Caucus tourists snag front-row seat to political parade

After Mae Leng, a software engineer from the San Francisco area, heard U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio make a reference to China during an early January campaign speech in Boone, she patiently waited for him to finish and walked up to speak directly with the candidate.

Leng, a native of China who is now a U.S. citizen, chatted with Rubio about American relations with China. The Republican presidential candidate from Florida listened closely and answered every question.

It’s not the kind of experience she could have had in California — or China, for that matter. Only in Iowa.

“Personally, I feel this is much better of an experience compared to watching them on TV,” said Leng, who noted she is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. “We are an immigrant family from China, love the American democracy and freedom, and would like to make our contributions as well.”

In the diners, gymnasiums and coffee shops that make up Iowa’s campaign trail, prospective voters are joined by countless caucus tourists who flock here to snag a front-row seat to the kickoff of the presidential nominating contest. Some come to observe; others come to throw their support behind a candidate. And others come to take advantage of Iowa's media spotlight to advance their own causes.

RELATED: 5 and a half tips for visiting caucus tourists

After all, Iowa is a place where ordinary people — from this state or otherwise — can secure face time with the next president, ask a pointed question or snap a selfie.

Leng, who is in her 40s, accompanied her son, Steven Chen, a seventh-grade student from San Ramon, Calif. Steven participated in Iowa’s Presidential Youth Leadership Initiative, a program headed by Swallow Yan of Des Moines, a native of China and an American citizen who has brought more than 200 students and visitors from other states and countries for caucus cycles starting in 2004.

Some caucus tourists quickly hop over from neighboring states such as Nebraska, Illinois and Minnesota to catch a glimpse of their favorite candidates. Others travel from the farthest reaches of both coasts. And some are so drawn to the political process that they decide to call Iowa home — at least for a little while.

Last April, Rob and Claudia Host moved from Hawaii to West Des Moines so they could volunteer for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“I wouldn’t describe us as political junkies by any means,” Rob Host said. “But we’d watched the Iowa caucuses from afar and we thought, ‘What would it be like to live in Iowa during the caucuses?’”

The two retirees are both 63. And they both love adventures. At one point, they spent several years sailing around the Caribbean and Pacific. Now, the couple’s exploits include phoning strangers and asking them to caucus for Clinton.

Sometimes, it gets even more thrilling.

“Last weekend, in zero-degree weather, we were out door-knocking,” Rob Host recounted cheerily.

Besides seeing Clinton in person about eight times, they’ve gone to hear all the other candidates, Democratic and Republican. One of the most interesting experiences was watching Donald Trump’s presidential bid mushroom from a curiosity on display at a small Simpson College event last April to a top-polling campaign viewed as one of the favorites to win the GOP caucuses.

The Hosts had figured on leaving Iowa after the caucuses, but they’re having too much fun. Now, they plan to stick around through next November’s general election, which promises to be another squeaker in purple Iowa.

After that, they’re thinking about trying Thailand for a while. Apparently, its pristine beaches hold nearly as much allure as an Iowa voter’s stoop in January.

VOTER DATA: See party registration data for Iowa voters by county, by city

Campaign groupies

Anyone traveling the political circuit here is likely to run into some familiar faces. Most campaigns have a few regulars who attend campaign events over and over to show support for their favorite contender.

As snow fell and the wind chill dipped into the single digits outside the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset on Tuesday, Ryan Comstock found himself waiting for the third time in a span of five days to catch a glimpse of businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump — the man he plans to caucus for on Feb. 1.

Comstock, a 40-year-old Clive resident, also lined up outside Java Joe’s in downtown Des Moines at 4:30 a.m. the previous Friday when Trump was filming a live MSNBC interview, and then again that same day outside Living History Farms in Urbandale. He previously saw Trump speak in Newton.

“I’m an autograph collector, too, so that’s part of the draw for me,” Comstock said. “But, he’s always entertaining. Every time you see him, you kind of warm up a little bit to him.”

By now, Emma Schmit, 21, has seen Democrat Bernie Sanders in Iowa at least 10 times. She’s lost count of how many total campaign events she’s attended.

“I like to show up just so people understand he has a large crowd behind him,” said Schmit, a precinct captain from Rockwell City, Ia. “He’s not unelectable. People support him.”

Schmit hosts a Sanders phone bank at her home once a week and regularly knocks on doors on Sanders' behalf. She’s the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, is studying part-time for her bachelor’s degree and works overnight at a facility for autistic adults. She’s followed Sanders for at least a year.

“He’s been fighting for people like me the last 30 years,” she said. “He’s had a consistent message, and his plans are the best to get this country back on track."

Tourist with a cause

On Tuesday morning, Justin Scott all but ran to the microphone to ask the first question of Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.

“I am an atheist voter ... How do you plan to stand up for all Americans, not just believers or Christians?" he asked.

Fiorina was the eighth candidate whom Scott, 34, has videotaped. Scott, a professional photographer from Waterloo, said he was inspired by activists working to raise the visibility and understanding of atheists. And with each new video he posts, he said, he hopes to highlight the importance of the separation of church and state.

“I want to bring those issues up to candidates and do it in a way so that everybody in the room and in the media can see that atheists are not angry," he said. "We are not that same tired old stereotype. We are your neighbors and friends and co-workers."

Inspired to hit road

Walter Pesaresi, like many dedicated Ben Carson supporters, was first enamored by the retired brain surgeon the moment he called out President Barack Obama in person at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast.

"I said, 'That man needs to be president,'" recalled Pesaresi, who's 65. "Then I said, 'No, he's too good for politics.'"

Pesaresi, who sported a Ben Carson ball cap and T-shirt at a town hall meeting in Glenwood on Thursday, has read all of Carson's books. He's collected autographs at book signings and has studied Carson's inspiring rise from inner-city poverty to a world-famous career in neurosurgery.

Now this month, the former middle school American history teacher carved out half a week to trail Carson across Iowa ­ — though he lives in Manhattan, Kan., where his caucus vote must wait until March 5.

Pesaresi, a registered Republican, joined Carson for two stops Thursday, then visited Clarinda, Mount Ayr, Creston and Des Moines on Friday. He planned to attend Saturday’s Revive 714 conference in Sioux City, hosted by Carson and Kirk Cameron, an American actor who speaks out about his evangelical Christianity.

Pesaresi said he doesn’t believe the polling numbers that place Carson in fourth or fifth, well below New York businessman Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

“He’s going to do it,” he said. “He’s going to come in either first or second.”

Reporters Tony Leys, Timothy Meinch, Jason Noble, Matthew Patane, William Petroski and Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this story.

THE CAMPAIGN CLASSROOM

Every four years, students from across the country come to Iowa to use the campaign trail as a lesson in American politics.

“The Iowa caucuses are the ultimate in retail politics,” said Mark Dalhouse, professor of American political history at North Carolina’s Elon University, “where people in Iowa and others like our students can personally meet candidates and get involved. It’s really a wonderful case study of civic engagement at its best.”

About two-dozen students of politics and journalism at Elon just wrapped up 10 days on the Iowa campaign trail. The students, who enrolled in an in-depth January class on the Iowa caucuses, studied in North Carolina about caucus history before hitting the trail. In Iowa, some students volunteered on campaigns, while others covered the candidates. In all, the students got to see about 10 presidential candidates during their time here.

Students from the University of Oklahoma, Louisiana State University and Principia College have also made the trek here. And 12 high school students from Cape Cod, Mass., will spend three days in Iowa to experience the caucuses as part of their AP U.S. Government curriculum.

Led by Monomoy Regional High School teacher John Dickson (and five other chaperones), the class will arrive on Jan. 30 and stay through the caucuses. They’re planning to hit as many candidate events as they can, before visiting a caucus to see the process for themselves.

The trip is the outgrowth of an excursion Dickson made to the 2008 caucuses, when he traveled by himself but kept a blog and called into his class with updates. On that trip, he attended rallies for Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, and went to a caucus in Johnston, where former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was among the spectators.

“Our goal is to get to experience the caucuses, to learn about caucuses and to get to know the candidates in a way that I don’t think you can any other way,” he said.