The day of the Iowa caucus, Yepsen said Dean would win.

[madfloridian]

From MyDD and Jerome. This is interesting. I had forgotten this.

Yepsen not one to bank on given his '04 prediction

Organization will be key to victory (DAVID YEPSEN, 01/19/2004, Des Moines Register)

If organization is as important as caucus lore tells us it is, Howard Dean should win the Iowa caucuses tonight. Driven by youthful energy and anti-war activism not seen since the Vietnam War, Dean has assembled what his organizers claim is the best get-out-the-vote operation ever built in the state.

They are probably correct. As the campaign draws to a close today, the important story isn't the candidates and their hoopla. It's their organizations and their boring grunt work on the streets and telephones of Iowa.

Given that recent polls of the race show the contest has tightened, Dean hopes his operation provides him with the political firewall he needs to protect himself against the late surges by John Kerry and John Edwards. A Dean win in Iowa tonight would be devastating to the early front-runner here, Dick Gephardt.

Oh my, David Yepson must not have noticed that "terrible" campaign Dean ran in Iowa, and he must not have seen all those orange hats. :evilgrin:

In case you didn't notice, a wee bit of sarcasm there. Or irony, or something.

[Critters2]

1. I remember the orange hats.

The day before the caucus, there were college kids with orange hats going door to door all over town. It was FREEZING. I invited a bunch of 'em in for hot chocolate. I was really sorry to see Dean lose after all that hard work.

Oh, and David Yepsen is an ass.

[MADem]

2. It was too little, too late, a valiant effort, very poorly executed.

It's a 'lessons learned' exercise, anyway.

[Hippo_Tron]

3. I'd be interested to see how grunt work is done for candidates competing in the Iowa Caucus

Especially in this day in age. It seems like the vast majority is either too apathetic to vote or has enough information available to them to make up their mind without somebody knocking on their door or calling them to tell them how great their candidate is.

I've knocked on doors and made calls for state and local races but it's a bit different. A lot of the people we try to contact are already registered voters that vote in presidential races but don't have a lot of information about the state and local races and so we tell them about the candidate and they often like what they hear. Then on election day we call them/knock on their door to remind them to get off their asses and vote.

In the case of presidential races, I guess it's the same concept that you call/knock on doors of as many of your supporters as possible to get them to get off their asses to vote/caucus. But I don't understand how you identify all of those supporters in the first place. I just can't imagine going door to door in Iowa asking people whether or not they're committed to my candidate and if not giving them 10 reasons why they should be. I can imagine going to the doors of those that have committed on election day, though.

[Debi]

4. Yepsen.....meh

At least Iowans know that. :hi: