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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Iowa Is Uncertain as Out-of-State Students Return Iowa Is Uncertain as Out-of-State Students Return By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE DES MOINES — One of the $64,000-questions about Thursday’s Iowa caucuses is how much students from out of state will influence the outcome. A big argument has been raging here about rules that allow out-of-state students who attend schools in Iowa to vote as long as they are not registered elsewhere. Although presidential campaigns here have been notorious over the years for using out-of-staters to pack rallies and organize, at issue here is their actual participation in the caucuses: some see it as a hijacking of their process, while others see it as a voting rights issue and say that as many people as possible should be encouraged to participate. The role of students is mainly an issue among Democrats because they tend to draw more young people. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, whose “change” theme is particularly appealing to young people, has been openly encouraging out-of-state students in Iowa to come back from winter break and caucus. No one knows how many students will show up or what percent of the final turnout they will make up. But only 124,000 Democrats turned out in 2004, and even if, as predicted, many more turn out Thursday, thousands of out-of-state students here could still have a disproportionate say in the results. We talked to several students who headed back to Iowa just to caucus on Thursday. And several of their colleges, which are still closed for the holidays, are opening up to accommodate them. Grinnell College, in eastern Iowa, is out of session until the end of the month. But the school is turning on the lights and heat in its athletic center so that caucus-going students will have a place to stay. Alex Schechter, who is 19 and is a sophomore at Grinnell, drove down from Minneapolis with two friends. Mr. Schechter, who supports Mr. Obama, lives in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and flew to Minneapolis to drive with his friends, one of whom also supports Mr. Obama; the other is still undecided. “I wanted to come back and be a part of it,” Mr. Schechter said by cellphone from the car. “I understand the sentiment that some people think it’s East Coast liberal kids who are skewing the tides of Iowa politics, but it’s a place I’m going to be living for four years of my life. If I wasn’t a college student, they wouldn’t care.” He said students are discriminated against because of “this concept that people in academia live in an ivory tower and are looking down on everybody.” After the caucuses, he plans to drive back to Minneapolis on Friday, then fly back to Wyoming on Saturday. Amanda Halfacre, 22, a senior at Iowa State University, in Ames, flew in from Texas on Wednesday. The university, which reopens mid-month, has opened up a dorm for students who are coming in to caucus. She plans to fly back to Texas on Friday. Iowans have been increasingly annoyed at the prospect of out-of-staters, including campaign aides, joining the caucuses, particularly since Mr. Obama has been urging them to come back to Iowa. “Don’t let somebody tell you that you are not part of this process, because your future is at stake,” Mr. Obama said in a visit to Grinnell in December. He told students at the University of Iowa, “if you’re going to be out of state, I want you to come back and caucus.” Most of the other Democratic candidates have objected to one degree or another about allowing students from out of state to vote. “This is a process for Iowans,” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York said last month. “This needs to be all about Iowa, and people who live here, people who pay taxes here.” While student voting has been an issue across the country since 18-year-olds gained the right to vote, David Yepsen, an influential political columnist for The Des Moines Register, has written that it is a particular worry this year. “Maybe we should call these the Illinois caucuses,” he wrote, warning that “zealous” out-of-staters, including campaign aides, could skew the results. The Obama campaign played the issue close to the vest on Wednesday, declining to allow a reporter to join up with Obama organizers around Grinnell. A spokesman said the organizers were too busy and could not be distracted from the task at hand to deal with the press. Alec Schierenbeck, 20, who lives in Brooklyn, is a junior at the college. He flew into Des Moines on Wednesday and plans to join a caucus at Grinnell on Thursday night. He will spend the night with his friends in sleeping bags at the gym, then plans to catch a flight back to New York on Friday. He is president of the College and Young Democrats of Iowa and so has to remain neutral publicly about his choice, but he is outspoken about the process. “People who fear the consequences of student participation try to suppress the youth vote by claiming that it’s morally complex or that the legality is ambiguous,” he said. “They create double standards that apply only to students and don’t apply to other demographics, like retirees who don’t live year-round in Iowa.” He said he expected more than 150 students back at Grinnell, which has a long history of social activism and where about 80 percent of the 1,150 student body is from out of state. The ward where he will caucus, he said, is especially important because delegates are apportioned according to previous turnout, and Grinnell, like other college towns, has a relatively high population density and high rate of turnout. “We’ll have 37 delegates, which makes it the most important single caucus in the state,” he said. He said Mr. Obama was especially well-organized in his area, but added: “The Clinton campaign has a core group of very committed student activists, and they have done not only a lot of work on campus but — and this is the untold story of the youth-voter impact — the Clinton campaign has been working tirelessly in the greater community to help mobilize all voters, not just their peers.” As a result, he said, “young activists have disproportionate impact because of the energy and time they’re willing to invest in the political process.”
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If the students backing Obama are returning to Iowa to caucus, so presumably are the students backing Ron Paul.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
Oddly, I think that Obama is Ron Paul's biggest competition right now. Obama is probably taking away more votes from RP than any other candidate.
As long as they are American citizens, what's the problem here? Have a nationwide Primary. hehehe
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
Is it possible to let the question stand? If they are American citizens, what is the problem? Do they not have the right to travel? Participate? Only NOW it's a problem? And having been in Iowa, without the early primary, they'd be Kansas. Heheheh.
I drove through Iowa twice. Once on the way to Sturgis, SD and once on the way back. Being from the hills myself, I found Iowa to be an interest sight. I never saw so many hundreds of miles of corn and beans in my life! As far as the eye could see in any direction! I expected to run into the Green Giant any second.
Mission Accomplished! Iowa, without the early primary, they'd be Kansas. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Stop foreign welfare NOW!
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