Giving Iowa a Try by Byron York Gephardt vs. Dean, amid the corn.

It’s the loneliest time to be campaigning for president in Iowa, but Richard Gephardt is up and at it. Two days after Christmas, with the press corps nowhere to be found and many people still in a holiday blur, Gephardt rolls across the north central part of the state, going from small town to small town, meeting voters. When he arrives in Clarion (pop. 2,968), he finds about 75 people waiting at the old train station, which now houses the Chamber of Commerce. Standing in front of a fireplace with a model train stretched across the mantle, Gephardt launches into a lecture on corporate greed.

“It’s about money,” he tells the group. “These companies want to do things, and then they want to escape responsibility for what they do, and it’s wrong.” The corporations send jobs overseas, Gephardt explains, they deceive stockholders, they take away workers’ rights: “Enron and WorldCom and Tyco, once you release them from responsibility, that’s it. Katie bar the door.” The farmers and blue-collar union workers—Gephardt’s core constituency in Iowa—listen closely and nod in agreement.

About the Author

Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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It’s the loneliest time to be campaigning for president in Iowa, but Richard Gephardt is up and at it. Two days after Christmas, with the press corps nowhere to be found and many people still in a holiday blur, Gephardt rolls across the north central part of the state, going from small town to small town, meeting voters. When he arrives in Clarion (pop. 2,968), he finds about 75 people waiting at the old train station, which now houses the Chamber of Commerce. Standing in front of a fireplace with a model train stretched across the mantle, Gephardt launches into a lecture on corporate greed.

“It’s about money,” he tells the group. “These companies want to do things, and then they want to escape responsibility for what they do, and it’s wrong.” The corporations send jobs overseas, Gephardt explains, they deceive stockholders, they take away workers’ rights: “Enron and WorldCom and Tyco, once you release them from responsibility, that’s it. Katie bar the door.” The farmers and blue-collar union workers—Gephardt’s core constituency in Iowa—listen closely and nod in agreement.