DES MOINES -- In the romanticized image of Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, thousands of open-minded citizens gather to respectfully debate the pros and cons of all the major-party candidates. That is followed by the instant democracy of a preference vote in hundreds of simultaneous meetings from Abingdon to Zwingle.
The reality is somewhat different. Sure, literally hundreds of Republican and Democratic ``precinct caucuses'' are scheduled for Feb. 12 in Iowa, and it's true that 100,000 or more people will take part. But don't believe for a second that many or even some people who turn out for the caucuses -- the first step in that state's delegate selection process -- are the political equivalent of ``blank slates'' waiting to be sold on one candidate or another.
By and large, they're true believers; political activists who have already settled on a favorite and who view the caucuses as a test of their candidate's organizational strength. The way to win the Iowa caucuses is not by making the best speeches in the town halls, but by organizing the best car pools.
That scenario might have been altered this year if Colin Powell, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had decided to enter the presidential race. Although he's now declared himself a Republican, his appeal seems to be largely to independents and moderates in both major parties. Had Powell decided to run, as many Republicans hoped and some believed, the political complexion in Iowa and every other presidential primary state would have changed overnight.
No longer would the question have been so heavily weighted toward political organization, although Powell would have had his hands full playing ``catch-up'' with the likes of Bob Dole, Phil Gramm and Pat Buchanan. The debate in Iowa and elsewhere would have turned to more philosophical but no less grassroots questions: Has the Republican Party drifted too far to the right and thus squandered its new-found majority status? Has the Democratic Party so alienated voters in the middle that it now lacks the candidates and the message to win them back?
The Iowa precinct caucuses could have been the first citizen forum for those kinds of questions. Now, they're more likely to revolve less around the clash of issues and more around the cacophony of 30-second commercials ...
Unless someone or something fills the deliberative vacuum. The ``someones'' in Iowa could be candidates who take positions that distinguish them from the GOP's Big Two. The ``something'' could be a process that engages citizens early in the presidential selection process, before the consultants, campaign handlers and news media decide for the rest of the country what issues should be on the '96 agenda.
In Iowa, such a process is taking shape. It's called ``Voice of the People'' and its goal is to give a cross-section of citizens -- not just the hard-core political activists -- a chance to talk about issues that are important to them and to bring them to the direct attention of the candidates. ``Voice of the People'' is part of a larger, citizens-based effort called ``The Citizens Elections Project,'' which is being sponsored by the Pew Center for Civic Journalism in Washington, D.C. In Iowa as well as New Hampshire, Florida and California, media coalitions pledged to putting citizen concerns first are working to organize town hall meetings or other forums where issues -- not logistics and political infighting -- take center stage.
In Iowa, the new partnership includes five daily newspapers, Iowa Public Television, a flagship Iowa public radio station, the Radio Iowa Network and two commercial television stations. Organizational support is coming from ``We the People/Wisconsin,'' a four-year-old media partnership that has sponsored nearly three dozen town hall meetings built around elections and issues.
Through a link with national public television's ``Citizens '96'' project, the Iowa group plans to hold a series of town hall meetings leading to a nationally televised forum Feb. 9, just three days before the Iowa caucuses. Those town hall meetings will be held in Waterloo Jan. 22, Mason City Jan. 23, Ottumwa Jan. 24, Muscatine Jan. 24, and Davenport Jan. 25. That's the week after the National Issues Convention in Austin, Texas, where a representative cross-section of Americans will gather to deliberate about public policy issues and then pose questions to the presidential candidates. The ``Voice of the People'' coalition also has commissioned a statewide poll of voting-age Iowans to determine how they view the important issues of the campaign year. This is not a horse-race poll to determine the pecking order of the candidates, but a poll designed to assess what's on the minds of Iowans.
Finally, members of the coalition are pledged to reducing the coverage of campaign strategy issues that quickly fade away after elections and to downplaying mud-slinging coverage that adds little to voter understanding but greatly to voter cynicism. As the `96 presidential race unfolds, the candidates may discover that voters are growing weary of campaigns that talk around them instead of with them. It's a conversation that won't end if thousands of voices pick up the slack.
Still is associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison,
Wisconsin, and a founding member of ``We the People/Wisconsin.'' He is
project
coordinator for ``Voice of the People/Iowa,'' a media-based coalition
patterned after "We the People/Wisconsin."