Ed. Note: This was written before the 2008 Iowa caucuses, so some of it shows its age (although I'm still proud of this observation of Rudy Giuliani: "When Pat Robertson comes out for the thrice-married guy who supports abortion and gay rights, you know there's a full-blown GOP identity crisis.")
Take it from an Iowa girl, or at least one who lived there long enough to know better ... All politics is local in the Hawkeye State and it isn't glamorous.
I've talked to Bill Clinton after he slurped down a milkshake and Dennis Kucinich after he grabbed a veggie burger to go at one of my favorite Iowa City haunts, the Hamburg Inn No. 2. It's a must-stop on the stump where waitresses still invoke the lore of Ronald Reagan (a good tipper) and curse Pat Buchanan (who evidently was not.)
