The SceneDid you hear?
There was a mass gathering of Republican 2024 hopefuls in Iowa on Sunday — near Cedar Rapids, amid the midsummer seas of ripening cornstalks and the darker hues of rows of soybeans.
This was after a Republican Party fund-raising dinner in Des Moines nine days earlier, and just before the Iowa State Fair begins Thursday, where the state’s Republican governor plans one-on-one public “chats” with 12 presidential hopefuls.
Political types call such gatherings, somewhat unkindly, “cattle calls,” as if voters were assessing candidates like so much meat on the hoof.
But the fact is that even as Iowa voters and power brokers — along with the national Republican Party — go through the motions of sizing up a fulsome presidential field, the prize has never looked so far beyond the grasp of all but one person, Donald J. Trump, who dominates as if he were a White House incumbent.
Persons:
Republican Party —, Donald J, Trump
Organizations:
Republican, Republican Party, Iowa, White House
Locations:
Iowa, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines