The Believer Stalks the 2004 Democratic
Candidates: Dispatches from a Few Cold Places
What can our resourceful reporter, Joshuah
Bearman, turn up in the hotel lobbies of Iowa and the tundral parking
lots of New Hampshire, all on a very limited expense account? Quite a
damned bit, as it turns out. Filing from the headquarters of a certain
candidate who shall remain nameless (we don't want Josh's "minders,"
who should be watching for precisely this kind of freeloader, to get in
trouble), Josh describes his encounters with real Iowans like a Metallica-obsessed
Alamo Car Rental employee to real deals, like James Carville.
The important thing to know about Josh
is that he's the only reporter to bring swim-trunks to the campaign, which
means hotel hot tub, which means a special perspective on the behind-the-scenes
world of politics. These dispatches are taken from his notes. His article
about the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary will be published in two
successive upcoming issues of the Believer.
Dispatch One —
Iowa
File Date: Sunday, January 18, the Day Before the Iowa Caucus
