By Mary Clare Jalonick
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 7

Delegates: 57

Chairman: Sen. Tom Harkin

Hotel: Doubletree Westwood (310) 475-8711

1996 Election:
Clinton – 50%
Dole – 40%
Perot – 9%

An intense battle for the Democratic presidential nomination still appeared possible as Vice President Al Gore and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley canvassed for votes in Iowa's Jan. 24 precinct caucuses - the campaign year's kickoff event.

But Gore swamped Bradley by a 2-1 ratio in the Iowa event, putting him on track for an unbroken winning streak that brought the nominating contest to a quick end by the beginning of March.

The landslide win earned Gore all but a handful of Iowa's 57 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, a contingent that will be led by Sen. Tom Harkin - whose own presidential ambitions were sated by his short-lived bid for the 1992 presidential nomination.

The delegation is a roster of Iowa Democratic officialdom, with Gov. Tom Vilsack, Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson, U.S. Rep. Leonard L. Boswell, state Democratic Party Chairman Rob Tully, Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver, state Attorney General Tom Miller and state Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge making the trip west.

While most of the Iowans at the Los Angeles event will be a cheering section for the party's standard bearer, the thrill may be harder to come by for the state's few Bradley delegates. This is in part because the nominating campaign in Iowa was more meaningful and harder fought than those in most subsequent states.

David Loebsack, a political science professor and a Bradley delegate, said, "There are still some Bradley people who are not fully behind Gore yet. They will be eventually, but they aren't that enthused."

Unifying the party is urgent for state Democrats, as Iowa looms as one of the key battlegrounds in the general election between Gore and Texas Republican Gov. George W. Bush.

Iowa, a partisan "swing" state, has given its electoral votes to the Democrats in each of the past three elections, but their advantage has not been overwhelming.

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis defeated then-Vice President George Bush by 55 percent to 45 percent in 1988. Bill Clinton, running as the Democratic challenger in 1992 with Gore as his vice presidential nominee, defeated President Bush by 43 percent to 37 percent in Iowa. The Clinton-Gore ticket, seeking re-election in 1996, topped Republican Bob Dole by 50 percent to 40 percent in the state.

One delegate who will working to bring Gore an Iowa victory is delegate Chris Peterson, the farmer to whom Gore gave a moment of fame during a Jan. 8 televised debate with Bradley.

Gore asked Bradley why he had voted against a version of a disaster relief measure after the 1993 flooding in the Midwest. He then pointed to Peterson, who had lost 300 of his 400 acres to flooding. Bradley countered, "This is not about the past. This is about the future," which some Iowans saw as a diffident response.

Though Bradley later protested that he had supported disaster aid and that Gore had distorted his record, the exchange was one of the turning points in an Iowa campaign that broke sharply in Gore's direction.

Peterson has visited Washington, D.C., three times since the debate, once holding a 45-minute meeting with the vice president. He said he will attempt to bring agricultural issues to the forefront in Los Angeles, and may even hold a press conference with other farmers.

"I want to bring attention to rural America," he said. "We have been left out of the prosperity. The farm economy is horrible."

Peterson said his belief that agriculture is suffering has made him "no fan of Bill Clinton." But he said he has supported Gore since the candidate made a first, unsuccessful run for president in 1988. "I think Gore has a lot more of a social conscience than Clinton," Peterson said.

Iowa met all of its "diversity goals" for its delegation, though these were not very high because of the state's demographics. Blacks are 2 percent of the state's population, Hispanics are 1 percent.

The delegation has eight members under the age of 25. One of them is Mitch Gross, the 24-year old political director to state Agriculture Secretary Judge.

IOWA NOTABLES: Sen. Tom Harkin, the delegation chairman; Gov. Tom Vilsack; Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson; U.S. Rep. Leonard L. Boswell; state Democratic Party Chairman Rob Tully; Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver; state Attorney General Tom Miller; state Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge; farmer Chris Peterson, singled out by Democratic candidate Al Gore at a debate during the Iowa caucus campaign.