I had fun, did you?

I don't care what the press says. I'm glad at least one place in this country gets a chance to participate in the political process in a personal way, and Iowans with your customary sense of responsibility and earnestness are the ones doing it for the rest of us. Job well done, friends.

National politics for everyone else is a function of a quiet public talking back to a noisy television, in disgust at the pundits more than the politicians. (But with plenty of disgust at the politicians, too.) Most don't even turn on the TV, and I don't blame them for that, really.

I miss hearing my neighbors tell me why they chose their candidate, and more fascinating, watching which arguments will turn a Dodd supporter toward an Obama camp. I miss seeing political ideas playing out with real people.

In 1988, I caucused at Doc and Jo's diner in Mechanicsville, with 40 other Democrats. The caucus chairman put single sheets from a yellow legal pad on the wall. One said, "Dukakis," one "Jackson," and the rest. After we broke into our candidate groups, there was just one old lady sitting under the "Babbitt" sign. No argument, no gentle prodding, no pleas that her single vote would ever make him "viable" would move her into another candidate's group. She just sat there. Finally she said, "I did all the research, I met the man, he's my candidate. I don't care if it doesn't mean anything to anyone else, he's the one I want, and I'm staying here, even if it doesn't matter in the end."

I love that. You don't get that by watching TV.