Weigel

Iowa Campaign HQ Tour Part II: The Three Towers

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Continuing with my tour of campaign offices meant stopping in Urbandale, the Des Moines suburb and home to some of the insurgent candidates. When I got to Michele Bachmann’s office, I noticed that another campaign had set up shop right across the parking lot, in the same strip mall. Herman Cain’s headquarters was abandoned, but not yet cleaned out.
IMG_3070 #3: Michele Bachmann. The first thing you notice in the Iron Lady’s HQ is memorabilia from her apogee: The Ames Straw Poll. Big “follow me” signs from that event line the windows, and the banners survive on the walls. And there’s art.
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Not bad. But you can tell that the frontrunning days of July are far, far behind Bachmann. When I was at the office, campaign literature only contrasted Bachmann with Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, even though Newt Gingrich was surging; that’s been updated since.
#4: Newt Gingrich. If we’re being serious about it, few office parks look much better than randomized squares of brick and adobe. The sprawling complex of one-story offices that houses this HQ? No expection.
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Dan Balz took a micro-iconic twitpic of the Gingrich office when the candidate first started to rise in polls – phones were plugged into wall and pole outlets, not organized strips. That was still true when I visited.