It's a Family-Time Issue, Voters Tell the Candidates

Associated Press 12-16-07

Iowans' plea: Go home for holidays It's a family-time issue, voters tell the candidates

CHARLIE NEIBERGALLASSOCIATED PRESS A snowman supports Sen. Barack Obama in front of the Iowa headquarters for the Democratic presidential hopeful.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Warning to presidential candidates: Do not call Dave Plumb on Christmas.

Even a cheery recorded greeting would be a mistake.

And do not run a campaign ad on Plumb's television set, especially an attack ad.

If you want Plumb's vote, it's best to stay out of Iowa on Christmas.

Because if he sees you here on the evening news or you call him while he's sitting down for dinner with his family or you air a TV ad while his two little girls are opening presents, Plumb might view you as unpresidential.

"It would be disrespectful on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve," Plumb, a schoolteacher, said yesterday while waiting with his daughters to see Santa Claus at the Science Center of Iowa.

"Hopefully, none of those things will happen. If they do, I wouldn't vote for that person because I think they would be devaluing family time."

With the earliest-ever caucuses scheduled Jan. 3 and the races on both sides close, the presidential candidates have a yuletide dilemma: How far can they go during the holidays in the feverish quest for every advantage without alienating Iowa voters such as Plumb?

"It is a unique situation no candidate has ever faced before," said Arthur Sanders, chairman of the political-science department at Drake University. "The candidates are trying to feel through what they can do and what they can't do, and what might turn people off."

The campaigns, wary of tipping their hands to rivals, are vague about their plans, but so far no candidate appearances are scheduled in Iowa on Christmas Day.

"Folks are going to be with their families and we're going to be respectful of that," said Tim Albrecht, Iowa spokesman for Republican Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor. "What you can't do in Iowa is campaign on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve."

Like other campaign spokespersons, Jay Carson, press secretary for Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, declined to reveal what plans, if any, there are for making so-called robocalls or airing TV and radio ads on Christmas.

"The caucus is so soon after Christmas that we'll probably be working right up to the edge and then the senator will be spending Christmas with her family, and then she'll be right back afterward," Carson said. "I don't think she'll be holding any rallies on Christmas Day, let's put it that way."

Jarrod Agen, spokesman for Republican Rudy Giuliani, said the former New York mayor would be respectful of Iowans' family time on Christmas. "But it's important to get our message out in the two weeks before the caucuses, and we intend to do that," he said.

From a political perspective, Christmas is an inconvenient temporary roadblock for campaigns that have sought to build momentum gradually and accelerate to the finish line on Jan. 3. Lately, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois have been in the fast lane of the respective Iowa Republican and Democratic contests, and a Christmas pit stop might slow them down.

"These things close fast at the end, and the leader today may not be the leader tomorrow," said James M. McCormick, an Iowa State University political- science professor.

For many Iowans, a Christmas Day respite from the campaign would be welcome. By Jan. 3, it is estimated that the campaigns and independent groups will have made more than a million phone calls to Iowa homes and aired at least 40,000 TV spots since Jan. 1, 2007.

"We're bugged day in and day out with calls, and I'm about ready to disconnect the phone," said Teresa Svec, a 38-year-old mother of two little children in Iowa City. "We just get one of the kids settled down and then the phone starts ringing. It's overwhelming. Give me a break."

Svec, attending a rally last week for Democrat John Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, is among likely caucusgoers who will resent seeing the candidates in any form on Christmas. "I hope they spend time with their families and forget about campaigning for a while. That's going to say a lot more about their character than trying to spend time on the campaign trail. If there is a candidate who says, 'I'm not going on the campaign trail, I'm going to spend time with my family,' I'm more likely to vote for that candidate than the one who says, 'I'm going to be in Iowa spending time with Iowans.' "

But other Iowans aren't bothered by the in-your-face campaign during the holidays. They see it as exciting or accept it as the price they must pay for retaining their No. 1 position in the selection of presidential nominees.

"This is part of the process," said Tim Eggers, 37, an agricultural economist from Shenandoah who attended a rally there last week for Clinton. "What's nice about Iowans is they can separate different aspects of their lives. They have a public responsibility and a private responsibility, and this is part of our public responsibility."

Charlie Sojka, 29, a University of Iowa hospital worker and student, is among the large number of likely caucusgoers still undecided about which candidate to support. He said he looks forward to discussing the choices with his family and friends over Christmas dinner.

"It's unfortunate that it is all happening at this time of year, but on the other hand, people will be together talking about the issues and candidates, so maybe it's OK," Sojka said.

As he waited with his 3-year-old son at the Science Center to see Santa, Wayne Knutson, 42, an elementary-school principal, suggested that the holiday season already has had a joyous effect on the campaign.

"Things are staying more positive as far as the ads are concerned," Knutson said. "The focus of the campaigns seems to be to try to stay away from the negativity. With where our country is and all the problems we have right now, they're figuring out that going negative really isn't going to get them anywhere."