Real Iowa Politics Live. I decided to cover an additional Scott Walker event in Iowa for two reasons. After covering the Walker announcement in Waukesha, Wisconsin in podcast 391, I have a reference point for Walker, so covering on additional appearance by the Governor, especially in Iowa would be a good pair of companion podcasts. So, it was off to Davenport, Iowa from Minneapolis. The road trip started at midnight, arriving at Davenport’s Modern Woodmen Park, home of the ‘Bandits’, a minor league baseball team at about 5:30 AM. After a short nap, I would be covering Scott Walker’s appearance later in the day. There’s a big difference between watching an event on live television and actually being there. Modern media amplifies, magnifies and distorts reality. It was amazing to see the network cameras set up for the live shot, or to tape, with no reporter. I’m assuming someone in another city slices and dices the speech. When you have video, who needs to be there. This is why I decided to come to a political event in Iowa. I learned a lot. Most of these events at the present time are pretty small ball, but I was shocked to learn that one presidential ‘candidate’ after another has trooped through, sometimes two or three a day, to rub noses with Iowans, just because they cast the first votes in caucuses and primaries in 2016. Iowa Republicans do not trust the media — even podcasters like me — and they’re perfectly content with a status conferred upon them by virtue of their caucus date, the media and the politicians trooping through these rooms all over the state. Walker is a disciplined candidate, delivering exactly the same speech, in exactly the same way, except for a moment of prayer for the recent victims of the Marine Base shooting. Still, the ‘reporting’ on Walker tends to be long on snark, and short on actual analysis and illumination of what he has done in Wisconsin and what he is proposing on the campaign trail. With a track record of actually doing what he says, you would think the media might actually want to put some effort into analysis. But no. Mostly snark. And, there’s a train in this podcast. Put headphones on and experience what an Iowa political event feels and sounds like. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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