A Reporter's Christmas in Iowa

This was a good day to get ready for the onslaught to come. Candidates begin campaigning again in Iowa Wednesday morning. In perusing their various schedules I noticed that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be here over the weekend. Since Giuliani has staked his fortunes on the Florida primary on January 29th and on the February 5th states, this 11th hour visit to Iowa is one of this campaign season's mysteries. Polls show him coming in a very distant third or fourth here.

Skating on Thin Ice

The metaphor is irresistible: Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, he of the single digit poll numbers, gliding around in circles on a downtown Des Moines ice rink.

The Democratic candidate moved his family to Des Moines, all the better to be close to potential caucus goers. It hasn't done him any detectable good in the polls. But it did mean he had a home to which he could invite about two dozen Iowa staffers who couldn't make it to their own homes on Christmas. And before the chili and hot chocolate, they all went skating together.

One the skaters was Henry Johnson, Dodd's field organizer for northwest Iowa. What follows is the first interview I have ever done while skating. (I'm not from L.A., I'm from Chicago. I skate.)

Henry graduated from Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland just last year. He's been with the campaign for 4 months, working 18 hour days,7 days a week. "You represent the candidate," he says. "It's a big responsibility and a privilege." He talked about really getting involved in the communities where he organizes.

How involved? "Well, I painted somebody's house once." He'd wanted them to have a campaign event at their home, they said it was a mess, so he painted it for them.

This is the first time he hasn't been home for Christmas and his mother's upset. It's made worse by the fact that everyone else in his family is a Republican and he's abandoning them this year to help a Democrat.

So, how does he soldier on when he knows that things don't look good for his guy? It's easy for him, he says, because he's come to respect Dodd so much, both for his positions and for the way he treats his staff like family. "I'm not embarrassed to be working for him. It's not like the day after the election I'm going to want to rip the bumper sticker off my car."

Henry is game, an adventurer. He's from Georgia and this was his first time on skates. He did just fine.

Post script

At the NPR/Iowa Public Radio debate, Dodd said he was buying his daughters (Grace, 6 and Christina, 2) "Iowa toys" for Christmas. In an interview with Morning Edition's Steve Innskeep that aired on Christmas morning, he said he could not reveal what those toys were because presents had not been opened yet and the girls could hear him.

So I asked Dodd about it at the skating rink and it can now be revealed! The Dodd daughters received children's books by Iowa authors and some handmade wood craft toys, including a tic tac toe set, trucks and cars, and "some kind of macrame, uh, um.... " "Like a yarn thing?" I suggested unhelpfully. "Yeah, that's it," he said,"a yarn thing."

--Ina Jaffe

9:08 AM ET | 12-26-2007 | permalink