A pickup truck is driving on a snow-covered road under the Iowa Caucus sign in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, USA, on the 12th (local time). On this day, heavy snow fell in Iowa, causing Republican candidates, including Trump and Haley, to cancel their campaigns./AP Yonhap News
With the caucuses (party convention, 15th) in Iowa, known as the ‘presidential weathervane’ as the primary site of the US Republican Party’s first presidential candidate, approaching in three days, an arctic cold wave hit the landlocked Midwestern state of Iowa, causing former President Donald Trump and Major Republican candidates, including former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, canceled their campaign schedules one after another on the 12th. The temperature in Iowa on the 15th, election day, is expected to drop to -29 degrees Celsius. As a ‘winter storm’ warning was issued across the state, heavy snow and strong winds were likely to accompany it, so each camp was put on high alert to ‘increase voter turnout’.
<폭설 내린 아이오와> Heavy snow fell in Iowa, USA, on the afternoon of the 12th. A road in Des Moines, the capital of Iowa. Because it was a city center, snowplows were moving in real time, but snow piled up and car wheels often spun. / Correspondent Lee Min-seok
On this day, snow continued to fall in Iowa from morning until 7 p.m. On this afternoon in Des Moines, an urban area in Iowa, snow removal vehicles were clearing snow from the roads in real time, but driving was not easy due to the accumulated snow. I tried to go out to the outskirts, but there were sections where the car could not move because the wheels were spinning due to the accumulated snow. Polk County police told a reporter, “If you drive in this weather, you are likely to get into trouble.” Delivery companies such as Uber Eats also announced a ‘no delivery’ policy. Local media urged caution, saying, “You can get frostbite and hypothermia if you stay outside in this cold weather for even 10 minutes.”
Trump, Haley, and DeSantis were originally planning to target ‘conservative votes’ at the last minute by scanning the outlying areas classified as so-called ‘red counties (strong Republican areas)’ on this day and the next day. However, Trump announced this evening that two local rallies scheduled for the afternoon of the next day, the 13th, would be replaced with online events. Previously, Haley also replaced three local in-person events with online events on this day, and DeSantis held one event early in the morning, but later postponed four events scheduled.
On the afternoon of the 12th, heavy snow fell in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, and people are clearing snow. /AFP Yonhap News
However, despite the heavy snow that day, volunteers from Haley’s political outside organization ‘Americans for Prosperity’ (AFP Action) carried out a ‘ground war’ to persuade supporters by knocking on their doors. An AFP official told the Des Moines Register, a local Iowa newspaper, on this day, “Due to the heavy snow, there is a greater possibility that people will stay at home,” and added, “We will contact each and every one of them (until the end).”
Local media reported that since the Iowa caucuses became the Republican Party’s first presidential primary, this is expected to be the coldest event held in the past 40 years. The coldest Iowa caucus ever was in 2004 (held on January 19), when the temperature was minus 9 degrees. Unlike a primary election, where the voting process ends when you go to the polls at any time and mark the desired candidate on the ballot paper, in a caucus, party members gather at a set time to listen to the speeches of supporters representing each candidate and then vote. You must remain seated until voting is complete.
On the 15th, along a snow-covered road in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, where the first caucuses are being held in the United States, signs with the names of the Republican primary candidates, former UN Ambassador Nike Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are lined up. AFP Yonhap News
With weather expected to have a significant impact on voter turnout, the Trump campaign also arranged for drivers to take voters to the polls on Election Day. A Trump campaign official said on this day, “We are preparing for emergencies, including poll workers and drivers who pick up people and take them to polling places.”
Immediately after canceling the on-site campaign that day, Trump posted a video on his social media account, Social Truth, saying, “I plan to arrive around Saturday night. “We will get there one way or another,” he said. “We are experiencing the worst weather in Iowa history, but our campers are more dedicated than anyone else, so it may actually be a good thing for us.”
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2024-01-13 04:57:00
