01/11/24
1/11/2024Before I get into the theme of this column, a few words about last Thursday morning’s mass school shooting in Perry would be appropriate. If I could find some. I can’t. There are no words. Many, many Iowans and others from outside the state have expressed their sympathy to Perry and its people in words and deeds, and that’s been heartwarming. But healing will take a long time for those who sustained such traumatic loss. We are all very sorry, Perry.
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After months of campaigning across our state, the Republican presidential candidates will finally get to see the results of their efforts when Monday evening’s Iowa caucuses take place.
Most folks tell me they will not be sorry to see the TV advertisements end. The ads seem more negative than in past years. That’s probably a function of the general tone of politics nowadays.
President Biden has no serious opposition for renomination by his Democratic Party; if he did, maybe the tenor of Democratic ads would be equally pointed. But I doubt it. Biden doesn’t come across as combative as most of the Republican candidates, nor do I think he would offer that kind of target to his potential Democratic opponents.
The campaign leading up to the general election in November, on the other hand, will no doubt be highly scrappy. And if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, who knows whether he would agree to televised debates with Biden. He’s avoided debating his Republican opponents so far.
As the caucus campaigns wind down, there are a few questions I’d like to hear the GOP candidates answer. Maybe some already have. They’re not intended as “gotchas,” although a candidate might think of them that way. Instead, they’re an attempt to weigh what the candidates consider to be really important, to give caucus-goers an idea of where the hopefuls’ true desires and concerns lie.
After enduring months of campaign ad assaults, politically-minded Iowans deserve no less.
To Donald Trump:
—Who is the greater threat to the United States, Vladimir Putin or Joe Biden?
—If you are the Republican candidate, and you decide to challenge any November 2024 election results, will you agree to contest the results in ALL states where the election is close, not just those where you apparently have lost but might win on a recount?
—If you’re innocent of all charges in connection with the 2020 election and its aftermath, why not fast-track all legal actions on them to prove it?
—Do you think it’s possible you could lose a fair-and-square election?
—Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa Family Leader director Bob Vander Plaats both have endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for the Republican nomination. Does that make you any less likely to help the state of Iowa if you’re elected?
To Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley:
—If Donald Trump were found guilty of any of the federal charges against him and were incarcerated, you have said you would pardon him if you were elected. Why do you think he deserves a pardon?
To Ron DeSantis:
—What exactly does “woke” mean?
To all Republican presidential candidates:
—If Congress sent you a bill establishing a ban on abortions everywhere in the United States after 15 weeks of gestation, with or without exceptions, would you sign it? Or would you leave that issue up to each state?
—What amendments to the U.S. Constitution, if any, would you recommend to Congress?
—What actions, if any, would you want the United States to take to combat worldwide climate change?
—Are most mass shootings committed by someone with mental illness? And is anger a mental illness?
—Would completing the border wall, and making it impenetrable, solve the immigration challenge for the United States?
—Once the Ukraine-Russia war is settled, would you vote to admit Ukraine into NATO?
—Should “dreamers” (Latinos who were brought to the United States as young children) have a path to citizenship?
If I were an interviewing reporter, and the candidate ducked a question, I would state in the story something to this effect: “The candidate discussed the issue raised by the question, but did not answer it, so the candidate’s position on the question remains unknown.”
Finally, the larger the caucus turnout, the better the indication of Iowa’s political leanings. ♦
