The Kerry and Edwards campaign offices in Des Moines are literally within blocks of Dean's HQ. I'm heading over to both in a moment, but before I do, thought I'd relay some info about the Hispanic population in Iowa and its potential impact.
I spoke with Andres Gonzalez, the man who runs Dean's Hispanic outreach nationally. He told me that in 2000, a total of only 450 Hispanics caucused in the entire state - that's Gore and Bradley combined. The turnout is expected to be so dramatically higher this time that Dean has identified 1,000 committed Hispanics supporting and pledged to caucus just for him on Monday. (In Muscatine County in 2000, only 2 Hispanics caucused; the Dean campaign claims 42 committed to caucus this year.) Add in what the other camps plan to deliver, and it's clear that Hispanics could have the power to boost a campaign a few points which, given how close the race is, could matter in terms of final margins.
According to Gonzalez, the Hispanic population in Iowa is only about three percent statewide, and most of it is clustered in and around towns featuring meat and poultry processing plants. There is only one major Spanish-language radio station in Des Moines, and the Dean campaign is buying time between now and Monday to get out message. But remember, only a fraction of the population participates at all.
---------
By the way, if you want to get a gander at those orange winter hats with the "perfect storm" insignia on them -- the ones I mentioned in an earlier post -- the deanforamerica.com homepage has a picture of a few dozen cap-wearing crazies out in the parking lot between the two campaign office buildings, under the "I See Dean People" banner.