we’re here to talk with the people. We meet a group of Democrats over coffee at the Northside Café, the kind of place where everyone knows each other by first name and you just know if you were hungry the chicken friend steak would be memorable.

We meet a couple of Republicans at a beautiful restored home three blocks off the square.  Both parties are geared up and excited and they are ready. For weeks and months now, the candidates have breezed through here and anyone who wanted to meet one or all and ask a question, get a picture taken has had the opportunity. As Republican Ron Kepford tells me you can’t go down to the coffee shop without running into a candidate. They are used to the attention and they believe they are uniquely qualified to lead off this selection process.

I ask if another state….say Nevada ….can do the same and frankly, I hear some skepticism. Dan Ryner, a farmer and a Democrat, says he doesn’t think we have the same diversity. I smile because diversity is exactly why Nevada was chosen to host an early caucus.  And frankly, Dan reminds me of friends of mine who grew up in Fallon and, like him, make their living from the soil.