I pull into the John Kerry campaign headquarters parking lot. I notice a lot of cars with Kerry for President decals. I decide that now would be a good time to remove my George Bush bumper sticker.
Today, I'm visiting the Kerry and Dean headquarters to get a glimpse at the behind-the-scenes campaigns. They are a study in contrast.
Kerry's place is quiet. Dean's is loud.
Kerry's people sit. Dean's people are always on the move.
Although the Kerry volunteers are no fiercer in their commitment to their candidate, Dean's office is bustling with more people, more excitement, more adrenaline.
I remind myself that it's possible to read too much into a campaign's external appearance. The young Dean volunteers are an impressive sight, but maybe energy doesn't matter. Bob Dole won here. So did Al Gore. Neither campaign was famous for its youth or vitality.
I go door-to-door campaigning with Mike, John and Chris. They are three of (supposedly) 3,000 Dean volunteers from every corner of the country who have come to Iowa this week. They wear orange hats and call themselves "The Perfect Storm."
I like that multi-million-dollar presidential campaigns still go door-to-door, and I've been looking forward to joining them all week. It seems like the epitome of retail politics. It seems so de Tocqueville.
But after an hour with Mike, John and Chris, I am disillusioned. It turns out that most Iowans don't want to hear about politics on their front porch. Dinner is in the oven. The kids are crying. Wheel of Fortune is on. Politics is not a high priority for most people.
After attending a week's worth of rallies with the politically passionate, I had forgotten that most Iowans don't vote. In 2000, only 14 percent of party registrants voted in the Iowa caucuses. Apparently, the vast majority of Iowans do not relish the prospect of spending three hours debating politics in a school cafeteria or church basement on a cold winter night.
So much for de Tocqueville.
Duke senior Justin Walker, a "political junkie" from Louisville, Ky., is on the Democratic Party campaign trail as part of an independent study project. He is filing periodic dispatches for the Duke Web site.
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