Open Road

Friday Jan 4th 2008

Iowa, the winners and the losers

The phoney war is over. Voting, caucusing to be more precise, has finally started. And not a moment too soon, I have to say. Over the course of several recent trips to the US I have to admit to fatigue at Presidential primary politics. The seemingly scores of candidates have been on the road for over a year, there have been dozens of debates already, counting money has become the new spectator sport for Beltway insiders and Iowa – originally elevated by Jimmy Carter’s insurgency campaign in 1976 – has been lifted to a harbinger status which is hard to fathom when you compare this small Midwestern state’s demographics to the rest of the United States. I also admit to being concerned over whether any of these candidates are best placed to lead the US right now. More importantly, like many others I had become bored with constant media speculation over what might happen and itchy for the game to get going.