Stumping Through Iowa
By Charlie Keenan

	John Kerry makes a campaign pit stop at the Iowa State Fair. The Iowa caucuses in January are the first test of a candidates' popularity. (Photo Courtesy John Kerry for President Campaign)

As a presidential candidate, you'll be making many stops in the Hawkeye State. Iowa is the first state to nominate a candidate. Because of that, it is the focus of a media frenzy early in the campaign. The frontrunner in Iowa often takes the lead in the next primary in New Hampshire, and can sometimes use that bump in positive press to go all the way.

In Iowa, you'll have to high-five voters in steamy town halls in the summer. You'll likely be dressed in a winter coat on a freezing cold day, perhaps standing in a park's gazebo, saying why you're better than the other candidates. You'll go to diners to drink coffee with the locals, and you'll meet with party officials in an effort to try to get them to work on your behalf. You'll run on adrenaline, and caffeine perhaps, with little sleep, because you were up late making calls to donors to thank them for their support.

Iowa is crucial because if you win in this state, you will get a lot of press and will be a frontrunner to get your party's nomination. Come in fourth and you're probably history in New Hampshire and the other primaries and caucuses that follow.

"The early contests create momentum for candidates who win them, assisting them
in winning the next round," says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "They winnow the field."

That's why you'll spend a lot of time in Iowa in the years and months leading up to the caucuses, or meetings of party members to vote on candidates or issues.

Iowa has been an important step on the presidential campaign ever since 1972, when Democratic candidate George McGovern's campaign spent a lot of time on Iowa and finished close behind opponent Edmund Muskie. It gave McGovern the attention he needed to win the nomination.

Jimmy Carter expanded on the strategy in 1976, taking Iowa and eventually winning the presidency.  Candidates have made Iowa an early stop on the campaign ever since.

The campaigns in Iowa are grassroots, meaning they take place on the local level. Candidates shake hands, meet with party officials, and recruit organizers and volunteers. So you'll meet party members and discuss issues like the war in Iraq, the economy, and trade with China.

On the big day, each of Iowa's 1,997 precincts, or voting districts, holds a meeting. As a  candidate, you'll need at least 15 percent of the attendees at each meeting to vote for you. If you get only 5 percent, say, then your voters will have to switch their allegiance to someone who has 15 percent or more.

That's why you need to get started early in Iowa. You will need to buy lists of voters with their phone numbers so you can start making your phone calls. You will try to recruit party members to work for them and convince others to join the campaign. The goal: Get the support you need to emerge with a win.

“You basically pay your people to go and collect enough votes so you emerge as the victor,” Payne says.