Saturday, August 11, 2007

Ames Straw Poll

Today was the Ames Straw Poll, and it was quite an experience. For a couple of weeks I had been hearing about the Straw Poll on the local news, but I didn't really know what it was. Friday afternoon I did some research on the web, and courtesy Wikipedia I discovered it was an informal poll for the Republican candidates. They were expecting something like 40,ooo people to show up. I was prepared for the carnival-like atmosphere. This is Mitt Romney's camp with the ferris wheel in the background. The people in yellow are Mitt's supporters. Mitt had a live rock band and was giving away Hickory Park BBQ (a local fave). He also had a rock wall and some other things for the kids.















Here is Sam Brownback's camp complete with a rock wall and inflatable kid's slide. Brownback was the only one with an air conditioned tent. I couldn't keep from wondering how many train cars full of coal it was taking to lower the temperature inside the tent three degrees. It was really hot today, and the air conditioning wasn't exactly effective. Senator Sam was giving away Famous Dave's BBQ. Many of the other candidates had similar stuff going on but I got tired of snapping photos. Ron Paul had the biggest presence of ground troops, I think. There were people shouting at us to "fire the IRS" all over the place.































There were tons of buses, even more than at the football games.
















A few media crews showed up.















That much was just about what I expected. What happened when we got in a little deeper, however, was a little repulsive. Apparently in the past they had problems with the candidates busing in supporters from out of state to vote. So, today they make you present a photo ID to prove you are a resident of the state, then after you vote, they dip your finger in permanent red ink so you can't vote again. That is a respectable effort. Oh, and by the way, you don't have to technically be a member of the party to participate in the event.

Here comes the ugly part. The straw poll isn't just about gauging the campaigns, it serves as a fundraiser for the Republican party. I heard something about needing a ticket, but I thought that was to get into the event where all the candidates were speaking. It turns out you need a ticket to vote!! I couldn't believe it. There is no way I was PAYING to vote! I asked volunteer with the Brownback campaign how the whole thing worked and he sent me to Brownback's table where they were giving away tickets for free. Here's the catch: they were asking for your word that you would vote for their candidate, and on top of that, they wouldn't feed you unless you voted!!! "You don't vote (for us), you don't eat." After we checked around a little bit, this seemed to be the standard practice. I found this to be too disturbing; I couldn't participate. My vote was not cast in the Straw Poll, and I bought my own lunch.




The home made tortillas are really good. We went home and watched the rest on C-Span.

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