Two States That Share Power But Not Style
This story was written by CBSNews.com political reporter David Miller.
To many Americans who casually follow presidential politics, the two states that will kick off the nominating process in a few weeks are mentioned in the same breath so often that they might as well be one place: Iowaandnewhampshire.
Iowa and New Hampshire are both many things: Cold. Sparsely populated. Overwhelmingly white - 95 percent in Iowa, 96 percent in New Hampshire. And, this time of year, resented by America. Surveys show that most voters think the states have a wildly disproportionate influence on who winds up on the November general election ballot.
But when you talk to people who live in those states or who have worked on campaigns there, a different picture emerges: One of two states that are deeply passionate about politics, but have distinct cultures and go about choosing their candidates in significantly different ways.
One way the states certainly differ is in their reputations. Conventional wisdom says Iowans like their politics nice and clean, while New Hampshire voters like their campaigns to be like their state's terrain - rough and tumble. But like many political clichés, the truth is not quite that simple.
"As an observer of what's happening here, when candidates are positioning their historical actions against each other and their positions, that's not dirty. It's the dirt Iowans don't care for, the dirty tricks, the 'swift-boating' sort of thing," Iowa pollster Ann Selzer said. "But I cannot tell you it doesn't work. People like to paint this rosy picture that we turn out backs at a dirty word. But that's not to say we didn't hear it."
If Iowa's reputation were true, after all, it's unlikely the state would become the first battleground between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, or see its airwaves carry the first quasi-negative ad of the Republican campaign, a Mitt Romney spot highlighting the candidate's differences with Mike Huckabee on immigration.
"In both states, they want to see the candidates and they want to see them campaign," said Carl Forti, Romney's national political director. "They know how this works and they don't have a problem learning about the records of the other candidates either."
That doesn't mean that anything goes in New Hampshire, though. Going negative can have stiff consequences, said Secretary of State Bill Gardner. His knowledge of the state's politics goes back decades, but he only has to go back to a gubernatorial primary in 2002 to find an example of mudslinging backfiring, In that instance, the candidate who stayed above the fray and was expected to finish far behind the leader nearly pulled off a win.
"A lot of people felt it was a reaction to the two of them going after each other," Gardner said. "Some people say that about [Dick] Gephardt and [Howard] Dean in Iowa, in comparison."
An operative with one Democratic campaign who has worked in both states said any perceived differences between Iowa and New Hampshire are based more in their regional identities - the homey Midwest versus hardscrabble New England -- than anything else.
"Iowa, being a Midwestern state, there's this notion of 'Iowa nice,'" he said. "It's a very welcoming culture. They welcome people into their homes. They say hello to them on the street. It's a culture that's very warm and friendly and open. In New Hampshire, I don't think it's much different, but I think there's a little more edge there."
That edge might come from enduring a constant barrage of elections. While Iowa's election cycles are like most other states, New Hampshire is practically an experiment in direct democracy: Town meetings are of critical importance and, outside of the U.S. Senate, just about every office in the state is up for re-election every two years. Despite a population of only 1.3 million, its legislature is nearly as large as the entire U.S. House.
Campaign Calendar
The latest information on the primary and caucus dates in 2008.
In New Hampshire, the presidential race is just the center ring of a 10-ring circus.
"We're always in election mode and you can vote half a dozen times during the course of one year," Gardner said. "You've got your town election, your school elections, special elections for both that happen quite often, and every other year you add to that a state primary, a state general election, and in this kind of year, we're voting January 8, there'll be town meetings in March, school district meetings in the spring, a primary in September, and a general election."
That's not to say Iowa is without its peculiarities - most peculiar of all may be the caucuses themselves, especially on the Democratic side. In each of hundreds of precincts, people are literally locked into a room at a designated time and then form groups based on which candidate they support. Then, those backing any candidate with less than 15 percent support are required to ally with another candidate - a process rife with speeches, pressure and persuasion.
Republican caucuses are a little more conventional, with a round of speeches followed by a secret-ballot straw poll and no second round. Regardless of party, it's a far less orthodox approach than New Hampshire, where polls are open all day and everything is done by secret ballot.
The commitment of a caucus requires campaigns to develop extremely well-targeted and organized turnout operations that have little in common with other elections. The Clinton, Obama and John Edwards campaigns have sent out "how-to" videos to their supporters.
"Part of the challenge in Iowa is demystifying the process," the Democratic operative said. "You'd be amazed at some of the reasons why people say they can't caucus. They say things like 'I'd love to caucus but I can't, it's at dinner time,' 'I can't get a baby sitter,' or 'I can't make it to Des Moines' - yes, there are people who believe the Iowa caucuses are a singular event in a singular location. It's all about demystifying that process for people. You don't have that challenge in New Hampshire."
What New Hampshire does have is a large bloc of independent voters who are free to vote in whatever primary they choose. Normally, they flock to the primary that's more interesting -- i.e., the one without an incumbent president or vice president in it. But in this cycle, part of the campaigns' fight for independent voters is getting them to vote not just for a specific candidate, but in that candidate's primary in the first place.
"Clinton's New Hampshire advisers, when they're sitting up at night, they're thinking about what the independents will do," said University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala. "It's just one more reason why political parties themselves have little sway over the primary."
And while Iowa's Democrats tend to be liberal and its Republicans are mostly conservative, in New Hampshire there's a libertarian, individualist streak that crosses party lines -- the state stands out for not having any laws requiring seat belts or motorcycle helmets. That helps give outsider candidates, like Democrat Gary Hart in 1984 and Republican John McCain in 2000, both of who won New Hampshire but lost their party's nomination, a chance.
Whatever their political differences, however, voters in both states are fierce defenders of their "first-in-the-nation" status and take a great deal of pride in being informed, cautious political consumers.
Polls in both states indicate few people have definitively settled on one candidate. And there's no telling what will tip the balance.
"It's funny, when you're at an event, you overhear people talking in the crowd," Forti said. "We were serving apple pie and ice cream. I'm standing in the back and I hear these two older folks talking. One was saying, 'Well, Giuliani didn't serve us apple pie, this is great!' This is what they do. They go out and see candidates."
By David Miller