There’ll Be No ‘Hanky-Panky’ on Iowans’ Watch

As a die-hard Democrat who’s been managing presidential caucuses in Iowa since the Kennedy administration, Donald Rowen loathes the idea of even quoting a Republican.

But the 74-year-old retired lobbyist draws the line when it comes to the rumors about how this young army of Howard Dean supporters who have stormed into the state may try to invade his caucus meeting Monday night, hoping to steal the contest for their candidate from right under his nose.

That’s when Rowen parrots the ultimate Republican, George W. Bush: “Bring ‘em on.”

“I don’t think any of these kids are foolish enough to try such a thing,” said Rowen, who runs the proceedings at Precinct 54 in central Des Moines.

“But even if they did, it’s not going to happen -- not on my watch.”

The campaign to carry Howard Dean to the White House this fall has turned into a full-fledged crusade in Iowa, as an estimated 3,500 volunteers have converged here from all across America. They’re canvassing in communities statewide, appealing to the state’s 530,000 registered Democrats in counties with names such as Pocahontas, Winnebago, Pottawattamie and Cherokee.

But recently, the campaigns for Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts have pointed to some potential weeds in such grass-roots politicking -- accusing the Dean camp of using “dirty tricks” to win supporters.

Volunteers for the former Vermont governor have been accused of using aliases to try to infiltrate Kerry and Gephardt campaign offices.

And there are suggestions that overzealous Dean supporters, armed with cellphones and hand-held computers, could sneak into caucuses and cast votes for their candidate.

Joe Trippi, Dean’s national campaign manager, thinks somebody has been watching too many made-for-TV spy thrillers. This kind of gossip, he said, is often circulated in the final days before a vote in the hopes of swaying public opinion.

“You can throw these rumors in the same garbage bin with all the others,” he said.

Gephardt’s national campaign manager, Steve Murphy, insists there’s still “a real possibility” of mischief: “These caucuses are for Iowans and Iowans only.”

In an era where candidates can use sophisticated technology to track caucus-night voting in a way never before possible, Iowa Democratic Party officials are confident they have taken effective measures to prevent wrongdoing.

For starters, they say, it’s illegal to use an alias to vote in Iowa, a crime punishable by up to a maximum of five years in prison.

Participating in the state’s caucus system isn’t as easy as pulling a lever. Supporters for each candidate gather at assigned meeting places, from neighborhood living rooms to high school gymnasiums, and publicly horse-trade for votes in a homespun process that eventually brings a winner.

However, those who show up at any of the state’s 1,993 caucus sites aren’t required to show identification -- either a driver’s license, voter registration card or any other proof of residency -- a fact that has drawn criticism from many who point to the possibility of fraud. In another quirk, even registered Republicans can switch parties -- if only for the day -- to participate.

Gordon Fischer, state Democratic Party chairman, said the caucuses are open to all who wish simply to observe. But participants must sign an affidavit under penalty of law that they have supplied their real identities. Their names must also appear on the local voter registration list before they can take part.

“Iowans have traditionally rejected the idea of showing ID to vote,” Fischer said. “For many, it’s a class issue. Not everyone has a driver’s license.”

The campaigns have signed a pledge that they’ll abide by Iowa law, state party officials say.

And the Dean campaign has required its out-of-state volunteers to sign an agreement that they will not “claim to be a resident of Iowa or change my voter registration in order to take part in the Iowa Caucuses.”

Under Iowa caucus rules, candidates must win at least 15% of the vote in each precinct to survive. If one falls short, his supporters are free to align with another candidate.

Several campaigns are mapping strategies to swing stray votes in final hours. Their tactics include an automated system allowing precinct captains to dial in early tallies. For example, knowing that Dean was safely winning statewide could lead his campaign to advise supporters to throw votes to another specifically chosen candidate in a late-night political chess game.

Virginia Rowen, who helps her husband manage affairs at Precinct 54, said she’s going to be watching for “hanky-panky.”

But Dan Savage only smirks at caucus security. Covering the 2000 Republican caucuses for an online magazine, he sneaked into a caucus site and, giving his hotel address as his residence, took part in the process -- writing the name of his chosen candidate on one of the scraps of paper passed around the room.

Savage was later charged with a felony and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. “The Iowa caucus system is so porous any goofball from out of state can show up and participate,” said Savage, who now edits a weekly paper in Seattle.

Dennis Goldford, head of the political science department at Drake University in Des Moines, said such incidents could happen but not on a scale needed to affect caucus results.

“In rural Iowa and in the cities, people know each other,” he said. “This isn’t a vote-early, vote-often kind of state. The culture

Murphy says that some Dean supporters already have called Iowa voting officials to ask about the requirements for participating in the caucuses.

“If they don’t have any underhanded plans, then why are they calling?” he asked.

John Norris, Kerry’s Iowa campaign director, sent a letter to the Dean camp last week after two Dean supporters misrepresented themselves to a volunteer at a Kerry campaign office in Creston, Iowa. “If your folks are lying today,” Norris wrote, “what’s to stop them from stealing the caucus from Iowa voters for Howard Dean on Jan. 19th?”

When Gephardt’s Murphy made a similar claim, Trippi shot back in his own letter, saying “sleazy tactics like yours are exactly the reason people have stopped participating in the political process.”

In the end, officials and the candidates themselves will be on the alert for caucus stunts like the one Savage pulled in 2000.

So, does Savage plan any reprise of his party crashing?

“I’m not coming to Iowa this time,” he said. “But I am sending a reporter. It will be up to him to decide how he wants to cover the caucuses.”