Kernels of truth
The Iowa State Fair has arrived. My time there has made me nostalgic. “Where do I cast my kernel?” strangers have stopped and asked me over these past several days.
I had to explain to them that we don’t do that any more after new management at my former TV station ended the 15-year tradition.
The corn collaborators — A superbly talented photographer, Jeff Felton, and I created “Cast Your Kernel” in 2006 when we worked at WHO-TV in Des Moines. Eventually, more than 70,000 people would stop by our station’s booth each summer to drop a piece of corn into a Mason jar for their favorite candidate.
Scientific? Nope. But it was a blast!
I got to see old friends, make new ones and find out what so many people thought about politicians, issues and current events. I absolutely loved it.
Republican candidates almost always fared better. I assume that it was because of the higher concentration of rural visitors at the fair.
Hope and change…and kernels — Democrat Barack Obama was the exception in 2008 when he edged Republican John McCain 51-49% in our unofficial presidential poll.
Both men got the chance to vote for themselves. Numerous politicians did over the years as they would stop by our booth. Kamala Harris did in 2019 during her brief Iowa Caucus campaign. Donald Trump did not when he ran for president in 2016.
Corn curious — No politician came by more than Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. Reynolds would be at the fair every day and come by our booth to check out the latest results.
Obama’s throng of onlookers was the biggest than I can ever recall in all those years. Hundreds of people stopped in their tracks to get a glimpse. And many of them followed him up to our table and dropped in their kernel to show their support.
Who needs technology? Sometimes a bucket of seed corn will do just fine.
Missing candidates — No plans for Trump or his running mate, J.D. Vance, or Harris or her running mate, Tim Walz, to come to this year’s fair…at least, no plans that I have heard.
Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson wrote about Walz’s visit last year to the fair.
RFK, Junior originally said that he was coming this year but changed his mind.
In case you wondered, the Iowa State Fair features many animals but no bear cubs.
Chase Oliver, the Libertarian presidential candidate, did visit on Saturday. He is the only candidate I have seen so far this year to take questions from the audience during the Des Moines Register’s Soapbox.
I plan to do a TV story in the next few days about what he had to say. Meanwhile, Addison Lathers at the Des Moines Register focused on how Oliver pointed to the high cost of State Fair food as proof of the federal government’s overspending.
Iowa’s northern neighbor — I asked Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst what impact, if any, Walz as the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee would have on Iowa races. She weighed in both as a legislative leader and an academic (she is also a Drake University assistant professor in public relations).
Konfrst also addressed her timeline to decide whether she wants to run for governor in 2026 and listed the top qualities that she seeks in legislative candidates for 2024.
That interview is the focus of this week’s “Inside Iowa Politics,” which posts weekly on the nine local TV stations for which I work with Gray Media Iowa. Watch this week’s show here.
More optimistic — Former Iowan John Roach (he moved to Florida to escape the state’s cold winters and state income taxes) is a well-known voice and face in the commodities world. He is the founder of Roach Ag. Unlike some other analysts, Roach feels more optimistic about commodity prices in the near future.
He explains why he feels that way in our American Farmland Owner podcast. See that here.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your support.
I write this column as part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, a group of independent journalists who write about a variety of issues and topics. Check out others in our group here and support them if you can.