John Nichols: Obama's Iowa victory 'a big deal'

By Bonnie J Hollis

John Nichols, political analyst and associate editor of The Capital Times in Madison, believes Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain will be the eventual candidates for president of the United States in November.

Speaking before 160 members of Racine’s chapter of the American Association of University Women and their guests at Meadowbrook Country Club on Saturday, Nichols had just returned from covering the caucus campaign in Iowa. Although his assignment was to cover Republican Michael Huckabee and his strategy for winning that race, Nichols said it was all the Iowa caucus voters who made the greatest impression on him — and it was that experience that he believes will change America.

"We’ve had “a screwed-up culture,” Nichols said, but because of Iowa, we are on the verge of real change. “It matters a lot that Obama won in a state whose residents are mostly white. It’s a big deal.

“I hope we are on the track with race as we have come with religion,” Nichols said, referring to the religious struggle John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, had when he campaigned for president in 1960. “In one night, Lutheran farmers in Iowa moved the discussion to a different level. It was an epic moment. It was Kennedyesque.”

Not impressed with most media coverage, Nichols said, “The media dumbed it down; but those caucuses set a new tone. Each candidate was, for the first time in Iowa, treated as a human being. The caucuses of the past were grandmotherly, but there was a dramatic shift this time. Participants crossed the generations; young people cared.”

That shift, he said, included the numbers who got involved in the process and the money spent by those who won. People and their involvement made the difference, not the dollars spent by the candidates.

As important as Iowa was, it probably won’t spell the end. On Tuesday, New Hampshire will be different, as will the primaries in the states that follow, Nichols said. The significant battle will be Super Tuesday on Feb. 5.

“On Super Tuesday, “ Nichols continued, “we will have a real race. We will have good politics.”

The author of "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders’ Cure for Royalism," Nichols challenged the group to follow Iowa’s example.

“We tell ourselves that we’re ‘too busy.’ Iowans engaged at a very deep level. They took their children to the caucuses; they waited hours to cast their votes. They got involved. This will be an interesting, scary, inspiring year,” Nichols said; but instead of saying, ‘We’re too busy,’ we must say, ‘This matters so much; we all have to be a part of it.’

“ Change is not only in and for America but for the world.”