Sunday, May 13, 2012

Campaigning In Rural Iowa

Upon first arriving in Iowa, Dr. HN constantly mentioned an all-powerful woman named "Annette." She seemed to be able to pull all kind of strings for our group, and obviously exerted a great deal of influence over agriculture and politics in central Iowa. Everyone we met seemed to know of Annette and acknowledged her exceptional ability to convince local citizens and associations into granting us access to various locales. Shortly afterward, HN explained to us that Ms. Annette Sweeney was an Iowa House member (R-Alden) and current chair of the Iowa House Committee on Agriculture. With agriculture constituting such a prominent role in Iowa's commerce and society, her expansive influence is hardly a surprise.

After several days of hearing all about Annette Sweeney, I finally got the opportunity to meet her this past Saturday (May 12th). While other members of our expedition were off shopping at Wheatsfield Cooperative, a local, sustainable, and organic grocery, Katie Jo and I accompanied HN to the small town of Ackley, IA to assist in Rep. Sweeney's reelection bid for state house. When HN originally broached the idea to us, it sounded as if we would accompany Rep. Sweeney and some of her supporters from house to house in a show of solidarity, encouraging citizens to vote in the primary on June 5th. Upon arriving, we were informed by the charismatic son of the representative, Joe Sweeney, that each of us would travel door to door alone in order to "cover more ground."

Despite a number of privately held reservations, I (along with Katie Jo) agreed to assist the Honorable Sweeney and donned an overly-large Sweeney t-shirt before climbing into Joe's truck and riding to the edge of town. He dropped me off on Parkview Avenue, a quaint little drive along a stretch of cornfield, with a bag of materials, a list of addresses, and a street map. Although my task was relatively simple (knocking on the doors of prescribed residences and delivering Sweeney "literature" while encouraging the residents to vote), I approached the first house with certain level of apprehension, as introducing myself to complete strangers in a small town thousands of miles from home is not necessarily my forte.

Needless to say, it took a few houses for me to settle into a rhythm, but I eventually got the hang of the task. Everyone was very polite and generally friendly as I moved up and down the quiet streets of Ackley. Even the citizens that may have supported Rep. Sweeney's opponent received my promotions in a civil manner.

Two hours flew by in no time, and before I knew it I was approaching my final house prior to a rendezvous with the others. As I scouted out the correct door number and began crossing the street, I noticed the owner of the house mowing the front lawn. I made eye contact with him and smiled as he turned off the mower and walked over to greet me. After issuing my standard spiel, he thanked me and asked me if Rep. Sweeney was pro-life or pro-choice. A multitude of thoughts began firing through my brain at once - chief among them the fact that I did not know her official position. I took a gamble (aware of her Republican affiliation and avowed socially conservative values) and informed him that she was pro-life. The man was a registered Republican and looked to be in his 60's, so my brain automatically assumed that he would favor a pro-life position. To my complete and utter surprise, he bluntly stated: "That's a shame. I'm pro-choice." Dumbfounded, I scrambled for the right words to say, informing him that Rep. Sweeney's primary focus was on agriculture and the economy. Luckily the man noted that her opponent also held a pro-life position, so I suppose abortion essentially became a non-issue for him, as both of his potential choices shared the same stance. Regardless, the brief encounter served as a stark reminder to me that subconscious stereotypes pervade our society and do not always serve as a reliable basis for judgment in initial encounters.

I met up once more with HN, Katie Jo, and the Sweeneys on Main Street while I reflected on the irony of what I had just done for the past two hours: campaigning door to door for a state representative (not of my state!) who resides on a much different side of the political spectrum from myself. Regardless, the afternoon was an enriching experience that gave me an inside look into local campaigning and state politics in Iowa.





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