Where Hasn’t Clinton Been Yet?
By Chase on Sep 25, 2007 in Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Iowa Caucuses, John Edwards
I posted yesterday that one key indicator of Iowa Caucus success is whether caucus goers have had a chance to meet you — that is, how many appearances a candidate has made around the state. The total number of events were roughly 120 for Sen. John Edwards, 100 for Sen. Barack Obama, and 60 for Sen. Hillary Clinton.
But the low number of Clinton events isn’t the end of the story. A deeper look reveals that Clinton has only held events in 29 of Iowa’s 99 counties. (In contrast, Obama has hit more than 50 counties, and Edwards has hit even more.) Here are some of the more important counties Clinton has missed that her opponents have covered, including total number of delegates each county has to the state convention:
- Dallas County - 39
- Boone County - 24
- Marion County - 23
- Bremer County - 21
- Jones County - 18
- Poweshiek County* - 17
- Carroll County - 16
- Clayton County - 16
- Tama County -16
Each of these counties traditionally gets at least one appearance from each Democratic presidential candidate, and they usually come more than once. Relying on events one county away to lure activists from the counties above may work for recruiting VIPs, but many Iowans may not feel the need to drive an hour to see Clinton when Obama showed up in their town square.
(* = The Clintons made an unscheduled carryout stop at a Dairy Queen in Poweshiek County over the summer but held no public events.)
Chase Martyn observes and analyzes politics from Des Moines, IA, capital of 2008's first caucus state. He is also Managing Editor of the 
*And Chase knows this because his summer job is manning the frydaddy there.
Anonymous | Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
In August Hillary held an event for senior citizens in Waukee, Iowa (Dallas County) that drew 300 people and most Des Moines media outlets as well as national reporters. In June she appeared at the Story County Democratic fundraiser before 1,000 people in Ames which is right next door to Boone County. She appeared in Cedar Rapids (Linn County) with her husband in July and at the Lance Armstrong cancer forum in August. Marion County is part of the Greater Cedar Rapids area and right next door to Linn County.
When Bill and Hillary toured Iowa in early July they appeared in front of over 25,000 people in Polk, Johnson, Scott, Linn and Black Hawk counties. They also marched in a parade in Cerro Gordo county in north central Iowa that was attended by over 45,000 people.
Hillary’s announcement in Iowa in February, her joint appearances with her husband, her major policy speech on Iraq, her appearance at the Lance Armstong cancer forum, her participation in the AARP debate (sans Obama) and the rollout of her universal health plan all took place in this state. Virtually all local media gave extensive coverage of each of these appearances which were broadcast in every corner (and county) in Iowa. Whatever Hillary’s visits to Iowa lack in quanity, they make up for in quanity. Finally, surrogates for Hillary (e.g., Madeline Albright drawing 200 people in Poweshiek County two weeks ago) add significant presence to Hillary’s campaign in Iowa.
Kirk Tofte | Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
I just wanted to let you know that there are more than 3 candidates running. You should try not letting your biases show so much and mention how many counties the other candidates have visited.
Anonny 2 | Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
Kirk Tofte—You must not be from Iowa, despite your in-depth analysis of the state. Marion County is NOT AT ALL NEAR Cedar Rapids. The county seat of Marion County, Knoxville, is 45 minutes southeast of Des Moines. Cedar Rapids is 2 1/2 hours from Knoxville. You are probably confusing Marion County with Marion, the CITY—which indeed IS part of Greater Cedar Rapids.
SineNomine | Dec 12, 2007 | Reply