First in the Nation Photo Book

I've put together this photo book to share my experience in the First in the Nation project at Wartburg College.
(PS I'm not sure why a picture isn't appearing, but if you click the link to view the book larger, you should be able to see it there!)

Click here to view this photo book larger

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Iowa Caucus 2012

January 3rd, 2012 - Iowa Caucus Night

You know, I love politics. I really do. And I think that if you have a privilege/opportunity/responsibility like voting in a caucus, that you should make sure you do that. Especially if you have an opinion about anything. Which I tend to have. (Hence a political blog...) With all of that being said, I wasn't going to go to my caucus precinct tonight.
The way I figured was that since Obama is our incumbent candidate, there wasn't a reason to go because there wouldn't be any voting last four years ago. And frankly, I didn't want to sit through all the business that would take place instead. The one thing that kept me from saying no completely was the opportunity to become a county delegate. But I have also been bugging my husband about the fact that he needed to go caucus tonight as he had never experienced it before. He was also a little undecided on whether he would go caucus as a Democrat or a Republican. In the end, he decided to go to the Republican Caucus and he guilt-ed me into going to mine.

Now let me just point out here that this caucus night is so much different than four years ago. For one, it was a lot colder four years ago and we actually had snow! :) But more importantly than that, it was a very special and unique election process four years ago. There was no incumbent four years ago on either party and that's something that doesn't happen very often. And Iowans turned out in record numbers last time and in overwhelming support of Obama.

So tonight, we headed to our separate caucus locations to do our duty as Iowans. AJ told me that there were 66 people that showed up to caucus for the Republicans. In his precinct, Mitt Romney came in first and Ron Paul came in second within six votes. 
When I showed up at my location, it was a much smaller turnout. We had just under 30 people there and we had about five precincts that were combined at our one location. So in my specific precinct, there were only seven of us. At first, I was some-what surprised at the small turn-out, but then I thought, well people probably didn't show up just as I wasn't going to - Obama has it. After some people did some introductions, we had a live broadcast with President Obama. That was pretty cool! His first words were, "Hello Iowa! I miss you!" Always good to know that we've been missed... :) There are some quotes of his that I took down I'll mention later, but first he took some questions from a couple of precincts elsewhere. One was in Coralville and the other in Cedar Rapids. When they showed those precincts I was shocked at the number of people that were there! One was at a performing arts center and the other at a gym at a school - and they were packed!! It was then that I realized probably the true reason why there was such a small turn-out at my caucus tonight. I now live in Western Iowa. It is largely a Republican area. There are just far fewer Democrats on this side of the state compared to Eastern Iowa, which was where I caucused four years ago.
Here were some of the quotes I liked from Obama's speech tonight: 

"Change is not easy. It never is."
"You guys inspire me every single day."
"There is nothing we can't accomplish when determined citizens come together."
"We've done a lot, but we have much more to do." 

After Obama spoke, it was time to break up into our precinct and pick our delegates for the county convention that takes place in March. As I said earlier, there were only seven us in my precinct (which is determined on where you live) and we needed to elect three delegates. My chances were looking good! However, I didn't want to step on anyone's toes but after a while (and some chit-chat) no one was really speaking up. So I spoke up and said I would like to be a delegate. And that was that! I'm now going to be a delegate at the county convention in March! And I'm very excited!! It should be a great experience and hopefully I'll learn even more about how the party works. Plus it'll give me more things to blog about! :) 
I also have to mention here another quote from tonight that I really enjoyed. There was an older woman at the caucus who said she had been volunteering with the Democratic Party since she was 15 - so for some time now! And she had a really great quote that really makes you think:

"A democracy is run by the people, not money. But I'll be damned if it's not being run by money these days." 

I couldn't help think what a great quote that is! I don't care what party you support, but our democracy - what America is founded on - is run by the people. But things have gotten away from us and more and more it's the money that counts. And that's not a country I'm okay living in. It needs to change.

Now that we're both back at home, we're watching the results come in on CNN. And I have to say, this is what I was looking forward to the most. Even within the last couple of weeks, Iowans have continued to keep an open mind and different candidates jumped in and out of first place in the polls. And the incoming results are showing the same thing. Right now (with about 48% reporting) it is a very close tie between candidates - Santorum and Romney with Paul fairly close behind in third. Even with almost half of the state reporting, they can't make a prediction because it's too close. This wasn't the case four years ago. So now we wait and see what the final results tally in as...

In the meantime, here are some pictures from my caucus tonight (take via my cell phone)

Message from President Obama

With 88% of Iowa precincts reporting, CNN made their prediction. Although it was a little unusual... they only mentioned who would win third place, fourth, fifth and sixth place. 

Look at this screen shot. They couldn't, at this point, determine who would get first or second place. The tie between Romney and Santorum was too close. In this screen shot, it was a difference of 13 votes! 13!! In true Iowa Style (as my husband says), Iowans are making every vote count. It is literally a "to-the-vote" process. It's unbelievable but also incredibly awesome. And, in all honestly, it gives me hope and belief in our democracy and political process. 

Ron Paul (21%) and Newt Gingrich (13%) have both made announcements that they will of course continue on to New Hampshire, which is no surprise. It will be interesting to see how New Hampshire will vote, especially after such a close race here in Iowa. Surprisingly, Michele Bachmann is also going to continue to New Hampshire with only 5% of the vote. At least according to her speech. After such a poor showing in Iowa, I really don't think she'll last very long after New Hampshire. Rick Perry, who came in with 10% of the vote, is going back to Texas to "reassess" his campaign. Interesting choice of words... but I'm betting he doesn't continue on.

Before all the votes are in and counted for, Rick Santorum takes to the stage to thank Iowa. He is still tied with Romney at 25% but the two keep flip-flopping back and forth between 1st and 2nd with the vote difference ranging anywhere between 13 and 125. Santorum's speech is very much faith based and also sounds more like a political rally speech than the normal "thank you" speech you hear after election nights. He's definitely taking this opportunity in the national spotlight to help gear up his campaign before New Hampshire. Which is probably a smart move on his part because I don't believe he's been very popular in polls elsewhere in the US.

Mitt Romney has also taken the stage yet without all of the final numbers in yet. He's playing the "good sportsman" card as he congratulates the other candidates first. Already this sounds like the more appropriate "thank you" speech that candidates normally give. As Romney is speaking, CNN is showing 99% of the precincts reporting and Santorum is ahead by 5 votes. Five. Un-be-lievable! They're also reporting that this will be the closest Iowa caucus results in history, the last closest were back in 1976 with GHW Bush and Regan they were separated by 2100 votes! It will also most likely be the closest caucus/primary vote throughout the US as well. The previous record was held in South Dakota at their primary in 1936 which was decided by 257 votes.

Check out this screenshot... 

There is a ONE vote difference!! ONE VOTE!! WOW! This was still with 99% reporting and taken at 12:39am. Just... wow. But this does prove a point - every vote counts. So get out and vote! Otherwise, you lose the right to voice your opinion.

The (almost) final tally - Santorum: 29,968      Romney: 29,964

I'm calling it quits. We're waiting on one precinct in Iowa. And so I'll write another blog tomorrow with the final final tally. (Just a note, the rest of this was written previously, just in case it doesn't make sense...)
What an unbelievable finish. I did not expect this. Not this close! And I'm not very happy about it! haha Apparently I'm the type of person that has to stay up to hear the final results and so this has made for a very late night! But, as my husband continued to point out to me - it's history in the making. Never has there been such a close vote! Never have I seen the two top candidates flip back and forth between first and second place! It's been fascinating to watch, don't get me wrong. I just wish it would have ended a couple of hours ago... :) 

Well, the Iowa Caucuses are now done. We've spent the time listening to the candidates, asking our questions and figuring out who had the best answers. The rest of the nation is up. We've done our part. Let's see if they follow the path we've laid out. Here is a quote from the Huffington Post about those who have won the Iowa Caucuses in the past: 

Seven democrats in 10 caucuses who won in Iowa have ended up winning their party's nomination, according to the Des Moines Register. (Two were incumbents who ran unopposed.)
Six Republican winners in Iowa, out of nine contests there, have gone on to win the GOP nomination. (Three were incumbents who ran unopposed.)

So, does Iowa really matter? Eh, maybe not. But do we pride ourselves on our first in the nation status? Yes. There is one thing however that I think we can all agree on... we'll be glad to get a break from all the political ads and robo-calls for a while... :) 

A must-have shirt?

While I know this is slightly inappropriate, I can't help but laugh... 

via RAYGUN 

Politics and Iowa

As the Iowa Caucuses get closer, I'm starting to pay more and more attention to the candidates. Even though we're not caucusing for a Democratic candidate, only the Republican side, I'm still paying attention. (As a registered Democrat, I can't participate in the Republican caucus) This is one thing I love about living in Iowa - they really pay attention to their politics.

I recently read an article - written by a professor at the University of Iowa, but not originally from Iowa. (read the article here if you want) Parts of it were pretty offensive, even to me - someone also not originally from Iowa. And while I do agree that he made some good points about how Iowa is not a fair representation of the rest of the nation, you have to give Iowa credit. Iowans take their role as a First in the Nation state very seriously. They listen to all the candidates. They take the time to go to those town hall meetings. They want their questions answered. They know a lot about each candidate running. They're very informed. And while sometimes I think some Iowans might get a little "big-headed" about their First in the Nation status, they can tell you a lot about where each candidate stands. They're confident about who they'll be caucusing for.

With Iowa being first in the nation, we get a lot of attention - from the candidates and the media. We hear and watch a lot of debates. We watch a lot of video clips from those town hall meetings across the states. We get a lot of TV and radio ads from the candidates. And we have opinions about all of those. One nice thing about all the attention is that is does keep us informed. We get to hear how the candidates feel about many topics. And I'm going to touch on just a couple of issues that have been in the news recently.

One was a video/news article about Michele Bachmann. This event took place at a Town Hall meeting in Waverly and during the event, a high school student questioned Bachmann on her views on same-sex marriage. You can read the article and watch the video here. The thing I can't stand about Bachmann is that she talks in circles, avoiding questions and contraindicating herself. Well that, and I think she's just kind of an idiot. I have to give the student props for not letting up as she continued to push Bachmann for an answer. But let's go over some of Bachmann's answers. Her first answer is: 

JANE SCHMIDT: One of my main concerns is government support for the LGBT community. So my question is what would you do to protect GSAs in high school and support the LGBT community.

BACHMANN: Well, No. 1, all of us as Americans have the same rights. The same civil rights. And so that’s really what government’s role is, to protect our civil rights. There shouldn’t be any special rights or special set of criteria based upon people’s preferences. We all have the same civil rights.

Great! We all have the same rights! But wait...

JANE SCHMIDT: Then, why can't same-sex couples get married?
BACHMANN: They can get married, but they abide by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man if they’re a woman. Or they can marry a woman if they’re a man.

JANE SCHMIDT: Why can’t a man marry a man?

BACHMANN: Because that’s not the law of the land.

JANE SCHMIDT: So heterosexual couples have a privilege.

BACHMANN: No, they have the same opportunity under the law. There is no right to same-sex marriage.

JANE SCHMIDT: So you won’t support the LGBT community?

BACHMANN: No, I said that there are no special rights for people based upon your sex practices. There’s no special rights based upon what you do in your sex life. You’re an American citizen first and foremost and that’s it.

So... we don't all have the same rights... And as Bachmann states, we're all American citizens first and foremost. That's it. And she also said that all Americans have the same civil rights. But a man still can't marry a man... Something's not right. This article did get national attention and I'm glad it did. I'm glad to see a high school student standing up for what she believes - equal rights for everyone. Bachmann just doesn't say the smartest things... like at the last debate when she said, "I'm 55 years old. And for the last 50 years, I've been involved in the private business sector." ....right. Anyway, enough about her. I'm just praying that they're are not enough crazy Tea Party people in Iowa to vote for her in January...

Rick Perry is another candidate who is really getting some attention... but it's not necessarily all good attention. Perry has caused quite a stir with one of his recent TV ads that has aired in Iowa... Here it is below.

There is nothing okay about this entire commercial. Okay, I take that back, there is one okay thing about this commercial - out of the 6,345,835 people who have viewed this on YouTube, there are 663,586 dislikes. I recently read that this means Rick Perry's video is now officially the most hated video to ever be posted on YouTube. I'm glad to know there are a lot of people who don't think this okay. There is nothing okay about being ignorant and hateful - especially to a group of people who lay down their life to protect and serve you. It actually scares me that there are people like this that are in office. He talks about ending Obama's "War on Religion" - what war is he talking about? There is no war. America is NOT a Christian nation! Ronald Regan once had a great quote about this:

"We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. At the same time as our constitution prohibits state religion, establishment of it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral."

This is how it needs to be. This is what America stands for - religious freedom! (I got the quote from this article, which is also a great read!) Which brings me to my next point.

There is a great show on TLC called All-American Muslim. It chronicles the lives of Muslims living in Michigan as they life their life as normal as possible - as Muslims in America. Seems like a great show, right? I love shows like this because it gives you a look at a different perspective and a different culture. When I think about America, I think about how it's a great country because people here have the freedom to be whoever they are and practice any religion! I mean, it is the first amendment! But a news story broke recently that Lowe's - the home improvement store - has decided to pull all their ads from the air on TLC during that show. Seriously?! Apparently there is a conservative Christian group in Florida called the Florida Family Association that has been pressuring businesses to pull their ads because the show is showing "the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." What?! It's things like this that continues to make people so ignorant. We need to learn about other cultures and religions, we need to be open to them. You don't have to convert, but you shouldn't try and silence them. Apparently this group is also trying to get businesses to pull ads from other shows that "attempt to normalize homosexuality". Sometimes I really worry about the future of our country...

I'll get off my soap-box now. I know that these are just my opinions. You might not agree with me and that's fine. The thing about America is that you don't have to agree with me. We can all have our own opinions and beliefs. And I would love to hear yours. :)

An introduction to this blog

So I know this isn't my first post in this blog, but I wanted to properly introduce the blog. I do have a personal blog that I keep to update our family and friends. I've also posted some blogs about politics and my personal opinions. I've decided (after writing two separate political blogs today) that I have a lot to say with the upcoming caucuses and election. And so I've started a separate blog for just my political posts. And here we are.

I have included the other previous blogs I've already written in this one. And I've also included some blog posts from when I was a student involved in a First in the Nation project. (read the blogs below to learn more!)

So welcome to my new blog and enjoy! And as I mentioned on the sidebar, these are just my own personal opinions and thoughts. I'm always open to hear what your thoughts and opinions are, especially if they differ from mine. And I also want to say that I don't know everything. If I have said something that's not correct, please let me know so I can fix it. Thank you! 


Let the political craziness begin! 

PB&J Blog

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2011

PB&J: Political Blog and Junk

I like politics. I've always been interested in the way our government works. I love a good political debate. I thrive during elections. During the 2008 presidential election, I was part of a group on Wartburg's campus called First in the Nation (FIN). For this program, we paired up with a school in New Hampshire and studied the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primaries. We followed the current election from the beginning, the announcements, the rallies, the caucuses and primaries, the campaigning, the DNC and RNC and finally the election. We spent time out in New Hampshire with our fellow FINs and they spent some time in Iowa with us. It was a great opportunity and I met a lot of amazing people - including many of the presidential candidates and even President Obama (before he was president, of course!). I had a seat at Obama's speech at the DNC in Denver. I was a part of history.

I have a lot of thoughts when it comes to politics. Not just politics either - but the events and issues that are intertwined with politics. I sometimes have a hard time keeping these thoughts to myself. And as we start to begin the process of another presidential election, there's a good chance I'll probably have some thoughts through it. And I'll probably want to share those thoughts. :) So I'm going to use this blog to do that. I understand however, that not everyone cares about my political thoughts and that's fine. I understand some people read this blog to be kept up to date on what's going on in mine and AJ's life. And so in fairness to them: for any blog that I'm going to write about politics or my thoughts on current events, I will start the title with PB&J which stands for Political Blog and Junk. (Clever, right? Funny thing is I don't even like PB&J sandwiches, but love politics! haha) That way everyone has a 'warning' in case they don't care what I have to say!

When I first started writing this blog, there were some issues that I wanted to address. Well, time got away from me and now those news stories are no longer current. Actually, I'm not even sure I can remember what all the stories were even about! I do know that there have been a lot of stories I've read lately on the ban on gay-marriage vote in Minnesota. There's a lot going on with that and as it is my home state, I feel personally involved - even if I'm not currently living there. It breaks my heart to see things like this pass through the legislature because there is no good reason to deny rights to anybody. And unfortunately, this 'theme' is all over the United States. Another story that really disturbed me was one that came out of Tennessee. A bill was signed into law by the governor that basically promotes discrimination against LGBTs. How anyone can think this is a good idea, I have no idea.

What I do know is that things need to change. We need to continue to stand up for equal rights. We need to be allies against discrimination. And it starts with you. 

FIN Blog #4

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2007

T-minus 20 days until Caucus...

Oh yes, the time has come. I feel it is finally the time to start an offical countdown until the Iowa Caucus date: January 3rd, 2008. There are 20 days.

First of all. let us re-cap the semester (as it is now over). It was a very busy semester and the political events only made it that much busier but also exciting! Through the FIN project, we had the opportunity to have a lot of candidates either on Wartburg's campus or to view them via webcast with FP. Both Waverly and Wartburg College had the chance to meet many candidates. We had Tom Tancredo, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, just to name a few. It was very exciting to see all the candidates and compare them to each other. One of the many privileges I've learned to love living in Iowa.

I was also taking a special course offered at Wartburg because of the FIN project and since this was the Year of Civic Engagement at Wartburg. The course was Political Communication, taught by Penni Pier. It was a really great course and I'm glad I had the chance to take it! It was an awesome class with a lot of discussion about the current election year and we all know I love discussing politics! At the end of the semester, groups within the class gave presentations that were open to the public about different forms of political communication. My presentation was on Political Cartoons and I found the topic to be very interesting, although not enough research on it! However I did enjoy searching through hundreds of cartoons!

And finally, on my last day in Iowa before coming home for break, I finally did it. I changed my voter's registration over to Iowa. I am now ready to caucus! Well... in a sense. I'm excited that I will have the chance to caucus for a candidate on the third. Now, I just have to decide who I'm going to caucus for! I've heard all of the candidates I would consider caucusing for. And people keep asking me, expecting me to know who I'm going to support. And one would think I would have decided by now - especially considering I've been actively involved with this election since May! But I have made no final decisions. And I have 20 days to make that decision.

But I am very much looking forward to participating in the Democratic caucus in Waverly! I'm excited for the noise, the chaos, the excitement, the passion! I'm excited to experience this first hand! I'm excited for the possiblity to head to the KWWL studio to watch the results come in! I'm also very excited to fly back out to NH to observe the primary out there and to watch the results come in! It will be a very exciting first couple of weeks of the New Year!

So that's about it for now. The countdown has begun and I'm starting to ask the hard questions. The most important one being: who will I caucus for?

FIN Blog #1

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2007

First - in more ways than one...

Welcome to my first blog of the First in the Nation Project. I hope that this will become a place where you (whoever you are... although there may be none...) can come to hear - well read - my thoughts about this experience, which truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It will bring about many "firsts" for me and I'm excited to share to share them with you. 

I won't explain the program because there is this whole website dedicated to that - so I'll let you explore that for answers and you can always contact me with any other questions. 

Right now, we're over halfway finished with our summer course. It's a basic course - learning information about the Iowa Caucuses and the NH Primaries. It's also been a great time for political discussions. The first week of class we (The Wartburg and Franklin Pierce FIN Scholars) were each in our own states sitting in class. We spent the week reading, discussing and learning about different aspects of a Presidential political campaign, i.e. the economy, religion, polling, media, etc. Then, last Saturday, June 16th the FP Scholars arrived in Iowa. We spent the next week touring parts of the state and continuing our learning. Sunday we visited the Field of Dreams and the Mississippi River. Monday we had a religion panel with members of the community and local politicans to discuss how the local government has an affect on national campaigns. Tuesday we studied the media and had a visit to KWWL, a local TV station in Waterloo. Wednesday we traveled to Des Moines. There we visited the campagin headquarters for each of the main candidates (in smaller groups) to see how each campaign was being run and conducted in Iowa. We also visited WHO, a radio station, and had a panel with three different people from different mediums. There was Paul Yager from Channel 13; a woman who's name escapes me right now, but is involved with radio; and finally David Yepsin, a journalist who is nationally the most influential political writer during caucus time. I wish I could write more about it, but I don't want to bore you. But it was amazing. He is a very powerful speaker and I'm eager to read some of his stuff because this guy definately knows what he's talking about. Thursday we drove to Cedar Rapids for an exciting day. We visited KCRG, channel 9, and also had a meeting with a woman at an Islamic Center and recieved her view on politics and her faith. It was very interesting. It was also an exciting day, filled with getting lost, crazy driving, and tornadoes. But nothing serious. :-) 

Friday, us Wartburgers flew out to NH. Strangely, we were the first ones to arrive here from all of the FIN program. It's taken at least four different flights to finally get everyone here. But we made it. Not without some more adventures, but those are for a different blog... 

Today we had our first taste of the week to come. We went to a live broadcast with David Valdez who is a photojournalist and former White House photographer. Amazing guy with some amazing pictures and stories!! Then, at dinner - which was great! - the keynote speaker was William Douglas, who is a White House Correspondent for McClatchy newspapers. He also had some great stories. 

This is certainly off to a great start. And I think this is going to be an amazing program. I'm learning and coming to realize a lot of things within these past few weeks. I am a political junkie. And I'm sure all of my friends and family will get sick of me talking about politics so much. But I'm currently exposed to it 24/7 and don't really have much else to talk about! All of our time is spent talking politics. Which sometimes may get a little old... but also refreshing to have other people to talk about these issues. So many people don't care or aren't informed and don't want to talk about politics. But it's so important and I'm glad I've found some more people who agree with that. 

I'm also learning a lot, because I'm the only Wartburg student that's not from Iowa. I'm from Minnesota and how we view the political campaigns is much different than it is in Iowa. Here are some of the things I've learned:

It's a much bigger deal in Iowa. They take their caucuses very seriously - as they should. The caucus system itself is a little goofy but nonetheless amazing. Iowa has a large influence on who the next President of the United States will be - whether or not people believe Iowa should have that influence is another discussion. The politicians are always in Iowa. They are always around. It's not uncommon for a person to meet (or see) each of the political candidates at least once. There is much more information on the media about politics as well - especially when it comes to campaign ads and whatnot. 

We've talked about a lot of things these past few weeks and I wish I could share them all with you now. But I've noticed this blog is getting a little long so I better stop for now. I'll try to continue to share my thoughts with you through the rest of this course, the summer and especially this fall once school starts and the elections draw even closer. It's going to be an exciting election cycle and I hope you are excited about this as I am.