Clinton’s margin at county level the result of footwork

When the Iowa Democratic Party announced Hillary Clinton was a narrow winner of the Iowa Caucus Tuesday afternoon, her supporters naturally celebrated. However, they also were able to reflect on the hard work that might have had a lot of impact, both statewide and in Jasper County.

Clinton took 51.5 percent of the county-level delegates in Monday’s caucus, edging Bernie Sanders’ 45 percent. Martin O’Malley, who dropped out of the presidential race after the caucus, earned 3.5 percent.

There was a well-organized network of Clinton campaign staffers and volunteers spread throughout Iowa’s 99 counties, and Jasper County was no exception. Cindy Pollard was among the many volunteers who canvassed door-to-door — in all sorts of weather — for 10 months leading up to the caucus, and she is quick to say there are many others whose contributions were valuable.

“We cannot take the credit,” Pollard said of the county’s most visible volunteers. “It took many, many hands. We had a great ground game.”

Pollard, who has worked on political campaigns for many years, was recently featured in a New York Times story, hitting doors on a cold weekend day for Clinton. She said staying organized was a huge key to a successful campaign.

“It started small,” Pollard said. “I have never worked with such an organization. The (caucus outcome) was the direct result of organizational efforts from day one. We had a very diverse group men and women. We had many, many local canvassers, local phone bankers, office staffers and people preparing meals.”

Pollard said the objectives for both the pre-caucus months, and the caucus itself were simple.

“We focused on the positive message, and we turned out our supporters,” Pollard said. “Our caucus sites had a team of very well-trained volunteers who were able to deliver a delegate win for us.”

Pollard also said Liz Mueller, a relatively recent college graduate and experienced campaign worker who came to Iowa to be the Clinton campaign’s Jasper County organizer, was another valuable part of the efforts.

Things went much better for Clinton in the county and in Iowa than they did in 2008. Clinton’s third-place Iowa Caucus finish that year included getting only 67 Jasper County delegates, compared to 109 for John Edwards, 64 for Barack Obama and 10 for Bill Richardson.

Monday, Clinton took the majority of the delegates in 10 of the county’s 20 precincts, and five of the nine in the Newton area. There were six precincts — including two in Newton — where Clinton and Sanders took the same number of delegates.

Pollard said helping put away items used in the courthouse-square campaign office is the main task for the days and weeks ahead. She said some of the volunteers who poured a great deal into the campaign include Doug and Patty Thoma, Gayla Snook, Linda Wormley, Skip and Leslie Ross, Jen and Brad Patty, Rose Evans, Margaret Jensen, Sandy Shaver, the AFSCME Union, Dick Wobst, Jane Johnson, Sarah Sandquist, Jerry Jones, Judy Swanson, Carol Kramer and many others.

“There were a lot of new people that I just met that had not volunteered before,” Pollard said.

Susan Storms, a Newton resident who supported Clinton, said health care issues were huge reasons why she supported the former First Lady got support in Jasper County.

“Health care is so important,” Storms said. “We need her to make it affordable to see doctors and buy medication. For me, I can’t afford most medications. Strengthening Social Security and Medicare and getting livable wages are important too. I do wish.”

Wormley said she feels the term “Iowa nice” needs to be augmented with “Iowa dependable.”

“Every time something needed to be done, a volunteer stepped up and finished the task, stepped up, took it on and finished it, usually with a smile on their face,” Wormley said. “The Hillary staff was always positive — and taught us to stay positive as well.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com