Saturday, January 24, 2004
The congressman spent a week in Iowa on the stump.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland wasn't surprised that Dick Gephardt pulled the plug on his presidential campaign after a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucus.
Actually, Strickland, of Lisbon, D-6th, said the former U.S. House minority leader saw the writing on the wall before the caucus.
"He realized a few days before the caucus that he was in trouble," Strickland said Wednesday in a telephone interview from his Washington, D.C., office.
"In his speeches, he said, 'This isn't about me. I'll be okay whether I win or lose. This is about you and what's best for the country.' If you read between the lines, he probably felt he wouldn't prevail."
Spent week in Iowa
Strickland spent a week in Iowa stumping for Gephardt, and was with the former presidential candidate on three occasions leading up to Monday's caucus. Strickland said he split his time between making telephone calls, going door-to-door and meeting with voters at campaign rallies and outside factories seeking support for Gephardt.
"I'm just thawing out," said Strickland, adding that he couldn't believe how cold Iowa was.
Gephardt said Tuesday he was not only withdrawing from the presidential campaign after his disappointing fourth-place finish, but he was also leaving politics when his 14th term in the U.S. House expires at the end of this year.
Strickland said Gephardt had to either win in Iowa or finish a solid second for him to continue with his campaign. That's because Gephardt is from the neighboring state of Missouri and he won the 1988 Iowa caucus, and a defeat would devastate his campaign.
"If he didn't win there, he couldn't continue," Strickland said.
Problem with campaign
Strickland said Gephardt lost because his campaign was overorganized.
"People felt almost harassed by the contact," Strickland said. "I had people tell me they were called 11 times in one day, and to please stop calling. The organization may have been over-engaged. If I were running the campaign, I would have approached it much, much differently."
Instead of trying to gain the support of every person at every caucus, Strickland said he would have concentrated on about 30 people at each caucus. Because each caucus in Iowa had such few voters, the support of 30 people in each would have almost guaranteed a victory.
"A more concentrated approach is better," he said. "The campaign was too broad-based and dispersed."
This was Strickland's first Iowa caucus. Strickland said he helped Gephardt because the former House minority leader has been a friend for years, and because he was the candidate who had the strongest concerns about the nation's trade policy.
The caucuses, in which neighbors get together to discuss and vote on presidential candidates, have flaws, Strickland said. The system is exclusionary because it is held at a specific time and if a person isn't or can't be present, they don't get a vote, he said. Also, there is no way to vote absentee, he said.
"I talked to dozens of elderly people who were interested in voting, but couldn't or were afraid to go out in those weather conditions," Strickland said.
Strickland said he will look at the remaining Democratic presidential candidates, but won't rush to endorse one.
He considers U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who won the Iowa caucus, to be the party's front-runner. Strickland also says he expects U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut to be the next presidential candidate to get out of the race.
skolnick@vindy.com