Des Moines Register
08-23-07
Media got it all wrong in straw-poll coverage
The Ames Republican straw poll may or may not have contributed to the political
direction of the country, but it definitely said something about how the national
media view central Iowa.
There were no shots of hay bales for once, in spite of it being a straw poll
(rectangular hay bales likely have to be custom-produced for an event now), but
"The Daily Show" did have a windmill - not a wind turbine, but the kind farmers
used to pump water during the Depression.
CNN's Bill Schneider seemed to think the straw poll was at the Iowa State Fair,
which is held in a Des Moines neighborhood called Ames. The Washington Post
did place the poll in Ames, but "out at the fairgrounds." Ames has no fairgrounds.
The poll took place on the ultra-modern subcampus of Iowa State University
that includes Hilton Coliseum, the Scheman Building and C.Y. Stephens
Auditorium (chosen by the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects
as Iowa's building of the century).
The online magazine Slate called Ames "a quaint little town." It may not be large,
but it's home to one of the great technical universities in the country, as well as
George Washington Carver, Henry Wallace and John Atanasoff, inventor of
the modern computer.
- Eric Fralick,
Ames.