US: Iowa Democrats voted for their presidential candidate yesterday but the losers may do better nationally, reports Conor O'Clery in Iowa city
It was more like a rock concert than a political rally. It was in fact a gig of sorts, as candidate Howard Dean was preceded on stage by Joan Jet, the "original bad girl" of rock and roll.
Dressed in leather pants and black top, she had over 1,000 young people stomping and screaming as she sang, "Just around the corner is the light of day".
She got the standing-only crowd so worked up that when the former Vermont governor appeared in the University of Iowa auditorium, they lifted the roof off.
Witnessing the excitement of the grand finale to Dean's Iowa campaign, one would have thought he was the hottest ticket in the state, except that similar scenes of near-frenzy were being played out at rallies across Iowa for rival candidates, Senator John Kerry (who had Senator Edward Kennedy whipping up the fans), Senator John Edwards and Congressman Dick Gephardt.
A couple of hundred people even turned out in temperatures of 20 degrees below to cheer the anti-war message of outsider Mr Dennis Kucinich. That was at the Hamburg Inn in Iowa city, 120 miles west of Des Moines, the capital of this mid-western state.
Never has the Hawkeye state experienced such fervour in its four-yearly political festival. Yesterday was a test, however, not of decibels but of organisation, as aides to the eight candidates ferried committed voters to 1,996 precinct caucuses across the state for the 6.30 p.m. start.
Voters spent two to three hours debating their merits before electing precinct delegates committed to individual candidates and phoning the results in to election HQ in Des Moines.
Howard Dean's campaign mobilised some 3,500 young people from across the United States - more than anyone else - to get supporters to the caucuses, and used a complex system to identify missing backers and get them there on time.
Under threat from rivals, the former front-runner produced his secret weapon on Sunday evening: his wife, Dr Judith Steinberg.
"Call me Mrs Dean," she said after a carefully staged arrival in Davenport, Iowa from their home in Burlington, Vermont aboard a private Lear jet.
In blue cardigan and shoulder-length hair, Mrs Dean transferred from the Lear to a parked Gulfstream that had just brought her husband from a trip out of state. A few minutes later, the pair emerged on the aircraft steps as if they had arrived together and headed for the "People-Powered Howard Express" campaign bus.
"I haven't been here as much as I would like," said Mrs Dean, referring to critical media comments about her absence. "We have a son in high school, a daughter in college and I have a medical practice in Vermont with patients that depend on me daily." A beaming Howard Dean thanked his "incredibly wonderful wife" for giving up her Sunday. She didn't stay long though, and had flown back to Burlington by the time her husband got to the Iowa University event at 10.20 p.m. - over two hours late.
Having surged early on as an anti-war candidate, Dean showed he is preparing to bring a more comprehensive message to New Hampshire for next Tuesday's primary.
He attacked President George Bush (whose name drew angry boos) on energy, healthcare and the deficit. "If the British, the French, the Japanese and the Irish" could balance their budgets, so could America, he exclaimed.
The former Vermont governor also had a dig at his three closest rivals, all of whom supported the war "because they didn't want to be soft on defence". "We are not going to be stopped until the right wing is out of power," he said to whoops of approval.
The winner in Iowa still faces a tough fight, and the losers can take heart from earlier contests. In 1988, Michael Dukakis came a poor third here but won the Democratic nomination, and the same year George Bush Sr. also came a poor third in the Republican caucus and went on to become president.
The Republicans are not caucusing this year as Mr Bush is unchallenged, but the former New York mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, who has presidential aspirations, arrived yesterday to give a few speeches.
As the Democrats left town, the campaign for the 2008 Republican Iowa caucus was already underway.