Precinct 38 Republicans debate who's 'electable'
By Mike Ferullo/CNN
January 25, 2000
Web posted at: 8:47 a.m. EST (1347 GMT)
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Twenty-one men and women sat on the tiny chairs in the library of Longfellow Elementary School Monday night to begin an earnest discussion about who should be this year's Republican Party candidate for president of the United States.
A group of Democrats convened across the hall to discuss their own party's field. These caucuses are politics at its most grassroots level, kicking off a year's worth of electoral activity for Iowans. Friends and neighbors gather at their precincts to talk about their party's platform and elect members to the party's central committee.
On this particular January night, Des Moines Precinct No. 38 Republicans unanimously selected Dennis Shannahan as temporary chairman and Assembly of God Pastor Steve Beeman as secretary. Then they dove into a heated debate on the perceived merits and faults of presidential candidates in the GOP field.
Troy Miller and his wife came to the caucus as representatives for conservative activist Gary Bauer.
"I've talked to him personally and I think he's a real man of the people, and he does have experience under the Reagan administration. And we all know where that's gotten the United States," Miller told the group.
But longtime caucus veteran Mike Bennett preferred fiery talk show host Alan Keyes.
"For those of us who have been around these campaigns for a long time, his positions have never changed. His position is that it all starts in your own house, with your own kids and with your own parents," Bennett said.
"I would like to see someone come in second that tells it like it is. I don't have any illusions that he'll come in first, but I do think it might be nice," said Bennett.
Sheryl Holsman, a bookkeeper attending her first caucus, felt compelled to speak up on behalf of Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
"I'm not a representative of Bush, but I do think that everybody should take into consideration that we need to elect a Republican president, so therefore we need to pick a candidate who's electable."
"As much as I like what a lot of these people have to say, if you divide too much we're not going to get anybody in," said Holsman, citing her experience as a Goldwater supporter in 1964. The outspoken Arizona Republican was trounced by Lyndon B. Johnson in the general election that year.
After about 45 minutes of debate, everyone at the GOP meeting dropped the name of a candidate in a hat. The caucus-goers chatted about the weather, sports and other light topics as Shannahan and Beeman tallied the votes at a teacher's desk.
Although he commanded 41 percent of the vote in all of the Iowa caucuses, Governor Bush registered a razor thin victory at the Precinct No. 38 gathering, edging out Keyes by a vote of nine to eight. Bauer finished third with three votes and publisher Steve Forbes received one vote.
The results were called into party headquarters as the participants took up the next order of business: selecting a delegate to represent No. 38 at the Polk County Convention in March.
A call for a volunteers resulted in a few nervous glances around the room, but no delegate. The next round of caucus debate began with the question: "Who's free on Saturdays?"
Each of Iowa's 99 county conventions will nominate delegates to the state party convention to be held in the spring. The state convention will then choose delegates for the National Republican Party Convention to be held in Philadelphia this summer.
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