Inside an Iowa caucus, 'inevitable' gets lost

ShareThis

ADEL, Iowa -- Wilma McManus sat in the church basement holding a secret she'd only whisper.At 93, she was just a child when women won the right to vote.Hillary Rodham Clinton often celebrates her generation when the candidate finds herself before gray-haired crowds excited about the prospect of the first female president.McManus, a retired school principal, has seen the New York senator speak a couple of times. And she was surrounded by Clinton fans as a Democratic precinct caucus began at the First Christian Church.But when it came time for folks to stand up and be counted, McManus slipped out of the room, hobbled up a short flight of stairs and took a seat in the upstairs chapel to cast a vote for former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina."Hillary knows the inside of Washington, but she never had the problems Edwards had," McManus said, alluding to Edwards' humble tale of growing up the son of a mill worker.For all her leadership credentials, Clinton never made the same sort of personal connection -- at least not with McManus.So the former first lady finished a distant third to Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Edwards in Adel's Democratic precinct caucus -- just as she finished third in the nation's first presidential nominating contest and lost her aura of "inevitability" in the process.Even in defeat, Clinton told fans that her campaign would "keep pushing as hard as we can."But on this cold night in January, Clinton got some jolts in places off the beaten path like Adel, where the street outside the caucus at the First Christian Church is paved with bricks from the century-old factory that built this town of 3,500.In Adel, as in the rest of the state, it was a night for Obama, the fresh-faced "Hope" messenger who began his drive to become the first black president by winning over a state that's about 94 percent white.To win, experts predicted, Obama would need to bring out the young, first-time voters, change-minded independents and disenchanted Republicans who have helped him become the biggest draw on the Iowa campaign trail.It didn't take long for the first hints to come walking through the door at that church basement in Adel.The caucus site was supposed to open at 6:30 p.m., with the official start at 7 p.m. But with sub-freezing temperatures in the packed parking lot outside, local caucus chair Randy Hefner decided to open the doors early and let people out of the cold.By 6:20 p.m., every chair inside the church basement was full, and folks started filling every conceivable floor space -- along the walls, in the back by the piano, in the kitchen with the coffee machine.Of the 299 people who signed in, 109 were new Democratic voters -- either young first-timers, independents who wanted to caucus or a smattering of one-time Republicans who skipped the GOP caucus on the other side of town.Statewide, an estimated 232,000 people attended Democratic caucuses, obliterating the old record by nearly double.Sure, some people wore their candidate allegiances with lapel buttons. But there were just as many poker faces -- folks who didn't want to give away their choices until the last possible minute.Hefner huddled with the candidates' precinct captains. There were too many people for them to split up in groups in the basement. The Obama and Edwards campaigns agreed to take their supporters upstairs to the chapel.When it came time to move, 70 Clinton supporters stayed seated. And some of their smiles disappeared as the room emptied out.About two-thirds of the crowd marched upstairs to the chapel -- 104 on Obama's side and 73 on Edwards' side, closest to the Christmas tree.There was drama downstairs.Caucus rules eliminated any candidate with less than 15 percent of the vote. That put 24 supporters of Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware and 28 backers of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson up for grabs.Biden's precinct captain argued that they should stay uncommitted, perhaps denying the others a precious delegate. Obama's local captain, Leslie Sheeder, told them that if they joined her team, they might be able to win a position as a delegate to the county party conventions.What's more, she offered cookies -- from, interestingly enough, former first lady Barbara Bush's special recipe.When the lobbying was done, Edwards gained 24 more supporters. Obama added 14. Clinton, just five.(Contact M.E. Sprengelmeyer at sprengelmeyerm(at)shns.com.)