for tonight i went running through the screen doors of discretion

by mg at 11:15 AM on January 20, 2004

Now that it’s finally 2004, the overwhelming rage every time I see that “Vote 2004” logo on every ABC news program is subsiding. Sure, the election is still 11 months away, and they show the logo even if the most political moment of the program its shown during comes during an in-depth interview with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, but at least it actually is 2004 now.

Speaking of the elections, the Iowa Caucuses wrapped up last night. If you are coming here for news about who won, boy, are you in the wrong place. I’d point you to an actual news story, but why don’t you just wait until the Daily Show comes on tonight.

In my 4 years (6) in college out there, I was only around for one presidential election. That isn’t actually true, but since I can’t remember the first one, I’ll just pretend it never happened (which means I can also ignore President Clinton’s second term).

During the 2000 Caucuses there seemed to be more presidential candidates wandering around town than actually Iowans. My (student) offices were in the building most of the candidates gave their speeches. Sure, it is nice for your community to be the center of national attention, but it was kind of annoying because it made the lines for lunch that much longer.

One day, while I was sitting in my office, a couple dudes in black suits and earpieces starting skulking around outside my door. Then presidential candidate George Bush had just finished a rally in the ballroom directly upstairs from my office, and was going to use the back stairs through our office to leave the building. The secret police were scooping out our office, maybe making sure we weren’t “Students for Medical Marijuana” or something.

Within a short period of time Dubya himself was walking through our offices. I got to shake his hand. I didn’t notice, but one of the gals later remarked he was wearing a lot of make-up. He was shorter than he seems on TV.

It always seems as if shaking the hand that shakes the world is one of those moments you’ll remember all your life, but except for the rare occasions, such as today, I completely forget about this event – and I voted for the guy.

Now that the Iowa Caucuses are finally over for this election cycle, the rest of the country can go back to ignoring Iowa for another four years. “Iowa? Isn’t that in Ohio?”