IOWA!

Ok, so I think the presidential election has officially started.  Certainly there have been lots of stumping and canvassing, but tonight it's official.  The Iowa caucuses are done.  Obama and Huckabee won.  Maybe in no small part their ability to speak to the masses effectively.  How interesting the disparity between the two.  I can only imagine the polarization of the nation if Huckabee and Obama were to win their respective party's nominations.

But I digress, because I can't possibly pretend to be an expert on politics.  I did, however, decide fairly recently to try to figure it out...as a photojournalist.  I was thinking (as I'm want to do on occasion) that I wanted to go to Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina.  I was going to cover the most newsworthy event this side of the Middle East.  I haven't been a photojournalist very long, and I felt that if I was going to be a "legitimate" one, then covering the primary season would be something for me to do.  If anything, for the experience of it. Ultimately, though, I decided to find stories in my own back yard of Washington DC.  After talking to some people and getting advice, this seemed to make more sense than competing with a thousand other photographers and TV crews in an arena where I had absolutely no experience and no contacts.I began searching out volunteers and groups organized to help bring voters to their respective sides.  Interestingly enough I found that it is vastly easier to find people jazzed about Ron Paul and Barack Obama, than any of the other candidates.  That leads, in a round about way, to the Iowa Caucuses tonight.  I found myself at the "Barack the Caucus" party at a bar in Ballston, VA.

Since I began my personal project of sorts, I've been blown away by the dedication of these volunteers who have full-time jobs unrelated to politics and are still able to put in an extra day or two on the weekend, or a few hours after work.  They work tirelessly simply to raise awareness about their candidates.  Covering these people and seeing their dedication makes me feel better about the democratic process.  This, at a time when it's pretty easy to feel pessimistic about it all.