By MATT MILNER Courier staff writer
May 16, 2008 12:48 am
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OTTUMWA — Vicki Siegel and Bonnie Eggers use a simple rule for discussing politics at work.
Both have watched her candidate get hammered at various times during this primary. Eggers watched Hillary Clinton go from the all-but-inevitable nominee to being unlikely to win. Siegel watched Barack Obama miss chances for knockout blows, then get drubbed in West Virginia.
It’s painful for people who invest so much into their political lives to see their candidates lose. So Siegel and Eggers had to find a way to allow for political conversations without rubbing a loss in the other person’s face. And they found it.
“The losing party has to bring it up first,” Siegel said.
“She still hasn’t brought up West Virginia,” Eggers grinned.
It’s a minor provocation, the verbal equivalent of a nudge with an elbow. And it illustrates the give-and-take that happens when the two start talking about politics.
Both women are among the most outspoken Democrats in Wapello County. Eggers has a long history of work on behalf of candidates and unions. Siegel previously served as county attorney and is the wife of current Supervisor Steve Siegel.
Now Eggers works in the law office Siegel shares with Sarah Wenke. (Wenke supported John Edwards, but that’s another issue.) It hasn’t always been easy for two people whose interest in politics runs deep, but they’ve found ways to talk about the campaigns without burning bridges.
Siegel sees Obama’s rise beginning with Iowa. His win on Jan. 3 was in a primarily white state and sent a message that voters could look beyond race.
But that raises questions about the West Virginia results. Many believe race played a role when Obama lost by 41 points.
“It scares me,” said Eggers. She’ll vote for the Democratic nominee regardless of who it is, but she worries racism could hurt Obama in November.
“I’m not scared, because I think they take note of a [primarily] white state that goes for Obama,” Siegel said.
“I’m not following here,” Eggers replied.
Siegel explained that she believes national voters watch results and have seen that many people can look beyond race in casting their ballots. Racism will play a role for some, but she says the majority will outweigh that response.
Iowa was important in another way. It was the first state that showed Democratic contests outdrawing Republicans by huge margins.
“We brought, what, way over twice,” the typical caucus numbers, Siegel said.
“Absolutely. It was amazing,” Eggers agreed.
Eggers thinks Clinton made several mistakes in running her campaign, and also sees an Iowa genesis for her struggles. Edwards beat Clinton by a scant one point, but all most people saw was her third-place finish.
Clinton never took advantage of ways to distinguish herself from Obama, Eggers said. She worked for the Clinton campaign, and the Iowa campaign managers in Des Moines saw distinctions as going negative, something the Clinton camp tried to avoid here.
“I think [Clinton strategist] Mark Penn should have been sent on his way a lot sooner,” Eggers said.
Staying on-message was also an issue.
“She jumped all over the map as far as what her issues were,” Eggers said. “I think she just kind of didn’t have a good focus.”
Both women think Edwards’ Wednesday endorsement of Obama will help in the general election. Edwards ran strong in southeast Iowa and could help bring his former supporters into the fold. But Eggers sees red when she thinks about how Edwards phrased the endorsement.
“Every time I hear him say ‘He’s the man,’ I’d like to run him over because it’s Hillary’s turn,” she said. The semantics matter to Eggers, who said Edward’s emphasis on gender was probably inadvertent but immensely irritating. “I was just absolutely fuming.”
Siegel sees sexism in the primary contests as well.
“It was pretty obvious. When Edwards commented on her outfit, my God!” she said.
Siegel and Eggers both believe the Democrats have several major advantages in November, the biggest of whom is sitting in the White House. They see President George Bush as a weight that Republican nominee John McCain and other Republicans will have a hard time shedding.
Recent special elections seem to back that up. Republicans lost a congressional seat from Louisiana last week, and another this week in a one-time Mississippi Republican stronghold. Politico.com, a respected politics Web site, suggests the Republicans could lose 20 seats in November.
Siegel and Eggers like that prediction. But they say there’s still a very long way to go.
Matt Milner can be reached at (641) 683-5359 or via e-mail at mwmilner@mchsi.com
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