It is way too early to critique the campaigns of the candidates in Iowa, but one lesson has to be identified by all–the lesson of retail versus electronic camaigning. Former Senator Rick Santorum had little personal wealth and almost no party establishment financial backers–at least going into the last week’s of the campaign. But his dogged, one on one campaigning caught the eye of some of the national media, and in the absence of Mr. Cain or former Speaker Gingrich (who flamed out at the same time), Santorum was hot. Former Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Ron Paul had both retail and electronic working for them, so it ended up in a virtual three way tie. The tie in to this Blog, is retail politics and campaigning is all we knew or had in the Golden Era of Florida politics, the ’70′s and ’80′s. More to come on who did retail politics the best back then.
