Iowans prepare
state for national spotlight
By
Shelbi Thomas
Iowa Presidential Politics.com
Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses garner
the state political prominence and worldwide media attention
every four years and so
Iowa tourism promoters and party leaders are gearing up to take
full advantage the spotlight once again.
“We’re
probably never going to have more national media coverage than
at the caucuses, so this is a great time to build up Iowa’s
image,” said Greg Edwards, CEO of the Greater Des Moines
Convention & Visitor’s Bureau.
It’s
also an ideal time for an economic boost. Since the candidates
first visited
the state to scope out supporters for
their presidential campaigns two years ago, Iowa has enjoyed
the economic benefits from scores of campaign staffers and
reporters spending money statewide.
Though no
one knows exactly how much of an economic impact
the Iowa caucuses have on the state, it is estimated to be
in the
millions of dollars, especially when the preceding months
of campaigning
are taken into account.
“It
certainly helps [the state's economy],” Kristin Scuderi,
communications director for the Iowa Republican Party,
said, “because
the candidates are raising money nationally and they’re
spending it here on staff and commercials, as well as hotels
and media and
staff traveling with them.”
Ben Foecke,
the director of the caucuses for the Iowa Democratic Party, estimated
the 2000 caucuses and related campaigning
brought $70 million to $90 million to the state, though
he is unsure
of how he arrived at the figure.
“It’s
like Christmas time,” Foecke said. “The
economic impact is biggest right around caucus time,
just like during holiday seasons.”
Foecke credits
part of the economic boom to political activists from around
the country coming to Iowa to
participate in
the campaigns. As early as two years prior to a presidential
election,
campaign
workers from about 30 states flock to Iowa to work
on a governor or senator's election campaign, in anticipation
of the state's
first-in-the-nation caucuses.
“Working
on a campaign in Iowa is proving ground if you want to get involved
in politics,” Foecke said. “It
retains its professionalism, because of the caucuses,
and we keep a staff
here year-round because there's an election going
on every two years. Few other state parties compare.”
Four
presidential campaigns have between 50 and 100
staffers in Iowa right now, with organizations
often
doubling
in size on caucus
night and occasionally reaching up to 500 members,
Foecke said. Add the influx of political reporters
to the state,
and Foecke
is certain that Iowa's restaurants, taverns,
hotels, car rentals, gas stations, shops, and other businesses
will
benefit.
Susan Ramsey,
who coordinates the Greater Des Moines Partnership's efforts
to welcome visiting
media
and candidates to the
capital area during the Iowa caucuses, said
that although the economy
is undoubtedly helped, the impact is not as
great as when a sports tournament is held in Des Moines.
“I don't
know that anyone has put a number on it,” said the
senior vice president of the partnership's
communication and marketing. “I’d
be skeptical of any number, because of the
difficulty of tracking reporters.”
The value
of the caucuses comes instead from the opportunity for Iowans
to be the first
to address
issues of concern
to presidential candidates and help shape
the image of their
state, Ramsey said.
“Iowans
have the opportunity to talk one-on-one with who might be the
next leader of the free world, something
that most citizens don't have,” she said. “Whatever the issues
are, we get to be the voices of the nation, something we treasure.”
With
herds of reporters coming to the state to cover the caucuses, often for the
first time,
Ramsey said
it is important
for Iowans
to give visitors a positive experience
and an accurate portrayal of what the
state has
to offer.
“When
we're talking to people who've never been to the Midwest, they
have the impression that most
of the population lives in rural areas, which is certainly not the case,” she
said. “Or
perhaps they do not have an impression
of Iowa at all or its geography. We want to give them their first look.”
Through
the Greater Des Moines Partnership's caucus resource Web site, located
at www.iowacaucus.info, the organization
is reaching
out to reporters and other visitors
to the state, providing them with
information about
the caucuses,
local politics,
and community
resources. The partnership also
has sent
out mailings
to political reporters across the
country, providing them
with materials
on local business information,
demographic profiles, and maps of
the area.
“We
make sure they have everything they need and can help them get
obstacles out of the way,” Ramsey
said. “We have a
wealth of resources to draw from
that can help them with background
for a story or if they need a
dry cleaners or cell phone battery
while they're in town.”
The
Greater Des Moines Partnership
also offers briefings and receptions
for reporters,
like
one at the Foreign
Press Center
in Washington,
DC, in June, when the Web site
was launched. Another media
briefing is planned with
the State Economic
Development Department as
more reporters arrive in Iowa
closer to the caucuses, and
the group
also plans to do an outreach
for candidates to address issues
it
thinks
are significant
to Greater
Des Moines,
like world
trade, health care, investment
opportunities, and continuing
economic development.
Ramsey
has helped CNN and MSNBC find permanent offices in Des
Moines and
many television
correspondents find a good
backdrop
of the
city's skyline. She said
that reporters are often surprised
to learn of
Des Moines’ status as
the third largest financial
and insurance center in the
world and see all the startup
businesses and expansion amid
a national recession.
“The
image is overall improving dramatically, and we have the citizens
of Iowa to thank for that,
because they are engaged and stay informed, and that's coming out,” Ramsey
said.
Edwards, who
also promotes the Greater Des Moines
area through
the Convention & Visitors
Bureau, said he hopes the
media will portray the
state as a good place for
businesses and families
to
grow and as one with highly
educated and friendly citizens.
“Hopefully,
reporters will show some of that instead of showing pigs and
cornfields,” he
said.
The bureau
has done a pre-publicity campaign
with major media
outlets, sending
them film clips about
the area
and general
information packets.
Once these reporters
arrive
in Iowa, the
organization also
hopes to meet them, “doing
little things for
them like leaving them gifts
in their hotel,” Edwards
said.
Foecke, as
director of the
Iowa caucuses
for
the Democratic
Party,
will work
with reporters
and
candidates more
directly, training
the media on the
caucus process
and how to
interpret the
results, and
informing candidates
of the
locations and
number of delegates
elected from each
caucus site so
they can figure
out their
strategies.
He
said the caucuses were moved a half-hour
earlier
this year,
at 6:30
p.m., to
assist television
reporters in
getting caucus
reports on the
10 p.m. news.
Foecke said reporters
will
be located
at more than
60 percent of
Iowa’s caucus
sites, particularly
in the bigger precincts or
in more quaint
settings, like
barns.
“They portray Iowans as genial, laid-back folks who are politically
astute, because this is not a simple process,” he said. “The
fact that ordinary folks are participating in a complex process
says a lot about our educational image.”
Foecke said
the Democratic and Republican parties of Iowa have been working
together
to maintain the state's status as the first
presidential nominating event on the political calendar, but
that it is a continual struggle.
“We fight every four years for it, because we realize the benefits
of it, not only for the [political parties], but to the people
of Iowa,” he said.
E-mail
Shelbi Thomas at [email protected].
This
story was published in The Sac
(City, Iowa) Sun on November 11, 2003. |