Iowa Democrats Should Ignore DNC on Caucuses

Just Do It

Iowa Democrats should tell the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to take a flying leap at a rolling donut regarding its effort to muscle Iowa out of its traditional “first in the nation” status for the Iowa Democratic Precinct Caucuses.

Yes, arguments can be made in favor of calendar reform. Good arguments.

That would, however, be the case wherever the delegate selection process begins. There is no perfect place to start.

But, even if Iowa were a perfect microcosm of the nation, or of the party, and even if it were a perennial swing state, the DNC - and President Biden - would still be pushing this same “reform” plan, given the history of Biden and the Caucuses. The DNC and President Biden are not working to ditch Iowa for altruistic, reformist reasons. They are trying to ditch the Iowa Caucuses because, historically, the Iowa Caucuses have been a nightmare for Joe Biden.

He has been running for President, off and on, for nearly 35 years. He has never done even reasonably well in Iowa. In 2020, when he won the Democratic nomination for President, he finished fourth in the Iowa Caucuses. In 2008, he won 0.09% - less than one percent - on Caucus Night. In 1988, his candidacy sputtered out months before Caucus Night and he was long out of the race by the time Iowans gathered at their caucuses.

Iowa is the last place the Biden camp wants the 2024 nominating process to begin.

South Carolina, the beneficiary of the proposed revamped calendar - not coincidentally - resurrected his candidacy for the nomination in 2020.

The DNC proposal has nothing to do with “reform” of the process and everything to do with improving Joe Biden’s chance of winning the first contest in 2024 and not getting de-railed at the outset. It’s about bare knuckled politics, and the reach for a more favorable calendar for an incumbent President.

Period.

In a sense, it’s the calendar/scheduling version of gerrymandering. If the terrain doesn’t look good for your candidate, change the terrain.

Let me be very clear: I think Joe Biden has been very successful President, historically so. He’s achieved that under extremely difficult circumstances. One day, I believe Joe Biden will be counted among the nation’s greatest Presidents. No one is more surprised by that than me, who never made him my first choice in a presidential nominating contest.

But we need to recognize what this fight is really all about. It’s not about reform. It’s about getting Joe Biden re-nominated.

There is also the matter of whether Iowa needs to take direction from the DNC on its caucuses. The answer is no. The DNC has not earned the right to dictate anything to anybody in Iowa, particularly regarding the Iowa Caucuses.

First, the Caucus Night 2020 results tabulation fiasco was largely the result of the DNC “big-footing” its way into the Iowa Caucus process with late in the game micromanagement that required the state party to use a tabulation app that didn’t work properly.

Thanks for the help, DNC. If ever there was an argument for the DNC to stay in its lane regarding the mechanics of a state’s delegate selection process, 2020 in Iowa was it.

Second, history shows that the DNC’s threats and hints of retribution if Iowa doesn’t carry the rope to its own hanging, is mostly bluster. That’s what happened in 1984, the last time the DNC seriously tried to boot Iowa out of the starting position. They began with threats that Iowa delegates would not be seated at the 1984 Convention if the the state went ahead on its own schedule.

Then-Democratic State Chair Dave Nagle and the Democratic State Central Committe essentially responded with “thanks for your opinion,” and carried on with the work of organizing and holding that year’s first in the nation presidential precinct caucuses. In the end, the DNC recognized that following through on its threats would help nobody but Republicans in the general election and was left shaking its fist and sputtering about assigning the Iowa delegation bad hotel rooms in the convention city - which also never came to pass.

BTW - an interesting historical note: the person dispatched by the DNC to twist Iowa arms was a little known at the time, but savvy, California Democrat: Nancy Pelosi. She, of course, went on to get elected to Congress, become the first female Speaker of the House and one many consider to have been one of the best Speakers in House history.

But she proved to be no match for Nagle and the Democratic State Central Committee who stood their ground, and prevailed.

Iowa Democrats also should ignore the DNC for this simple reason: turn about is fair play.

In the 2022 mid terms, national Democrats ignored Iowa’s very winnable US Senate race. They acted like the race was radioactive.

Iowa Democrats nominated an incredibly qualified, articulate, and certified leader - retired Admiral Mike Franken - against the 89 year old Chuck Grassley who, in his later years has gone along with the Republican race to extremism, become a reliable water boy for Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, and played a central role in stealing a Supreme Court seat from President Obama that set the stage for stripping a basic constitutional right from American women, with the overturning of Roe v Wade.

But national Democrats didn’t want to get involved. Some wise guy in Washington with a spread sheet decided the race couldn’t be won and apparently persisted even after an Iowa Poll in late October, mere weeks before Election Day, showed Grassley’s ever-shrinking lead down to just three percent.

National Democrats did nothing, even as Republicans doubled down on their support for Grassley, and even brought in their “big gun” to rally Republicans, Donald Trump who was then just weeks away from declaring that the Constitution ought to be “terminated” so he could return to the presidency.

Grassley rallied and won, a gift to Republicans, largely made possible by the disinterest and inaction of national Democrats in that Iowa Senate contest.

And they want to tell Iowa Democrats what to do in Iowa?

Then there is that other matter: Iowa law requires Iowa Democrats to hold the first in the nation caucuses. Personally, I think Iowa Democrats ought to concede the law-breaking ground to Republicans. No way can Democrats ever hope to catch up or compete with them on that front, nor should they.

To sum up, the DNC proposal is not about reform. It is, rather, an attempt by an incumbent President to alter the calendar to make it more favorable to him. Not surprising, but let’s at least recognize it for what it is.

It is not likely the DNC will carry through with retribution against Iowa or any candidates if Iowa goes first. Doing so would be counter productive on many fronts, just as the DNC recognized in 1984.

Finally, national Democrats have not earned the right to tell anybody in the Iowa Democratic Party what to do. They threw a wrench into 2020 Caucus Night tabulations and then ignored - and likely cost Democrats - a very winnable US Senate seat from Iowa in 2022.

The recent record of national Democrats in Iowa is largely one of malpractice. They need to clean up their own act before sending the wrecking crew to Iowa to dismantle Iowa’s legally required delegate selection calendar, simply to serve the political interests of President Joe Biden.

Iowa not only ought to proceed with its first in the nation caucuses. It needs to be clear, loud, and unequivocal about its intentions to do so.

Just do it.

Please proceed, Iowa Democrats. This is your decision to make, not the DNC’s.