State Fair

The Iowa State Fair wasn't my only reason for going to Iowa. I was, though, my reason for going now. Four years ago I heard that all the presidential candidates flock to the state fair. They have the Iowa caucus in the future. Not exactly sure what a caucus is, but it must be important. The Iowa State Fair is huge. It goes like a week and a half and attracts about a hundred thousand people a day. So why wouldn't a candidate want to go there?

They're all rich, of course, but they all try to look like just plain ole folk. I guess they just set up in a spot, shake hands with people, and try to look Iowan. I thinking they would wear jeans (they'll have an aide go buy them a pair), a long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, eat corn, corn dogs, and pork, etc. "I'm voting for him. He's like one of us." I'm guessing that's what their going for. CNN, Today Show, etc should all be there.

It includes two weekends. I'm there the second Saturday of the state fair. Its the second to last day. There should be a lot of candidates there. No! They all came earlier in the week. There are like 25 people running for president, but none of them showing up the day I was there. I did see a guy that was running for some Iowa state office. So that was a big thrill. Yes, that was sarcastic. Actually, none of the candidates would have been a big thrill for me, but it just would have been cool. I figured there would be like ten of them show up. Nope. Some of those polling at less than 1% couldn't find the time?

A complete waste of time for me? No, not at all. I knew it wasn't a sure thing anyway. There was a stand that had chocolate flavored Coke. Maybe the greatest thing ever. They have a tradition of each year having a carved butter cow. It's exactly what you think. Hand carved by some kind of butter artist. It's pretty amazing. One stand had deep fried zingers. I thought I needed to try that. It was $5. I'm not spending $5 on a single zinger.

So that is my day at the fair. I'm not that into fairs, but as they go, this is supposed to be one of the best in the nation. So, I'm glad I went.