Caucuses and Elections

How do presidential candidates, their campaigns and their supporters attempt to win the vote of the American electorate?

For a hundred years after the Civil War, Iowa was a reliably Republican state. Only during the crisis of the Great Depression in the 1930s did Iowa show up in the Democratic column on election night. However, beginning the 1950s, the Democratic Party took on new life in the face of rural/urban divisions, the growing strength of labor unions, and attention to national issues like civil rights and the Vietnam War. Cities pushed for more equitable representation in the legislature against rural resistance.

Despite its smaller size and population, Iowa became very important in the election of a U.S. President. Each state has its own process for selecting delegates to national political conventions where the parties nominate their candidates. Iowa uses a caucus system. Members of each party meet together in local meetings called caucuses to select delegates to a county convention that chooses delegates to the district and state conventions. The state conventions are held in June and choose delegates to the national convention. Because the process takes many months, the local caucus has to meet in January or early February to get all the steps done. Because of that timing, the Iowa caucus becomes the first official step anywhere in the nation in selecting a president, and news reporters flock to the state to find out which candidates are ahead.

Candidates Find Democratic Foothold in Iowa

In 1972, Senator George McGovern gained national attention when he came out on top of the Iowa caucuses. In 1976, Jimmy Carter made a major effort to score well in Iowa. He did and went on to become the Democratic Party’s nominee, and eventually, the president of the United States. After that, the Iowa caucus attracted national attention as candidates from both parties flocked to the state to make their case to Iowa voters in local cafes, church basements, and similar venues. The winner of the Iowa caucus doesn’t always become the party’s candidate, but a poor showing in Iowa often leads candidates to withdraw.

From its early years when Republicans almost always won most elections, Iowa now has two competitive parties. Nevertheless, Iowa voters tend to keep incumbents in office. Harold Hughes, a Democrat, and Robert Ray, a Republican, both won re-election to the governorship several times, and Terry Branstad became the longest serving governor in U.S. history. Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin represented different parties but both hung on to their U.S. Senate seats through multiple elections. The majority in the legislature, however, has shifted numerous times, sometimes even split between the state senate and the state house.

Supporting Questions

How do presidential candidates, campaigns and their supporters portray their political opponents?

• "King Andrew the First," 1832 (Image)
• "An Available Candidate: The One Qualification for a Whig President" Political Cartoon, 1848 (Image)
• "Save America" Speech, 1920 (Audio)
• "Peace, Little Girl (a.k.a. Daisy)," 1964 (Video)

What kind of positive images do campaigns and their supporters create for their presidential candidates?

• "Farmer Garfield: Cutting a Swath to the White House" Campaign Poster, 1880 (Image)
• "The Song of Armageddon," 1912 (Document)
• "Stonewall Wilson" Song, 1916 (Document)
• "Safeguard America!" Speech, 1920 (Audio)
• "Hoover the Humanitarian!," 1928 (Document)

How do presidential candidates and their campaigns attempt to establish a personal connection with the electorate?

• "For President of the People, Zachary Taylor," 1848 (Image)
• "Letter from Thomas T. Swann to Abraham Lincoln," 1860 (Document)
• Ulysses S. Grant Campaign Poster, 1872 (Image)
• "Eleven Reasons Why Iowa Should Re-elect Senator Cummins" Leaflet, 1920 (Document)
• Presidential Candidate Henry A. Wallace Campaigns at William Penn College, 1948 (Image)

Additional Resources: 

• The Living Room Candidate
  "The Living Room Candidate" website contains more than 300 commercials from every presidential election since 1952.
• Pictorial Americana: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress - Presidential Campaigns 
  This website from the Library of Congress contains primary sources related to each presidential campaign between the years 1836 and 1908.
• Presidential Campaign Posters from the Library of Congress
  This website is a companion to the Library of Congress’ book, Presidential Campaign Posters From the Library of Congress: Two Hundred Years of Election Art.
• "Some Account of Some of the Bloody Deeds of General Jackson" 
  One of the most well-known “coffin hand bills” distributed during the election of 1828.

Iowa Core Social Studies Standards (9-12)

Listed below are the Iowa Core Social Studies content anchor standards that are best reflected in this source set. The content standards applied to this set are high school-age level and encompass the key disciplines that make up social studies for 9-12th grade students.