When Politics Could Still Be Fun

"Impossible" Request Prompted a Rare Moment on the Eve of the Iowa Caucuses

The passing on Thursday, May 11, of Hodding Carter III prompts a memory of one of those remarkable moments that can only happen in Iowa, during the first in the nation Iowa Caucuses which, at least for Democrats - and at least for now - seems to be fading into the history books.

This is a story I want to tell, as the great broadcast journalist Harry Reasoner (a Dakota City, Iowa fellow, by the way) used to say “before the colors fade.”

It’s a story that ought to be remembered as part of caucus history - not because it is of any great importance, but because it is just a fun story - and we can all use a reminder that politics - more often aggravating these days - could be, and once was, fun.

The year was 1984. The Democratic presidential field was crowded that year. Walter Mondale would go on to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984, but that outcome was not certain at all as the Iowa caucuses approached, launching the official start of the presidential delegate selection process nationally for Democrats.

I was working then as the Communications Director for the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP).

Dave Nagle, of Waterloo - later Congressman Dave Nagle of Iowa’s Third District - was the State Party Chair. There are a gazillion stories worth telling and remembering from that time, not the least of which was Iowa’s fight with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over the state’s caucus date. Long story short, the DNC essentially wanted to end Iowa’s first in the nation status. The Iowa Democratic Party - and Nagle - weren’t having any of that, fought to maintain the first in the nation status, and won.

One of my visual memories of that fight is of a then virtually unknown Californian named Nancy Pelosi doing a slow burn as she sat for hours in IDP headquarters insisting on meeting with Chairman Nagle. She had been dispatched to Iowa by then DNC Chair Chuck Manatt (a former Iowan from Audubon) to make Iowa understand there would be penalties to pay if the state party didn’t change its caucus date.

I don’t think Nagle, ever showed up for the meeting with Pelosi. He wasn’t about to allow the date to change or to do anything that would result in Iowa not being first. He also didn’t believe the DNC could force retaliation in a state it needed to win in November, so what was the point?

Now that I think of it, this is actually a perfect example of one of the problems with trying to tell stories about Iowa politics from those days. One story leads to another story, to another, and then another, and on and on. Because this is not the story I started out to tell.

The 1984 caucus date fight, and Pelosi’s visit - are fascinating stories in their own right, best left for another day. Those stories actually have little to do with why the passing of Hodding Carter III reminds me of an Iowa Caucus story, other than to make the point that by the day the caucuses finally rolled around in 1984, anybody that had anything to do with them was pretty much exhausted by them and ready for the presidential campaigns to move on.

The morning before the Iowa caucuses were scheduled to take place, Chairman Nagle called me on the phone. He had an idea. He wanted me to call all four national TV network anchors, who were all in Des Moines for the caucuses, and invite them to a small, informal, private gathering in a small function room in the Hotel Savery. Just to visit. No agenda. No news.

Those he wanted invited: Dan Rather of CBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC, Peter Jennings of ABC, and Bernard Shaw of the still relatively new 24/7 all news network CNN. Those networks were pretty much the national broadcast news universe back then, so each of them had many millions of nightly viewers.

Jody Powell, who was President Jimmy Carter’s White House Press Secretary, and Hodding Carter III, who was the US State Department’s spokesperson during the Iranian hostage crisis, and a daily TV presence in most American homes during that crisis, were also in town. Would I track them down and invite them, too? Nagle asked.

In other words, short of the current and living former Presidents of the United States the six most famous and instantly recognizable men in America at the time. Find them. Invite them to a small gathering. Tonight. No news. No agenda. We’ll just relax and visit.

Sure. Not a problem. I’ll get right on it.

Actually what I said was that I thought the idea was totally unrealistic. (I admit, those were not exactly the words I used at the time in that conversation.)

My actual response went more like this:

“It’s the night before the caucuses. They, and the news organizations they lead, have been working for months to get ready for tomorrow. They are going to be hip deep in last minute preparations for the biggest day on the political calendar this cycle so far. Tomorrow will start early and end late for them. They need to be rested and refreshed and at their best from start to finish. And you want me to invite them to an impromptu party tonight? Nobody is going to want to attend.”

(I acknowledge that those, too, are not exactly all the words I actually used in that conversation, either.)

“No, I think you’re wrong,” Nagle told me with the same assurance he had when he once told me the Rand-McNally map on my office wall “was wrong” when he couldn’t find a road he was looking for on it.

“They’ll come. You’ll see. They don’t get many chances to just kick back at the end of the day and relax, and visit with each other, especially without everybody coming up to them and bothering them. Go ahead and call them. Let’s see what happens. I think you’ll be surprised.”

He was the boss. I had made my case. He had listened, and his mind was unchanged. So I started working to track everybody down.

Much to my surprise, I reached Dan Rather of CBS - personally and fairly quickly.

Sure, he’d come. Sounds like a great idea, he said.

I was stunned. I hung up the phone and then worried about how embarrassing it would be when Dan Rather was the only one to show up.

I reached Tom Brokaw - a former Sioux City boy, but now the network news anchor for NBC.

Sounded fun to him. Great way to end the day. He thanked me for the invitation, re-checked the details and said he’d be there.

Lightning had struck twice in the same day. I was certain it wouldn’t strike again, much less four more times. But I had to try.

By early afternoon, much to my astonishment, I had found and reached Peter Jennings of ABC, Bernard Shaw of CNN, and even Jody Powell and Hodding Carter III.

They all said, sure, they’d attend!

And that’s how I wound up in a small room at the Hotel Savery in Des Moines, with all four network TV anchors, a former White House Press Secretary and one of the most highly visible former spokespersons for the State Department in history sipping mostly canned sodas and visiting about a lot of things, but not much about politics,

Nagle had been right.

They were competitors, yes, but also friends. They followed each other’s work, but as a group, didn’t have many chances to just sit down and visit - no agenda, no news, no story to pursue.

Just as Dave Nagle had predicted, they all appreciated his idea and the invitation.

Today, I wish I remembered the conversations from that night better than I do. I have a pretty good memory in general, but my recollection from that night doesn’t have a lot of specifics from the conversations. The key to remembering things, of course is to first pay attention to what you want to remember. That night I was still too astonished that they all showed up to pay much attention to remembering what people talked about.

My memory of it, however, is that it was just relaxed conversation among friends, Not a lot of shop talk. Conversations about about the family, the golf game, interesting places visited recently, updates on common friends in the news business, sports, etc. Mostly the kind of things you’d expect friends to talk about, and who who don’t get an opportunity to chat very often.

BTW, there wasn’t a prima donna in the bunch. Every one of them was nice, polite, and considerate of everyone else in the room - even to me and the other two state party staffers who manned the styrofoam coolers from which we dispensed mostly sodas.

Hodding Carter III was one of the nicest in the room. His professional accomplishments were great and his fame substantial. Yet he remained a humble man and a thoroughly professional journalist. He was a terrific State Department spokesman during a time of dangerous and prolonged crisis.

From what I saw of him that night in Des Moines, he was a good person, grateful to have been included. I am sure he will be missed by those who knew him and worked with him.

It’s good to be reminded that government and journalism once routinely attracted and lifted up people like Hodding Carter III. It still does, but not always. We need more journalists and government spokespeople like Hodding Carter III behind microphones and keyboards as we go forward into the increasingly click-bait publishing future.

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Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Wini Moranville, Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politic Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

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