Iowa Caucuses to be Depicted by a Museum Exhibit
It’s no secret that few people understand exactly how the Iowa Caucuses work, and many don’t think they should exist. So the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is going to make a museum exhibit for the State Historical Museum in Des Moines. From the Register:
The purpose of the display is threefold, said Anita Walker, director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs:
- To secure Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus status by helping the nation understand why Iowa is a good first stop on the road to the White House.
- To provide a more well-rounded picture of Iowa to the world. The caucuses attract news media from 50 foreign countries and virtually every major media outlet in America.
- To encourage participation in the caucus process.
“I use the word ‘exhibit’ with quotes around it,” Walker said. “The real underlying, powerful message of this is citizen democracy, people’s participation in government. We want to get people excited about attending their own caucus.”
The ‘exhibit’ is going to open around Labor Day of 2007, and it’s going to have a real coffee shop (with a jukebox that plays politician sound-bites), a real living room (because there are still a few precincts where the caucuses are held in homes), and some kind of technology room where visitors can blog about stuff! I can’t wait to see all the great blogging that could result from this…
1 comment December 25th, 2006
