I was working at a county seat newspaper in Iowa in the last half of the 1980s. I covered a lot of political appearances in conjunction with the 1988 caucuses. The traffic started in the summer of 1987. Most of the gatherings were at a local cafe which has long since ceased to exist.
It became routine, going to these events, but impressions remain. I suppose it's because my coverage was in print and I've always been one to remember where something appeared on a printed page. In addition to going to these campaign stops, taking notes, writing up the story and laying the waxed type out on the page, I also took the pictures and developed the film. Small operation.
A favorite front page was the one featuring Elizabeth Dole and Michael Dukakis. They'd been in the county during the same week. I had a two-column shot of Dole on the left edge with her looking right and a corresponding shot of Dukakis on the right looking left. Elizabeth Dole was campaigning for her husband, Sen. Bob Dole ("I believe in this man"). I recall being very impressed with the way Gov. Dukakis handled one of our "local color" citizens, who got off on a bizarre tangent and acted like she was in a private conversation with him.
Another favorite picture was of Rep. Richard Gephardt, who was in town with his wife, Jane. I snapped a shot of the Gephardts laughing with the local Democrat pol and I called it "Fun with Dick and Jane." Oh, I was quite the wag.
Who came to town in those months? Bruce Babbitt (governor of Arizona), Jeanne Simon (wife of Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois), Mike Dukakis (governor of Massachusetts), Dick Gephardt (congressman from Missouri), Elizabeth Dole (wife of Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas) and a handsome young son of Pierre DuPont (governor of Delaware). I can't remember the son's name. He actually came by the newspaper office to get some coverage for his father's campaign.
At caucus time I was assigned a story by the paper's new owner. He'd run into a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer at a coffee shop and so I set up a meeting with the reporter and a friend who was hosting a caucus in her home.The Inquirer story appeared February 4, 1988. It starts out this way:
It seems quite fitting now that I have no memory of who won the 1988 Iowa Caucuses. But I do know that none of Mary's neighbors picked a president that night, since she was hosting a Democrat precinct caucus.
The guys who came in third were the ones who eventually got their party's nomination.
It became routine, going to these events, but impressions remain. I suppose it's because my coverage was in print and I've always been one to remember where something appeared on a printed page. In addition to going to these campaign stops, taking notes, writing up the story and laying the waxed type out on the page, I also took the pictures and developed the film. Small operation.
A favorite front page was the one featuring Elizabeth Dole and Michael Dukakis. They'd been in the county during the same week. I had a two-column shot of Dole on the left edge with her looking right and a corresponding shot of Dukakis on the right looking left. Elizabeth Dole was campaigning for her husband, Sen. Bob Dole ("I believe in this man"). I recall being very impressed with the way Gov. Dukakis handled one of our "local color" citizens, who got off on a bizarre tangent and acted like she was in a private conversation with him.
Another favorite picture was of Rep. Richard Gephardt, who was in town with his wife, Jane. I snapped a shot of the Gephardts laughing with the local Democrat pol and I called it "Fun with Dick and Jane." Oh, I was quite the wag.
Who came to town in those months? Bruce Babbitt (governor of Arizona), Jeanne Simon (wife of Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois), Mike Dukakis (governor of Massachusetts), Dick Gephardt (congressman from Missouri), Elizabeth Dole (wife of Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas) and a handsome young son of Pierre DuPont (governor of Delaware). I can't remember the son's name. He actually came by the newspaper office to get some coverage for his father's campaign.
At caucus time I was assigned a story by the paper's new owner. He'd run into a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer at a coffee shop and so I set up a meeting with the reporter and a friend who was hosting a caucus in her home.The Inquirer story appeared February 4, 1988. It starts out this way:
Mary Meyer is preparing for company Monday night; a few of her neighbors are coming over to drink coffee, eat sandwiches and pick a president. Just before 7 p.m., they'll park outside her flat-roofed, wood-frame house by the side of frozen Twin Lakes and file in, pausing in the hall to fill out the party registration cards. "They told me that's the most important part, the little (registration) table with plenty of pencils," ...
It seems quite fitting now that I have no memory of who won the 1988 Iowa Caucuses. But I do know that none of Mary's neighbors picked a president that night, since she was hosting a Democrat precinct caucus.
The guys who came in third were the ones who eventually got their party's nomination.