I’m in Iowa this week visiting friends and family and let me tell you — the political ads and phone calls are as thick as the snow on the ground. You can’t even throw a snowball without hitting some campaign staffer. Two or three candidates come into town every day and more than a few conversations have involved “Who would win?” bets if Chuck Norris and Oprah Winfrey got into a scrap.

What does it matter? Good question. Our own Wayne Garcia gives his own take on the Iowa buzz here. He’s agreeing with the New York Times assessment that Iowa doesn’t matter.

Those comments, some of the columnists at the daily here write, are fighting words. Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen says the big issues of the day — like immigration and overseas outsourcing — are played out in Iowa every day.

My past experience living here for eight years puts Iowa’s importance somewhere in between. Either way, there’s no denying that Iowans love their few months in the spotlight. Everywhere I’ve went for the last four days, someone was talking about the candidates, giving their opinion.

Some of the stranger highlights:

  • Drunk 26-year-old Jewish woman: “What? You’re voting for Obama because he makes good speeches? That’s like Hitler!”
  • 22-year-old nursing student: “Wouldn’t you like to live in an alternate universe where Al Gore was running?”
  • 27-year-old audio/visual engineer: “Huckabee is scary. But I like Chuck Norris. If Chuck Norris was his vice president, I might actually vote for him. Wouldn’t that be great? Chuck Norris as VP!”
  • 62-year-old retired lawyer: “John Edwards made 40 million from hedge funds and he fights for the little guy? Never believe anybody who says they became rich fighting for the little guy.”

(That last quote says a lot about the race here. Edwards has essentially been campaigning in Iowa for the last four years, and yet, polls consistently put him below Clinton and Obama. I doubt he'll last after the caucuses.)

One thing that I have noticed is several younger people plan to caucus for the first time tomorrow. A Des Moines Register poll published this week makes the same point. And so far, Obama and Huckabee are leading in the Iowa polls.

Representative? Probably not. But there’s no denying this cold little state will set the tone for the next several weeks.

Tomorrow, I plan to attend a Democratic caucus to see what it’s like. I’ll post my experiences. In the meantime, enjoy the Florida weather. It was -5 degrees here last night.

This article appears in Jan 2-8, 2008.