Iowa’s Frozen Caucus, in Photos

In the final days before Monday’s Iowa Republican caucuses, the phrase that has kept running through my mind is “not too close.” Not just because former President Donald Trump is polling so far ahead of the rest of the Republican field, although that’s part of it. It’s also that in this election cycle, it seems candidates have kept more and more distance between themselves and their voters.

I’ve been covering the Iowa caucuses since 2008, and what I’ve been noticing, particularly this year, is that the circus show of Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls sprinting from county to county, taking a moment at cafes, buffets and kitchen tables… that up-close access that Iowans have known for decades, it’s dwindled. The Democrats jumped ship after 2020. The Republicans are still coming, but Trump’s massive lead has sapped a lot of energy.

The race started last spring, with events taking place in empty farm fields that grew knee-high, then head-high, and eventually back to empty after the fall harvest. Throughout the year, campaign events have seemed smaller and more lackluster. There are even fewer lawn signs than in previous cycles and nearly all the ones you see are for Trump. And in recent weeks, there’s been the snow… lots and lots of it, which seems to have quieted the whole state.

The bottom line is that Iowa doesn’t seem all that engaged this year. While the final GOP debate was being broadcast Wednesday night on CNN, I drove to the small town of Mitchellville to see what they were watching at the local bar. It was college basketball on all five TVs. Not one was turned to the Nikki Haley vs. Ron DeSantis debate or even to the rival town hall with Trump on Fox.

Maybe the lack of television attention is because Iowans seem to have made up their minds months ago. Maybe voters in the Hawkeye State expect the in-person campaigning of times past and have checked out. Or, maybe, the years of politicians and pundits yelling at each other on cable news have just worn everyone out.

Here’s what this year’s Iowa caucuses have looked like to me.