I woke up this morning to the news that Nikki Haley’s events in western Iowa - one of which I was flying out this morning to attend tonight - have been moved to “tele-townhalls” because of a severe winter storm. I’m also seeing that a super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis is postponing some events.
Iowa gets often nasty weather this time of year, as I remember well.
I used to trudge to work in the dark (uphill both ways, of course!) to host Morning Edition on Iowa Public Radio, wearing those shoe grips known as Yak Tracks (if only I could find them now!). The night we left Iowa for my job at Georgia Public Broadcasting, almost exactly a decade ago, it was 14 degrees below zero, and the relentless, humid Southern heat I was exchanging it for seemed like a welcome change.
I’m in the middle of reshuffling my travel plans right now - eyeing the forecast and talking to travel agents. The short story? Lots of flights, not to mention events, are cancelled. Haley and DeSantis’ event changes come days after Vivek Ramaswamy cancelled some of his own events - after he’d mocked others for doing so.
I could have told him, Iowa winters are no joke.
We’ll see how the weather affects Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
Bob Vander Plaats, the Iowa evangelical leader who endorsed DeSantis, told me earlier this week that he thinks severe weather could dampen turnout for Donald Trump, assuming Trump’s supporters notice his strong double-digit lead in the polls and decide they don’t need to venture out. But it’s a really big lead, and it would take a lot of snow and a lot of Trump supporters deciding not to caucus for it to make much of a difference, as I see it.
You can follow along with my colleagues and me at npr.org and your NPR station.
Please travel safely ... and stay warm! 🔥 🙏
Thank you for your reporting.