Why Vivek Ramaswamy drew a crowd of over 100 during a blizzard days before the Iowa Caucus

As I laid face down, scraping snow from under the chassis of my Honda Civic behind a West Des Moines hotel Friday night, I wondered, "What are we doing here?”

The answer, according to John Southerland of Spokane, Washington, was to get a rare opportunity to stand mere feet from a major party presidential candidate. Vivek Ramaswamy held four of his five scheduled events despite Friday’s blizzard, crawling in 4-wheel-drive SUVs from Hubbard to Fort Dodge to Council Bluffs and back to West Des Moines.

The night felt unique to Southerland: Candidates rarely spend time in his home state of Washington, he said.

“I liked being here," Southerland said. "Being able to look him in the eye and shake his hand is a lot different than seeing somebody on camera. You can hear them, you can talk to them. When you’re in person you get those subtle vibes."

Events stall amid blizzard and frigid temperatures

Nikki Haley canceled three in-person events Friday and made them virtual events. Ron DeSantis spoke at the Northside Conservative Club in Ankeny Friday morning, but the rest of his events were canceled.

Ramaswamy pressed ahead with four of his five scheduled events. Campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Ramaswamy wanted to follow through on commitments he made.

“He’s going to show up for them if he can physically make it there,” McLaughlin said Friday morning. “There’s not an expectation from others to show up.”

More: How the Iowa Caucuses work, who can caucus and where to caucus

When my car got stuck, the temperature was 11 degrees and dropping. All day, Iowa 511 had advised, "Please stay off roads if possible." Yet here I was, stuck when I could have stayed home.

My three-mile drive to the hotel was uneventful. Roads were in poor shape, but drivable. Then my car stumbled into an unplowed section of the parking lot as deep and thick as a pool of quicksand.

To wiggle my way out, I used a snow shovel I threw in my car — just in case I needed it — and my hands to scoop snow from beneath my tires. For 20 minutes I brushed snow from under my chassis in vain. At one point a Russian-speaking pizza delivery driver, who was mad I was blocking the road, hopped in my driver’s seat and berated me. After a minute of revving my engine in vain, he too gave up.

Just as my strength gave out my front tires wiggled free and led me to the salvation of an icy, but clear, parking spot. Sam Kohlhepp, a senior at Cincinnati's Xavier University, was part of a group of 12 students who helped free a minivan stuck in snow about 400 feet from where my own car got stuck. One of the students in the group asked me of the weather, “How do you put up with this every year?”

Though the weather was not "Iowa nice," Kohlhepp and his classmates appreciated the chance to see Ramaswamy speak. They hoped to see as many of the other candidates speak this weekend as the weather allowed.

"I try to pay attention to politics," Kohlhepp said of the trip.

Southerland had been on a work trip in Beloit, Kansas. On Friday morning, Ramaswamy posted on social media: "George Washington braved the weather to cross the Delaware." Then Ramaswamy pledged to make every event he could "physically" make it to.

Southerland loved Ramaswamy's message. He bought gas in Beloit and debated driving through the storm to see Ramaswamy. He got a drink at the gas station and got 35 cents in change. On the back of a quarter was an image of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. He took it as a sign that he needed to see Ramaswamy.

So Southerland drove seven hours through Friday's blizzard. His 4-wheel-drive pickup truck allowed him to go 60 mph most of the way between Council Bluffs and Des Moines.

"The roads were very clear. The main part was the blowing snow where visibility would go down to, I think at times I could only see 50 feet in front of me," Southerland said.

Prakash Kopparapu, chair of the Indo-American PAC IA, hosted Ramaswamy's Friday event for up to 80 people. The crowd exceeded 100. Despite the nasty weather, it's all part of the democratic process, Kopparapu said.

"We are trying to make sure the right people go in," Kopparapu said. "And make sure to be heard."

Many — but not all — of the people there were tourists. One man told Ramaswamy that he flew in from Puerto Rico. Steve Stewart, former manager of the Stone Temple Pilots, landed in Des Moines at 4:30 p.m. Friday just to see Ramaswamy.

“I think he’s going to sweep on Monday and then you get levels of security and secret service,” Stewart said. “Is there anybody else drawing 60 people at 9 o’clock at night in a blizzard?”

But Ramaswamy also courted locals who could vote in Monday's caucuses. Ashish Bajpai and Neeranjna Bajpai, of Johnston, love Ramaswamy's charisma. Ashish Bajpai plans to caucus for Ramaswamy, but his wife is still undecided.

"We came a bit early. We did not see many people. So we were a bit concerned that given the blizzard not many people were going to turn up," Ashish Bajpai said. "But we were surprised so many people showed up. He is really popular. People are resonating with him."

Climate protesters steal spotlight

Climate change activists from the Sunrise Movement, a group which advocates for the mitigation of climate change, repeatedly interrupted Ramaswamy's speech. On three occasions Sunrise Movement protesters were escorted out of the event, only to bang on windows of the conference room where the event was held. West Des Moines police officers investigated a window that may have been broken by protesters.

Ramaswamy shrugged off the criticism from protesters by allowing them to talk to him, and told them that in the U.S. people get to speak their minds respectfully to each other.

"Hats off to him," Ashish Bajpai said. "I would not have done it in the same manner. Free speech, what he talks about, he literally lived by it today."

Blizzards part of caucus lore

During my seven-minute drive home I dreamed of plunging into my warm bed. But when I pulled into my apartment’s parking lot I found a car sitting the space I cleared four hours earlier. With every space occupied or full of snow, I gave in to the inevitable. It would take another 20 minutes and 12 feet of shoveling in 2 degree weather.

Blizzards have always been part of the caucuses, Kopparapu said. During the first Iowa Caucuses in 1972, when the Democrats caucused, a winter storm with wind gusts up to 60 mph swept across Iowa creating whiteout conditions. Caucuses in a quarter of Iowa's 99 counties were postponed.

More: Frostbite can be a serious risk for Iowans during the winter. Here's how to prepare

Kopparapu is in his fifth caucus cycle, and he's seen big snowfalls before. When democracy is at stake, snow is nothing, he said.

"It's like this every year," Kopparapu said. "Iowans we take this very seriously because we are the first line of defense."

Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Caucus: Why did Vivek Ramaswamy hold an event during a blizzard?