Iowa Caucus reactions: State showed well, but news media's race call was appalling
Donald Trump coasted to a record victory margin in the Iowa Republican Party presidential caucuses Monday night. To consider the results, I invited three Register Opinion contributors who’ve been active in politics to chat early Tuesday.
Sandra Reicks owns a small business in northeast Iowa and writes a monthly blog at movingtheconversationalong.com. Chip Baltimore is a former state lawmaker and an attorney. Justin Brady is host of the Iowa Podcast and has interviewed six presidential candidates. Their comments are condensed and edited for clarity from the Tuesday interview.
On the Associated Press and other media outlets declaring Trump the winner before voting began at many locations
Brady: This is my only question: Why even wait till 7:30? … I feel like none of their data coming in from Iowa had anything to do with calling the race.
Reicks: I'm surprised at how early they always call it.
Baltimore: I think it's one of the most egregious examples of journalistic malpractice I can possibly imagine. It is a severe blow to journalistic integrity. … Using survey data, I think, is just totally wrong. I think that calling a race based upon (a few) precincts in eight counties is wholly wrong. It totally misunderstood the caucus process. This is not like you called it half an hour after polling had closed in the general election and nobody could vote. … People in my caucus were upset and saying, “Well, why do we even vote now?” Because we hadn't even gotten through the rules and stuff by 7:30. … The first thing that came to my mind is, for some people who don't believe in the integrity of the election process, this is why, this is one reason. … The main reason that people were upset on Jan. 6, as I understand it, is they thought the election was stolen. Manipulated. … This does nothing to rectify that mentality. In fact, it exacerbates it, and I think that it is so grossly irresponsible.
Reicks: It is something that we should really think about, because, really, Iowa cannot do one more wrong thing when it comes to caucuses. We don't want any bad results or incorrect results. … It is shocking to me, too, that a race can be called that early.
On general reactions to the outcome
Baltimore: My precinct from the east side of Des Moines, just east of the Capitol, there were six of us there. There were three for Haley, two for Trump and one for DeSantis. I was in the Haley camp, but it wasn't easy. … I thought it was a good night to have over 100,000 people come out in that kind of weather. It was a testament to Iowa Republicans and just Iowans in general that, not only do they support their candidates, they support the caucus process and we're not going to let negative-30-degree wind chill stop us from showing up.
Reicks: The polls seemed to be accurate this time. (At Sumner-Fredericksburg Middle School) we had a total of 113 votes, and of those, 65 went to Trump, 21 to DeSantis, 20 to Haley, and seven to Ramaswamy.
Brady (a political independent who did not caucus): I was shocked that the polling was accurate this year.
On whether Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee
Brady: The only path I see of Donald Trump not getting the nomination is Donald Trump doing something to himself.
Reicks: He’s going to be nominated.
Baltimore: I think the judicial system is about the only thing that's going to stop him at this point.
On what the campaign means for the future of the GOP’s first-in-the-nation caucuses
Baltimore: It went relatively seamlessly. … I think the Republican Party showed that they deserve to be first in the nation.
Reicks: I wish there could be some kind of documentary done on these Iowa Caucuses, because my experience (Monday) night was really positive. You show up with identification in hand. You listen to people get up and talk about a candidate that they're passionate about and these people. What I really noticed last night (is) they are not polished public speakers. They are not seeking the limelight. They are speaking from the heart, and it was a difficult but courageous thing for them to do, to get up in front of 113 people and say, “This is who I support, I hope you will support them, too,” and then we get handed pieces of paper that you actually write the name of the person that you want to vote for. They collect these papers right in front of us. They count them right in front of us. They are validated by other members right there, and then they announced the results, all inside of an hour.
Brady: We talk about how people are on their phones, we talk about how people are isolated, they want to do everything from home. They don't want to meet anymore. Kids … don't go play in the street with their friends. They don't have an emotional connection with another person. The Iowa caucuses was a reminder, for me at least, that the process and the mechanics of them are a remedy to that problem.
On whether Gov. Kim Reynolds’ choice to endorse second-place finisher Ron DeSantis instead of remaining neutral will have any lasting consequences
Brady: Trump implied that Brenna Bird should maybe be governor. … I felt like it was a little bit of an, “I'm done with you, Reynolds.”
Reicks: I think it might impact her, but I don't think it should. It's still a free country. You can still have your own opinion. You can still choose to support whoever you want to support. … Part of this divisiveness comes from, you can't do one thing wrong, because if you do one thing wrong, it's going to be played over and over and over again on social media or some other platform, despite the fact that you do a lot of things right. I believe that actions should be weighted and this one did not work out for Reynolds. I still think she's doing a great job for the state of Iowa. I will vote for her again. I'm not going to hold that against her. I'm a Trump supporter. I voted for Trump. It doesn't matter to me, really, that she endorsed DeSantis. That's her right to do that.
Baltimore: I suspect that she’s going to go back to running the state of Iowa and be just fine. I've got confidence that she will do that.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Caucuses: What Iowans say Donald Trump's victory portends
