The Iowa caucus | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    A lot of folks were really glad when we finally got the Iowa caucus behind us. How much more of the "If you don't come and shake my hand personally, I won't vote for you" can we stand. What do you suppose would happen if everybody in every other state was as filled with their own self importance as are the folks of Iowa?? That's bad enough, but the media not only goes along with it, but seems to encourage it.

    Now, add insult to injury. After counting votes practically all night, the powers to be in Iowa Republican politics give us the numbers and declare a victor - by a measly 8 votes. Of course the vote totals need to be verified and "certified". So what happens?? Two (or more) of the folks involved apparently allow their egos to get in the way of doing their job. One individual reportedly doesn't think it's worth the effort to copy numbers from a computer on to a form the party requires (as near as I can tell) and doesn't do it. Instead of "working out" something the powers to be elect to forego counting the votes from the precincts in question and issue numbers that do not include several precincts. The election results change. So much for every vote counting. And in Iowa yet?? The "election year" is off to a good start in Iowa.

    Every student of organizational behavior knows that there are several truisms that do not seem to change from one organization to another or over time. One would be that: "Whoever writes the minutes controls the meeting". That same bit or wisdom can quite easily be adapted to tabulating votes: "He who decides which votes get counted controls the election." That sounds more like it came out of Chicago than Iowa, but there it is...

    At first, I thought that maybe the MN Dem vote counters had moved down to Iowa and hired on to count votes for the Republicans. You remember, the ones who managed to make the numbers change and then change some more until Al Franken finally won the MN senatorial election. It almost sounded like some of the same thing going on in Iowa. But apparently all we have in Iowa is a couple of egos getting in the way of each other - or someone deciding that the original count came out "wrong". So what are we to believe?? In the meantime. we are faced with a conundrum: Which is better, "professional" MN vote counters or amateur Iowa Republican egotists?? Short answer: None of the above.

    And, worse yet, what we are hearing from the media is that in the first three contests, we have had three different winners. I could handle that if I believed that all the votes in Iowa had been counted and the previously announced result changed. Absent some assurance that every vote has been counted, I have great heartburn with any suggestion as to who won Iowa. It matters not to me which of the candidates came out on top. What matters is that we got a complete and honest count. Surely the good people of Iowa aren't trying to emulate the big time states like NY, MN, IL - or are they?? There is absolutely no place for egos when it comes to counting ballots and certifying elections. (i.e. "If you don't do what I tell you in precisely the manner I tell you, I won't allow your votes to be counted." Give me a break!!) In the meantime, what that media pronouncement does to the follow on primary results (if anything) remains to be seen.

    I suppose we shouldn't obsess too much over the Iowa vote count because if we do a lot of folks (mostly lin Iowa) will think that their caucus really amounts to something and will (not "may" but "will") have an impact on the nominating process. In fact, according to an article in the Detroit Free Press, the Iowa "First in the Nation" caucus may be in jeopardy as the result of their seeming inability to manage it gracefully. And based on what we have seen, it probably should be.

    D'ya think??