COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA — Every caucusroom does things differently across Iowa. Last night, Kirn Junior High School, four different precincts held their caucuses. Before the precincts divided up to vote, all four gathered in the auditorium, where a representative of each candidate gave a one-minute speech. Some of these representatives are picked by the campaign. Some of them just volunteer.
Above is the speech for Santorum. You can tell that this is a homespun speech. It didn’t come from campaign headquarters, and didn’t strike me as particularly persuasive. Had I been giving the Santorum speech, I would have played hard for the Perry and Gingrich backers, saying that strategically, conservatives need to unite or Romney will be the nominee.
The Ron Paul speech, by contrast, was scripted. The talking points came from Paul’s campaign, and the campaign’s county coordinators did their best to send up veterans to speak in as many precincts as possible — even when those veterans lacked volume, as at Kirn.
The speaker for Rick Perry was a loud, dynamic, and likable speaker, and he was actually brought in by the campaign from out of state — Wichita, Kansas. That probably didn’t help, as Perry fared poorly at Kirn. The Gingrich campaign’s representative was as combative (“he worked across the aisle, what’s wrong with this?”) as Newt himself.
Romney’s representative aimed at being unifying and positive, and he hit strong talking points — this is the guy who can beat Obama.
Nobody was there to speak for Bachmann, as she pulled in only 2 votes out of the 100-plus caucus-goers in the room.
It’s always interesting — and in a way refreshing — to watch democracy and persuasion on the most local level.
