Sunday, January 18, 2004

The (not so) Perfect Storm...

...of carpet bagging Deaners is barely stirring a breeze among some Iowa voters. Referred to by some as 'Perfect Stormtroopers,' they may be getting a cordial reception from the chronically polite Iowa electorate, but it's not clear how many converts they're creating.

The New York Times followed one crew through a day of canvassing and reported back that "...the volunteers did manage to find five Iowans already leaning to Dr. Dean, a valuable addition to the get-out-the-vote list that campaign workers will be calling before the caucuses. The canvassers also found three Iowans who were undecided and willing to listen to Dr. Dean's plan for taking back the country."

Sounds like five '2's and three '3's, in canvass rating terms. The idea, of course, is to move them into the '1' column, the home of the hard core. Did the Deaners get a '1' out of the deal? The Times continues "...they did not manage to convert any of those three, at least not according to a follow-up survey we conducted independently later in the week. All three said they remained undecided."

"If it had been somebody local, somebody that I knew, I might have listened," said Frances Rosen, a retiree. "What those people from out of state said didn't really make any difference, but they were nice people and it's their prerogative to come. I guess they must be getting something from it themselves."

So much for Joe Trippi's unstoppable ground campaign. Anything's still possible, but people in Iowa are judging candidates, not canvassers, and that's a contest that John Kerry is winning so far.

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