AROUND THE NABERHOOD: Native expectations, Iowans view presidential candidates like Wyomingites view bison

Posted 1/28/16

I met every presidential candidate from 1987-2010 before moving to the Cowboy State. I now consider myself a Wyowan — an Iowan who adopted Wyoming as home.

Now I watch the Iowa-centric campaigns from outside the bubble and it’s surprising how …

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AROUND THE NABERHOOD: Native expectations, Iowans view presidential candidates like Wyomingites view bison

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Iowa is constantly on national news during presidential campaign season, but what’s shown on national news is not a very good representation of what’s happening from the locals’ perspective.

I met every presidential candidate from 1987-2010 before moving to the Cowboy State. I now consider myself a Wyowan — an Iowan who adopted Wyoming as home.

Now I watch the Iowa-centric campaigns from outside the bubble and it’s surprising how different it is in person compared to what’s shown on TV.

Just like a summer storm, the candidates drop into town with a wave of security personnel lining the rooftops and streets as a tractor and hay bale display is arranged — because obviously all Iowans live on farms.

Within an hour’s time, the town is transformed into a massive political rally complete with baby kissing and perfect reiterations of the speeches broadcasted for months with plenty of references to Iowa being “the heartland of America.”

(Cue the applause and zoom in on an elderly farmer, bonus points if he is wearing a Pioneer seed or John Deere hat.)

This is completely normal for Iowans and on par with a bison sighting in northwestern Wyoming. The tourists and newcomers go crazy for it and the majority of the locals either view it as a nuisance or feel entitled to such a unique experience.

Of course, there are deviations from that, but the political storm season has a silver lining — it creates a culture of strong and extremely detailed opinions about the candidates, similar to wine aficionados attending a wine tasting.

My mom is particularly accustomed to receiving individual attention from the candidates. She’s a sign language interpreter, often seen next to the podium interpreting the speeches. For anyone unfamiliar with the language, it’s a little unusual to see someone throwing her hands and arms around in the same rhythmic pattern that the speech follows like a conductor for an orchestra.

Naturally, curiosity spikes and she gets to strike up a conversation with each candidate about what she does, and is often asked to hit the road with the campaign team and interpret around the country. But her horses would never approve of such a career move, so she turns down the offer.

Just a few days ago, she interpreted for Donald Trump at my old high school and she recently had to turn down a request from Bernie Sanders since she had other plans that day. Any normal person would jump at the opportunity to work alongside even one presidential candidate — but not an Iowan, and certainly not my mom. After all, the horses need fed in the morning and another storm is always on the horizon.

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