John McCain's focus on Iowa turned out to be pointless

The Ticket, more than a month ago, raised a question many others eventually posed -- why was John McCain campaigning in Iowa?

It didn't seem to make much sense in late September, with poll after poll showing Barack Obama with a solid lead there.

True, President Bush, after losing Iowa in 2000, had won it in his 2004 reelection bid. But since then, the state Democratic Party had staged a comeback. And more importantly, Obama seemed to have a strong hold on the state, which began in early 2007 when he started organizing for the Iowa Democratic caucuses.

It was his victory in those caucuses that set him on the path that will culminate in his presidential election later tonight, when the three West Coast states start reporting their vote.

The McCain camp, though, kept insisting that their own polling and the word from Iowa Republicans showed that the state remained competitive.

And so McCain kept dropping in on the state throughout October.

As it turned out, it was time wasted. As the independent surveys had indicated, the state was a slam-dunk for Obama. The moment the polls closed there tonight, every network reported that he would carry its 7 electoral votes.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Karl M]

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[JVW]

Perhaps it would have been worth speculating on whether Obama's willingness to pander to the ethanol crowd -- in stark contrast to McCain's principled stand in opposing ethanol subsidies -- contributed to Obama's win in Iowa.

[Brian Campbell]

Obama's win in Iowa had nothing to do with ethanol. Most of the people in this state are employed by the insurance and financial services industy. Obama won big because people simply fell in love with his mature /rational persona and his message of inclusion, dialogue and optimism. We ignited his campaign in the Iowa caucus. We too wanted to be part of History . What a great Day!