Iowans Discuss What It Means to Support, And Then Support Again

Call it a testament to the seriousness of Iowa politics. Blame it on a field of so many acceptable candidates. Credit an Iowa caucus season that has now spanned two years. Regardless of reason, it’s the stuff that drives pollsters and campaigns crazy: supporters realizing they’re no longer sitting in a comfortable chair.

Nine Iowans have agreed to put their thoughts on the record and describe how they came to support one candidate — and then another.

“I’ve never, ever made a promise to someone and then just decided that I wasn’t going to keep it,” said Linn County attorney Sara Riley after describing how she shook New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s hand, looked him in the eye and told him that she was going to help him in any way she could in Iowa. “It’s one thing to make a promise to somebody and then fail at doing it because you just aren’t able to, but to actually tell someone that you are going to help him and do all you can — to me, I had an obligation.”

It was that sense of obligation, of giving her word, that made it so hard for her to accept that she had initially chosen a candidate that didn’t prove to be right for her. Several months after her initial promise to Richardson and his candidacy, Riley changed her mind and subsequently became an avid supporter of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. Making that switch, she said, was difficult, but ultimately a relief.

Those are emotions State Central Committee member and Jefferson County Chairwoman Jennifer Lunsford knows well.

“I initially went with [former North Carolina Sen. John] Edwards out of a sense of loyalty,” Lunsford, an Edwards supporter in 2004, said. “I felt that since I had gone with him last time that I should go with him again this time, and I willed myself into believing that was the best decision I could make. I still like him. I still think he’s good. I just no longer think he is the candidate that best represents me or that can do the best job for our country.”

She signed a supporter card with the Edwards campaign in June, but the following month met Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd.

“I don’t remember listening to what Dodd had to say,” she said. “I don’t remember his speech. I do remember watching him and how he interacted with people and with his staff. I was very impressed, interested and wanted to know more.”

She had an opportunity to learn more when Dodd personally phoned her.

“He was personable on the phone,” she said. “I never got the feeling that he wished he was doing something else or talking to someone more important.”

Lunsford said that when she began to research Dodd and his experience, both foreign and domestic, it quickly became clear that she was going to switch her support — regardless of polling differences between Edwards and Dodd.

“I came out in October of 2003 for Edwards,” she said. “If you remember, Edwards wasn’t doing much in the polls back then. Truthfully, we don’t know until caucus night who is going to show up.”

Selecting a winning candidate and winning, in general, were at the front of Stan Watkins‘ mind when he began to decide whom he would be supporting in the 2008 presidential election.

“I wish I could give you something that is more profound,” Watkins, who was initially impressed with Biden and gave money to the Edwards campaign early on, said. “I was very, very anxious to support a winner. I had felt that Edwards had a lot of good programs — and I didn’t want [New York Sen. Hillary] Clinton’s inevitability to rule without her being forced to prove herself.”

Somewhere on his search for a winner, however, Watkins found [Illinois Sen. Barack] Obama’s politics of hope and, in spite of Obama’s lower numbers in the polls, both Watkins and his wife became supporters.

Gary Goldstein, who taught history for 25 years and began as a strong supporter of Clinton, was also surprised when he was touched by Obama.

“The Oprah event with Obama was about three weeks ago and my wife said she wanted to go,” said Goldstein, who was at that time a firm supporter of Clinton. “I told her, ‘Don’t you dare give Obama any credence. Don’t go.’ Well, I don’t know what happened, but she went and got two tickets.”

Goldstein hadn’t planned on attending the event with his wife, who remains an avid Clinton supporter, but the weather turned foul and he didn’t want her out by herself. He went to the event and said he sat in his seat with his arms folded across his chest. He hadn’t expected to get anything out of the rally, but Obama’s strong words about the war and about bringing the country together resonated with him.

“I see him as a very intelligent man, a very thoughtful man,” Goldstein said. “I’m reminded of [Abraham] Lincoln in 1857 when he gave his speech in Springville, the speech where he talked about a house, divided against itself, cannot stand.”

After leaving the event, Goldstein said, he began to think about the plight of the nation and began to remember those in history who had the foresight to stand up, even when doing so wasn’t popular, and he started to think more and more about Obama’s message. A few days later, and for the first time in 40 years, he and his wife, Kathy, were supporting different candidates.

Tracy Hatfield, a Muscatine International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers member, also began the caucus season with his support firmly behind Clinton. Hatfield said, like Lunsford, he joined the Clinton campaign initially because he felt a sense of loyalty due to his support of former President Bill Clinton.

“I wasn’t sure that Hillary would run,” he said, “but when she did it was almost like the feeling of your buddy’s wife needs your help. … But, as the campaign went on and I began to look at her issue profiles, I thought she was way too far to the right.”

Hatfield, who focuses on key issues of labor, the economy and the plight of average Americans, said he began to think that perhaps revisiting the Clinton years wasn’t really what our nation needs right now.

“[The Clintons] are A plus students who turn in C minus work,” he said before launching into the reasons he feels the North American Free Trade Agreement was a dismal failure — and how he cringed when Hillary Clinton said early in the campaign that NAFTA only needed to be revisited. “We need to repudiate NAFTA,” he said.

He moved to Edwards for many reasons, but key was the feeling that nothing would stop the former North Carolina senator from doing what he says he will do.

“[Edwards] hasn’t changed his philosophies,” he said. “He isn’t running down the middle. One thing that strikes me about him is that he really works that hard. If he’s going to do that — if he’s not going to stop — if his wife’s cancer isn’t going to stop him, then that’s the guy we need to start restoring some checks and balances, both in the government and in the economy.”

Jerry Stewart, a Cedar Rapidian who lost a son in Iraq, said leaving the Clinton campaign, where he had signed up to be a precinct captain on caucus night, and joining the Edwards team was a soul-searching decision.

“It was very difficult,” he said. “It came from backing a Democrat I thought was the the most electable to backing the Democrat who more closely stands for what I believe in. Now I’m really throwing myself into the campaign for the person I probably should have been with all along.”

Stewart, just like all of the Iowans featured in this article, had the opportunity to see and hear from all of the candidates. He left the Clinton campaign just this past Monday.

“I really think this is the most important election so far in my lifetime,” the 43-year-old said. “I really think this election is going to tell us what’s going to guide our future — as far as what kind of future my children and grandchildren are going to have. I really believe that this is the time to take action and we need someone in the White House who can do that.”

Stewart has been frustrated by what he sees as the inability of the current Congress to accomplish goals.

“Democrats have control of both the House and the Senate right now and yet they can’t get anything done,” he said. “If [Clinton] is going to provide leadership, why hasn’t she started in the Senate and really shown a way there to defeat this president? … To me, she’s been sitting there all this time and nothing has gotten done, and I’m just afraid that’s what is going to happen if she gets into office.”

Another Cedar Rapidian, Nancylee Ziese, began as an Obama supporter, but has since become a steadfast Clinton supporter.

“I think [Obama] is extremely charismatic and intelligent — and I’m sure that he would make a good president, but I think he needs more experience,” she said. “I think Hillary has had a very broad-based experience. So my husband and I both decided we would switch to her campaign.”

Ziese, a social worker and volunteer at the Cedar Rapids Free Health Clinic, said she focused on the issues of health care, the environment and, of course, the war and America’s reputation abroad.

“Honestly, I don’t think we can lose no matter what candidate we pick,” she said and added that she thought all the Democrats in the field were very good. “But I think we need to pick the person that has the longest and most diverse experience. That’s Hillary.”

West Des Moines author Jan Fleming was a long-time supporter of Edwards who has now signed on with the Richardson campaign.

“[Richardson] is going to get the troops out of Iraq within a year,” she said. “That’s why I switched to him — because that’s the only way to end the war. Then I found out that he’s like a gift that just keeps on giving. He has so much to offer. He is just head and shoulders above the rest.”

Fleming said she was drawn to Edwards by his gravitas, but it was his non-stand on the war that led her to consider others. Richardson won her attention with his stand on the war, but he’s won her support based on his resume.

“His diplomatic experience is just amazing,” she said and noted that he has been instrumental in bringing home remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War. “Richardson knows how the world works. He knows the world leaders. They all respect him and they will talk to him. And domestically, he’s right on every issue — education, immigration, veteran’s issues and all of it. Finally, I think he is just amazingly courageous and I know he will stand up.”

Council Bluffs bus driver Warren Yaple, who switched from Obama to Edwards because he felt Edwards provided specifics on issues important to him, said he believes Iowans are still moving around in the field because they realize how important their decision is in relation to the issues that will affect Iowans and Americans.

“If you listen to all of them on the issues — I mean, I like them all — but you’ve got to think about what’s best,” he said. “You need to think about what’s best for Iowans and who should lead Iowans and the nation. We are looking for the first real president of this century.

“The Iowa Democratic Party wants all Iowans to be in this together. That’s the message of the Iowa Democratic Party and, I think, that’s all the message of John Edwards. We are all in this together.”