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AAI Gears Up 2008 Campaign in Iowa

Posted on Thursday August 23, 2007

Newman Abuissa, his son Tareq, and Hillary Clinton in Davenport, IA

As the 2008 race for the White House has already been heating up in Iowa, so have AAI's presence and activities!  AAI Director of Community Relations (and Iowa native) Valerie Smith joined AAI Iowa Organizer Emily Holley in presenting a series of workshops and giving the Arab American Institute a presence at major political events in the state over the past two weeks.     

Civic and Political Empowerment Workshops presented by AAI in Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls and Des Moines featured tips on how to have the most productive meetings with elected officials (given by Gary Grant, District Director for former Congressman Leach, currently with the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease; and by Nader Halawa of Link Strategies, who is lobbying on the issue of Global Warming).

The workshops also highlighted the experiences of Arab American campaign staffers Mehdi al-Hassani (Obama, Scott County) and Crystal Bouziden (Romney, far Eastern Iowa), who imparted their wisdom on how individuals and the community can make themselves an asset to any campaign.

Representatives of a local Iowa group Concerned Iowans for Middle East Peace shared their experiences and strategies for asking questions of the presidential candidates at public events, and urged attendees to join in their petition drive to collect signatures from thousands of Iowa caucus-goers. The CIMEP petition asks the presidential candidates to pledge, as former President Carter suggested in his Iowa City speech this spring, that "if elected President, I will do everything possible to promote negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to achieve peace and securty for Israel and a secure and contiguous state for the Palestinians." 

Special guests also joined AAI at each location - in Cedar Rapids, the chairs of the Linn County Democratic and Republican parties (Mike Robinson and Jim Conklin) discussed how to get involved in the local party, while AAI National Policy Council Member Newman Abuissa discussed his experience being elected an Alternate Delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. 

In Cedar Falls, State Representative Bob Kressig and Mayor Jon Crews contributed to the discussion on how to build relationships with elected officials, while local community leader Ibrahim Shehata expressed interest in working with AAI to develop an Iowa Town Hall meeting on airport security screening with representatives of the TSA and local airport directors.    In Des Moines, Craig and Cindy Corrie, the parents of Rachel Corrie, shared their experiences of addressing questions to candidates on the presidential campaign trail. The Corries have been in Iowa visiting Cindy's family farm, and have taken that opportunity to join up with CIMEP in urging the candidates to make Middle East peace a policy priority if elected president. The Cedar Rapids event also drew great media coverage from the Gazette, and TV coverage from stations KWWL Channel 7 and KCRG Channel 9.  

For the first time, AAI also had a presence at the Ames Straw Poll, which featured nearly all of the Republican presidential candidates, and at a Hawkeye Labor Council event, which drew all the top Democratics.  We shared a table with the appropriate party caucus of the Arab American Leadership Council at each event - Arab American Republicans at the Straw Poll and Arab American Democrats at "Workers for a Better Iowa".   The Straw Poll table got great coverage on the Political Lunch blog - check it out about two-thirds of the way through the video on its website.  We also met Arab Americans who were pleased to see our tables, and answered questions from many curious party faithful.   CIMEP also shared the table at both events, collecting signatures on the petition and handing out info about why resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is important to the U.S.   

Between these events, Valerie and Emily also took a trip through Fort Dodge to Sioux City, meeting well-established Iowa Arab American community leaders like retired appeals court judge and former Mayor Albert Habhab and the Daniels Family, owners of Daniels Pharmacy. Both familiess, like the Aosseys in Cedar Rapids, have been in Iowa for over 100 years.    

All concerned are looking forward to AAI's next events in Iowa - a series of lectures by AAI President James Zogby on "The Mess We're In: How U.S. Leaders Have Failed us in the Middle East and What You Can Do."   The talks anchoring this tour are part of the University of Iowa's "International Mondays" series and the Iowa State University's "World Affairs Lecture Series" on Sept. 24 and 25 respectively. 

More events are being added - check out www.aaiusa.org/iowa for the latest updates!