Since One Vote Matters is about the business of politics, it is important to incorporate the perspectives of the people who are actually out there working in the field. That’s why I am doing a series of short email interviews with staffers from the major presidential campaigns. Their job is to represent their employers, so we can expect partisan responses to my questions, but that isn’t a bad thing (not even for a non-partisan blog). Their answers will provide insight into how the professionals think and represent the interests of their candidates.
So without further ado, my first interview is with …read more

Residents of Iowa – the state with the first official presidential nominating contest in the country – expect to be overwhelmed with personal attention by the major campaigns. With stakes so high, a few more telephone calls to likely caucus-goers just might mean the difference between a prime-time victory speech and a week’s worth of news stories about your “disappointing second place finish.”
So how much personal contact are Iowan receiving from the campaigns? According to The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, plenty. The numbers indicate that both parties are using every means at their disposal to …read more

With so much at stake in the Iowa Caucus, campaign contributors in the state are digging deep to help their favorite candidates. Let’s check out the numbers:

The total raised so far in Iowa by all candidates is $873,141.
Despite a recent suggesting that Mike Huckabee (R) is a favorite of Iowans, his fundraising in the state has lagged – he has raised only about $19,500.
The fundraising frontrunners are Mitt Romney (R), with $143,900, and Hillary Clinton (D), with $123,038.
Fundraising by party has been about equal. Democrats have garnered about 52% of all campaign donations in the state.

The most interesting bit of …read more

As the first formal step toward choosing presidential finalists, the Iowa Caucuses attract far more money than the state’s small size would suggest.
According to several trustworthy estimates, candidates will spend at least $22,000,000, and as much as $30,000,000 wooing Iowa caucusgoers. How much is that per voter? Bear with me – the answer requires some math.
In 2004, turnout for the Iowa Caucus was 133,353, which equaled 6.1% of eligible voters.
In 2000 it was 145,000, or 6.8% of eligible voters.
Let’s use the 2000 figure, since there was no incumbent candidate.
In the last 8 years, the population of Iowa has increased, so …read more

With the Iowa Caucus a mere month away, the process of choosing presidential candidates from the major parties is is nearly upon us. (Technically, the term is plural – Iowa Caucuses – but that makes for awkward grammar.) Since the 1970s, the Iowa Caucus has been the first official step in narrowing down the field of candidates, a position that has made the state’s influence disproportionate to its small size.
Although any registered Iowan voter can be involved, typically fewer than 10% participate. Participation by younger, more moderate, voters has increased in recent years, but older, white, party extremists still predominate. …read more