Iowans like scrutinizing candidates at length

DES MOINES, Iowa — While Utahns have had little opportunity to see the 2008 presidential candidates outside of pricey fund-raisers, many Iowans have talked repeatedly with the Republicans and Democrats in the running during the months leading up to Thursday's caucuses here.

"It's kind of the culture of politics in Iowa. If you're interested, you can see all the candidates from both sides if you want to," said Dan Nicholson, 69, a Republican who served on the Dubuque City Council.

And Iowans are interested. The Midwest farm state is traditionally the first to vote for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees through party caucuses held in schools and other community buildings in towns big and small around the state.

"One of the reasons why Iowa is first in the nation is people do get out, they talk to them one-on-one. They don't just say, 'That's nice,' they tell them what they like and don't like," Nicholson, who retired after working 30 years for John Deere, said in a telephone interview.

That kind of personal contact makes a difference, he said. Nicholson, who didn't expect to make up his mind about which candidate to vote for until just before his 7 p.m. caucus, said he had expected to like former Tennessee U.S. senator and actor Fred Thompson, a latecomer to the GOP race. But then he had an opportunity to meet him.

"He came out kind of dish-raggy, you know? He didn't come out and inspire voters to get on his bandwagon," Nicholson said. Then there was Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts who led the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and is a favorite of Utahns.

"I was kind of liking Romney, but lately I'm getting too many negative ads from him, and that's turning me off," Nicholson said, adding he hoped to have a chance to tell Romney just that before Election Day. "I just don't think negative campaigns work in Iowa, and I tell candidates that to their face."

The Republican he is still positive about is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who has been on the receiving end of Romney's advertising blitz in Iowa. Huckabee himself was ready to launch his own attack ad, labeling Romney as dishonest, but announced this week he'd had a change of heart, though he showed the ad at a press conference.

Iowans don't like what Nicholson called "bullying tactics."

Instead, he said, they want to talk about the issues, "what the candidates are going to do for the country. We'll let the 'secular' press come out with all the negative stuff."