Four democratic presidential candidates converged on central Iowa yesterday, and their styles ranged from traditional to trendy. Florida Senator Bob Graham and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich walked in the Iowa State Fair parade. Kucinich says such “old-style” campaigning is effective, even at the presidential level. Kucinich says he started out his career walking door-to-door, campaigning face-to-face, and he says people want to see their candidates. Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman toured the offices of a government program that helps small business owners and appeared at a reception at Attorney General Tom Miller’s home — all very traditional forums for a candidates. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, though, went to the patio at Papa’s Planet, a bar in downtown Des Moines, to meet up with about 180 supporters who’d learned about his candidacy on the Internet. Dean says “every single one of these people is a working, committed Dean person and this gets ’em cranked up to go out and do a lot of things.” Dean is on the cover of the current issues of Time and Newsweek, and autographed several copies last night.
