Drudge Sniping at Rudy’s Lateness

This link probably won’t work for much longer (Drudge doesn’t know how to do permalinks for some reason), but the gist is that Iowans are complaining that Rudy is late. Here’s what he says:

Mayor Rudy Giuliani is developing a new theme on the campaign trail: He’s late to his events!

It’s a theme that’s fast becoming an issue for both the press who cover him and the voters who are left waiting around.

Yesterday, IOWA RADIO reported: “Giuliani’s theme of the day is judicial philosophy. But being on time is not one of the 12 commitments. He’s now 15 minutes late.”

Back in June, influential DES MOINES REGISTER reporter David Yepsen reported: “Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani showed up 50 minutes late for a speech. That’s rude. Giuliani and his people offered no explanation for why a speech scheduled for 10:30 a.m. didn’t come off until 11:20.”

What Drudge overlooks is that these delayed start times are far from unusual in Iowa, where unscheduled stops at coffee shops, Maid Rites, and ice cream parlors are almost more important than scheduled town hall events and speeches. I won’t claim to be a huge fan of Rudy, but it isn’t fair to blame him for being 50 minutes late to an event, and it is particularly unfair to blame him alone.

Having attended presidential events during this cycle and the last one, I can say unequivocally that this isn’t a problem exhibited by one candidate or another; it’s pervasive and almost universal. And often, it’s intentional: campaigns build in time between “doors open” and “candidate arrival” to finish building the crowd, arranging the order of speakers (I have seen up to seven introductory speakers before a candidate gets up on stage), kicking out trackers and protesters, passing around signup sheets and supporter cards, setting up the “clutch” where top tier activists get to shake hands with the candidate as he steps out of his SUV or bus, etc.

There’s a reason for the lateness, and it’s often strategic. Here in Iowa, we have learned to accept it, and many of us just know to show up half an hour after “doors open” time if we don’t want to wait around forever.