Iowans receive more than just a little attention leading up to the Iowa caucuses in January. This is both a blessing and a curse. In part, it does help for candidates to roll out their campaigns and issues in front of real voters, as opposed to the RNC or the DLC. And it is very helpful for the people to have an opportunity to talk to the Pols about issues that matter to them, so they know who best represents their views. So far, so good.
However, there is a line that needs to be drawn and that line is around national groups setting up shop in primary states to get their particular issue up on the toteboard of national consciousness at the expense of the people who live there having a chance to speak their piece.
Now I am not advocating against anybody's free speech, but I'm railing against "bought" speech. I'm not even talking just about advertising, I'm talking about lobbyists that are paid to follow campaigns, pass out slick brochures, and make comment to the press.
If you are a issues group, you want your issue to rise to the top of the heap and so advocacy is key, no question. However, if you are Joe Citizen and you want to ask Candidate Smith about what her/his view on farm subsidies is, it can be difficult when "bird doggers" are running around to every campaign event to get the candidate's take (probably for the 30th time today) on their issue.
Now many will disagree with me because they see this as a basic right (and believe me, I see the point too). I guess what I hope for is that those persons fighting the fight for their cause will take a step back for the potential voter so that they can get a word in edge-wise--who knows, maybe Citizen Joe will even do their work for them.
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