Thursday, November 29, 2007

Iowa's cool

I found a list of famous people who graduated from Iowa. I thought it was kind of cool and thought I would share it with you.

George Gallup (Gallup polls)
Mildred Wirt Benson (Nancy Drew creator)
B.J. Armstrong (played for the Bulls during the MJ era)
Robert C. Hardin (guy who developed blood bank proceedures)
Al Jarreau
James Van Allen (the Van Allen radiation belt)
Tennessee Williams
Gene Wilder
W.P. Kinsella (writer of Field of Dreams)

There were also about 15 Pulitzer Prize winners on the list - Iowa has the #1 ranked creative writing program in the nation (according to US News and World Report).

Anyway, I thought that was interesting and that I would toot Iowa's horn since nobody else does.

7 comments:

Papa Doc said...

Al Jarreau -- now that's worthy of mention about Iowa! I love his music!
There are lots of nice things about Iowa besides corn and hogs. First, there's the Jason Clark family.
The scenery is one of my favorites -- gently rolling hills with incredibly clean farms and well-groomed farmland.
Ummmm -- I'm trying to think of other things but I'm not too up on the history of Iowa. No matter, every time I've been to Iowa (and that's a lot of times), I have loved it. It's nicer than Nebraska -- sorry Cornhusker fans. That's the truth.
Mom

chelsey said...

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why is Iowa such an important state come election time? Does Iowa have more electoral votes or something? Isn't FL or CA considered more valuable (I say that with a silly smile on my face!) with their electoral votes?

Team Clark said...

Adrianne,

Iowa, like new Hampshire, is important for the following reasons:

1) They are the first primaries and the outcomes there set a mood for the election as a whole. (first impression kind of idea)

2) Statistically and historically they are seen as states that represent the average American and should then be a good gauge for how a candidate will do in the election as a whole.

Now these may not be really accurate or good reasons anymore, but this is a very general explanation. You can get more info online if you want, too.

Papa Doc said...

Adam is right on. It is one of the first that makes it important. It is a momentum sort of thing.

Dad Clark

Jason said...

Besides the fact that Iowa just plain and simply rules!!!

Mike and Adrianne said...

Well, I was wondering the same thing, even if the question was Chelsey's. So thanks for the answer.

Jason said...

Since I am a complete nerd, I will point out that we don't actually have a primary election here in Iowa. Since 1972 we have been holding party caucuses to select our presidential nominee. Adam is completely right in that a first place finish in Iowa is general indicative of how a candidate will fare across the country but that is not always the case. A few examples. Neither Ronald Reagan nor George McGovern won in Iowa but both eventually received the nomination. Jimmy Carter also did not win in Iowa but did become the president.

A lot of candidates also use Iowa a litmus test. Bill Richardson said this morning on NPR that he needs to finish in the top three in Iowa to continue the race. I think we will see several candidates on both sides drop out of the race after Iowa and those that are teetering will definately drop out after New Hampshire.