A POLITICAL TAVERN

“Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward path had be lost.” -Dante

Traveling to Iowa was the easy part, actually working the campaign trail was the challenge. We arrived in West Des Moines around 430PM on Saturday January 30th, by then I had two sources lined up and already was starting to feel the itch that junkies get right before the necessary high.

Sources can come easy if you know where to look. Upon scowering the internet using Facebook and Twitter, I was able to track down a gentleman by the name of Chris Cleveland who happened to be the Chairman of the Chicago Republican Party. After a few exchanged emails I learned that Chris was actually going to be leaving Iowa the day we arrived, dammit I thought.

But as a good journalist would do, I asked him, “Is there anyone else I could speak with?” Cleveland passed along the contact information of a man named Jake Dagel, Iowa Senior Field Director for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

I learned that there are multiple resource outlets before you even arrive at a destination or begin really working at the meat of a story. Lynn Sweet, columnist and Washington Bureau Chief at the Chciago Sun-Times said, “Just because you get closer to a source doesn’t make the story any better.” A simple tweet can lead you down the rabbit hole like some crazed junkie, just full of excitment.

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” -Dante

I call him the “Holy Crusader;” he’s on a war path to unite the evangelicals of America behind cries for boarder security, ending the persecution of religious liberty and defeating ISIS. When I walked into Cruz HQ, you could feel the rush of being on the campaign trail hit. Phones ringing, media personnel scribbling notes on paper, cameramen filming B roll, just one wild crazy circus taking place before my eyes.

On thing that allowed Cruz to create such a following was the creation of Camp Cruz and the #CruzCrew.

Kindra Pottinger was a contact that I was not able to get a hold of while in Iowa, but other sources I spoke with while at Cruz HQ and later, the Ted Cruz rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, spoke of the legendary Camp Cruz.

Gayle Herron from Illinois said the accommodations at Camp Cruz were very dorm style. Two beds, kitchen, living room, some larger rooms to house more people were common descriptions of the living arrangements set up for volunteers and supporters of Ted Cruz.

It was an interesting topic that I was not able to dive into much detail while covering the Holy Crusader. Had I been able to incorporate it into my piece I would have like to speak more about the funding of Camp Cruz. Who was paying for it? If it was a personal expense, how much were people spending to volunteer? There would have been many different outlets to take, but sadly that was not the case.

“Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, vested already with that planet’s rays which leadeth others right by every road.” -Dante

Already candidates are conceding defeat. Huckabee, Santorum, Paul and O’Malley (for the Democrats) all have gone down since Feb. 1st. The momentum has shifted in Cruz’s behalf with a 4 point victory(28–24) in Iowa, silencing Donald J. Trump for at least a day. But the real key to watch for in New Hampshire and South Carolina is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who, despite finishing 3rd, was only 1 point behind Trump with 23 percent.

It’s going to be interesting to see if 1. Cruz can put together back to back victories and 2. If Rubio can overtake Trump or at least tie him for that solid second seed.

Right now, either of those scenario’s seems highly unlikely given the enormous lead new comer Donald J. Trump has in the recent N.H. polls. An interesting development would be to eye candidates like Jeb Bush and Chris Christie who have put everything into N.H. as boom or bust.